Lab+1

It is only natural for the year 2001 is seen as the Year one of computer game studies, because this was the time where computer game studies began to go past punching "X" and "O's". It was the time where ground breaking technology began to surface and the first time computer games were taken seriously and considered to be an academic field on its own. Computer games, especially Multi-player games like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and World of War craft (WoW) combine both the aesthetic and social in ways that traditional and current mass media (Movies, TV and novels) never could/can. Unlike computer games, they have no communication between participants in which the aesthetics and social are integrated to fully and actively immerse the individual. Because of this great innovation, we can now see mass media being affected by computer games and vice versa, e.g. "The fast and the furious" playing off on features of “GTA”, movies like "Harry Potter" being converted into video games and computer games adopting characters of real life WWF to the virtual world (Smack Down). In accordance with Aarseth, the ability for computer games to mesh with these various aspects of mass media relies on its old discipline, which could be traced to have foundation in fields like anthropology, sociology, narratology, and even semiotics. Because of this versatility, computer games are able to immensely affect its users, and as a result, it is worthy to be studied in depth. The dilemma now is: do we form a new field, or do we claim heritage in all the other fields? Computer games are too important to be left to these various felid to claim, and it is too important for it not be studied within these existing fields. This makes me as optimistic as the author in studying what the future of computer game studies has in store.
 * __Response to:__** **__"Computer Game Studies, Year One"__**  **__By Espen Aarseth__**

- Aarseth, Espen. "Editorial, Game Studies 0101." Game Studies - Issue 1001, 2010. July 2001. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. .
 * __Works Cited__**