Orientalism Section 2

meetings

2019-7-8

Notes

• Impersonality of Illagers & Villagers connects to page 149/150 of Orientalism.
• Projecting past onto present instead of looking at what actually exists now.
• Valorization of first = better plus we're further progressed and therefore better.
• Extreme objective distance vs. extreme personal/subjective analysis: neither actually sees the thing itself.
• The STEM/Humanities competition happening hundreds of years ago.
• Science is very one-size-fits-all but even though that works well for some natural phenomenon it doesn't work nearly as well for sociological issues.
  • E.g. startup culture "let's apply Science to it."
  • Narrow sociological studies.
• Theme: making the results be what you want them to.
  • If you can make something Scientific, it gains validity.
• Relevant to games as there is an underlying equation because you programmed it.
  • So what you decide to program implies a worldview.
• Is there psych literature on games implanting unconscious bias.
• How do relationships work in Stardew Valley?
  • Are they just inherited from Harvest Moon?
  • Did the designer really believe in reciprocity & gifts?
  • Was it a conscious or unconscious decision?
  • To meet a budget?
• The way games are isn't just a progress, it's also revising and erasing.
• Games are often more constructed than other media.
  • You can't represent everything, so you have to decide what's important (to you).
  • What can you make in Minecraft is a statement.
  • Achievements define goals in dialogue with players.
  • Also what gets you XP?
• How is territory defined and contested?
• Ridiculousness of sending a servant to mark up the pyramids.
• Chains of citations from us that go back to e.g. Renan.
• How is Minecraft useful to Imperialism/Colonialism today?
• The existence of aggressive mobs conditions the player's behavior.
  • E.g. to develop tech to build beds, or build fortifications.
  • Idea of self-defense.
• Apparently our rare books collection has pages from Napoleon's original Description of Egypt...

Plans

• For tomorrow: list of mechanics in Minecraft (can be some dynamics too).
  • From there: each have a mini-writeup of one particular mechanic/dynamic.

TODO

• Look for psych research on implanting unconscious bias via games.
• Look in-depth at Minecraft achievements.