http://hdl.handle.net/10016/848 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:14:43 GMT 2013-05-25T07:14:43Z http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11281 Title: Spectators of Videogames Author(s): Diaz Gandasegui, Vicente Abstract: Cinema and videogames are analogous audiovisual mediums that share the aim of entertaining the spectator/player and also reflect, in some sense, the beliefs, fears and value system of the society in which they were created. In the last few years both mediums have tended to converge, not only in their aesthetics and arguments, but also in their economic ambitions and conventions. Films have adopted the visual narrative of videogames as it is possible to observe in The Matrix (Wachowski and Wachowski, 1999) and Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998) and videogames are adopting cinematic narratives as in Grand Theft Auto and other First Person Shooter games. New technological and digital imagery is continually being discovered and investigated, and the concept of interactive and personalised films, in which every spectator will have their individual film ‘built’ to his requirements, is no longer science fiction. Therefore, if we wish to explore the future of cinema we should look to the videogames industries and the possibility of accessing virtual/alternative worlds where responsibilities are reduced to a minimum, boredom is eliminated and satisfaction maximised. Hybrid forms of films and videogames have been explored recently with the apparition of machinima, games that are recorded and dubbed, providing a new film language not restricted by the real world. The boundaries in the virtuality of the games and the future of the interaction in cinema become clear with the physicality of the interfaces, something that video consoles such as Wii are reducing with the virtual/real connection of the player and the avatar. Thus, the challenge for the future is to create a connection between technology and the nervous system as Cronenberg illustrated in eXistenZ (1999). Description: Artículo presentado en la conferencia "Under the Mask: Perspectives on the gamer". University of Bedforshire: 5th June 2009 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11281 2009-06-04T22:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11280 Title: The non-gamer Author(s): Diaz Gandasegui, Vicente Abstract: This article is a sociological analysis of those individuals who are not involved in the gamer’s culture even though they live in a society in which technology has assumed a fundamental relevance in the perception of (un)reality and the presentation of virtual worlds. In such a world, the individuals have access to, and the ability to afford the necessary technology, to play videogames on computers, mobile phones or video consoles, deny that possibility and constitute nowadays an increasing minority. I will examine the sociological aspects and psychological characteristics of this group of individuals who share their time with friends and relatives who play videogames. These ‘future minority’ currently live in houses surrounded by technological devices, their work is often influenced by technology, they use transport that is managed by technology, but prefer not to enter virtual worlds in their leisure time; they choose the realities expressed in atoms rather than bits, and in doing so, they reject the opportunity to enter the unlimited possibilities offered by virtuality, avoiding the professional, cultural and educational skills that gamers acquire through the use of videogames. This article also examines the non-gamer from a personal perspective, (auto)analysing the researcher as a case study of the non-gamer in today’s western society. I have had to deal with the ambivalent long term professional interest in analysing and researching virtual worlds and videogames whilst simultaneously having a lack of personal interest in playing and accessing the potential offered by technology and virtuality. My professional and personal concerns collide at this point and result in a contradiction that I will explore as a member of the non-gamer social group. Description: Artículo presentado en la conferencia "Under the Mask: Perspectives on the gamer". University of Bedforshire. 2nd June 2010 Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11280 2010-06-01T22:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11279 Title: Spectators After 9/11 Author(s): Diaz Gandasegui, Vicente Abstract: The (un)reality of films was superseded by reality on 9/11 and therefore cinema required a different kind of perception to offer to the spectators as the boundaries of imagination became altered. The events that followed the devastation which occurred on the 11th September 2001 in New York affected the way in which we perceive films, transforming our symbolic and epistemological system. This episode was beyond our imagination, beyond our words and, in Lacanian terms, we can say that it was necessary to reconcile the real and the symbolic to understand its consequences (King, 2005: 18). Our society of spectacle has almost achieved sensitive immunity to the effects of the image. In spite of the impact that they can produce, our minds do not suffer considerable damage from the horror of certain scenes. The shock of the images of the Gulf War or 9/11 are perfect examples of world events that, presented in a spectacular way, are perceived more as fiction than reality, and therefore their effects are cushioned. The cruelty and realism of media are paradoxically producing the opposite effect of what was intended: the feeling of unreality. This is the phenomenon that Baudrillard terms the ‘perfect crime’: there is no crime scene, no guilt and no trace in our memory. Nowadays, fictional films use documentary elements to gain veracity and create a special bond between the spectators’ experience of these events and the film as in United 93 (Greengrass, 2006). Respectively, documentaries fictionalise reality, using familiar information to create stories that are not necessarily verified as in The Falling Man (Singer, 2006). Description: Artículo presentado en el simposium: "Representing the War on Terror: post 9/11 television drama and documentary One day conference at the ATRiuM, CCI, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff Saturday November 21st 2009" Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10016/11279 2009-11-20T23:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10016/849 Title: Jóvenes y relaciones interétnicas:¿trazando fronteras o marchando juntos? Author(s): Alzamora Domínguez, Miguel Ángel; Carrasquilla Coral, María Claudia; Castellanos Ortega, Mari Luz; García Borrego, Iñaki; Pedreño Cánovas, Andrés Wed, 31 Dec 2003 23:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10016/849 2003-12-31T23:00:00Z