Gameplay Journal Entry #1: Mitchell Dreifuerst

When discussing the term “Technicity”, we attempt to grasp to how technology, or in this case video games, can influence our culture by teaching us valuable lessons. For this reason, I went back to play one of my favorite PC games; “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”. From the moment you begin that classic prologue, the game makes it clear that it wants you to see its setting, narrative, and conflicts with your own eyes. That technology creates “perspective”, and through its own mechanics, the player suddenly realizes that they have a great deal of control of not just any given situation, but the entire world around them. From the characters they create and interact with, to the challenges they choose to engage in, its through their own desires and beliefs that allow them to take that first step, but the narrative that the game provides helps mold that perspective of cultural and political beliefs through one of the main conflicts presented right away; the Civil War between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloak rebels.

In the provided Let’s Play, it includes the prologue that showcases both sides of the war, who both believe that they are in the right, and the first major choice you make during the prologue (the decision to follow Hadvar or Ralof) enables you to see both viewpoints. Dove and Kennedy once quoted “Technicity thus enables us to look at social structures and cultural affinities in a new way — to identify the ways in which technology lies at the heart of these new connections” (Pg. 17). Through the use of video game mediums, Skyrim enables you to look at the cultural and social structures of a fictional world that challenges your beliefs and act accordingly based on your chosen playstyle. Whether you favor a army of rebels bent on attaining freedom for a supposed corrupt social system or an Empire that favors maintaining the peace with an even more dangerous foe, technology puts the controls in our hands to settle this feud without any real world violence. Skyrim is a game revolved around “choices”, and what you see can determine what is “right” or “wrong”.

Let’s Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0qAMGo990&list=PLdx-MmfUterwZ2E-p08mYNT4319MD0vbt&index=1