gamer theory

Wark makes some cool points, i do find the idea of Gamer Theory interesting, especially the military entertainment complex Professor Dean talked about during class. I enjoyed when the class discussion moved to the topic of boredom. Two points were made (i dont remember who made them) but they both stand out in my mind. The first was "Boredom is what creates designers" and "Boredom is a liberation...a kind of freedom." Boredom as liberation or a kind of freedom is neat concept. What a cool way to consider boredom? I agree with that point. When you're bored you often need something new to do to keep you occupied. At this point you're free to move away from what you are doing and to try or engage yourself in something new. This ties into the point "boredom is what creates designers" because if people weren't bored or looking for a new entertainment outlet, the desire for new things would be non-existent as well as unnecessary. I wouldn't go as far as to say boredom is the basis of our creativity but I do believe that boredom is quite often the baseline for new ideas.

Overall, Gamer Theory definitely was a difficult book for me. The beginning reminded me a of a riddle but then once we got to the chart i began to feel very confused. Both times after the class discussions i went back and re-read sections of the book because i had a better understanding of what was going on. For me, the foreignness of what Wark was talking about made the experience of reading his book feel like a mini game...One where his content became some secret code that i had to decipher or crack in order to get to the next level of understanding.


-adrienne