Thursday, April 26, 2007

Loops have been Lost!

Lev Manovich describes what a loop is and how it has impacted us in society. He pretty much explains how life is one big loop and really it is. You are nothing and then you are born and you are something. You live a long life and then die and you are nothing again. It just goes around in circles or loops. He states how video games and everyday life is in loops and you just rotate around and around and this somehow keeps people entertained. But he begins to argue that life these days is moving away from the loop. The loop lifestlye of living is giving way to a more in depth and complicated means of society. I believe that the increased level of technology is the reason for this dismissal of the loop. In video games alone human society has progressed from such games as Packman to interactive games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. Games are being taken away from that initial idea I started writing about where everything is to do with loops and living and dying and then doing it all over again. eg Packman is a game where you have a life and you try and live on and then die and then you can do it all over again. But how representational is this of human life? Not very because as far as I know you don't get a second chance in human life or multiple lives. These itneractive games are getting the gamers to actually play a "sport" or an "instruement" and get off their feet. There is more to the game than a human like character trying to beat the computer and then dying and doing it all over again. This dismissal of the loop is what enables us to move away from the boredom of life and its circle of repeat so unexpectedness and real life can prevail.

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4 Comments:

Blogger kalphonso said...

I don't necessarily agree that we are moving away from loops. Granted, life has become consumed by technology, but there are still loops everywhere you look. In DDR, it is the same four movements repeated/looped into different combinations. Movies have the same basic plot (no matter how many graphics are included) that just gets repeated over and over again. Life is one big loop; one big repetition. And since art imitates life, and technology is intended to improve life, there is no escaping loops; no matter how hard one tries!

4/26/2007 2:37 PM  
Blogger Danny Archer said...

I agree with your basic points. I also think that the Wii console and the Dance Dance Revolution game represent a key turning point from passive gaming to active gaming. At the end of the day it seems like the new generation of active gaming is meant to recreate real sporting activities with a computer opponent. While the computer can simulate real sports and a real opponent, it is doubtful whether the computer will ever be able to provide the energy level and social aspects of a real sporting event.

4/27/2007 3:37 PM  
Blogger Tim McNally said...

I agree that we are not moving away from loops. Video games still largely operate on the loop system and I believe that humans are still obsessed with idea of being able to go back and forth in time to affect an outcome like in "Run Lola Run."

4/29/2007 5:33 PM  
Blogger BrendaFregoso said...

Can't regular life routines such as getting up for work, eating breakfast, parking your car in the same place..etc. be considered little loops in our lives? I'm not sure that Manovich actually describes the human life as a loop, he definitely relates loops as we encounter them in our lives, but he doesn't specifically state that our lives are one giant loop. After all. a loop consists of a repetition of some sort, since we do not re-spawn to life and live again, then our lives aren't repeated so our life can't be one giant loop.

4/29/2007 11:01 PM  

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