Video Game Genre, Evolution and Innovation

This paper provides a critical overview of the notion of genre in game studies and in the video game industry. Using the concept of genre requires one to acknowledge the recent developments of genre theory in other fields of research; one such development is the contestation of the idea of generic evolution. After a comparative analysis, video game genres are found to differ from literary and film genres precisely on the basis of evolution. The technological imperatives that characterize video game production are also pinpointed as relevant to the establishment and development of video game genres. Evolution is linked to the processes of innovation, and so a model of innovation is laid out from a compare-and-contrast approach to literary and film genre innovation. This model is tested through the history and analysis of the First-Person Shooter genre. This results in new insights for the question of genre in video games, as it is established that genre is rooted not in game mechanics, but in game aesthetics; that is, play-experiences that share a phenomenological and pragmatic quality, regardless of their technical implementation.   

Incrementalism, Comprehensive Rationality, and the Future of Gun Control

This article examines the issue of gun control through the lens of the \u27comprehensive rationality\u27 and \u27incrementalism\u27 models of policymaking and argues that incremental policymaking has been one of the major impediments to progress toward more effective regulation of guns. Gun laws are often an incoherent patch-work of provisions as new restrictions are piled atop old ones in response to particular tragedies or narrow concerns, instead of crafting bills to achieve an optimal approach to the entire problem. Political science and other social sciences literature has closely examined the \u27incrementalism\u27 and \u27comprehensive rationality\u27 models of policymaking over the past several decades, but legal scholars discuss the models much less frequently. This article describes how political scientists have identified a few exceptional types of policy problems that are particularly unsuited for an incrementalist approach. Incremental policymaking poses a special risk for firearm regulation because of the uniquely prominent role that \u27slippery slope\u27 fears play in the opposition to any new measures concerning guns. This article contends that a more comprehensive approach is vital both to achieve more effective policies and to quell gun owners\u27 concerns that moderate gun control measures will eventually lead to gun bans and confiscation. The top policy priority should be expanding background check regulations to form a more complete and coherent system limiting access to guns

Book reviews [1984, Vol. 11, no. 2]

Richard P. Brief, Editor, Selections from Encyclopaedia of Accounting 1903 Reviewed by Edward N. Coffman; F. L. Clarke, The Tangled Web of Price Variation Accounting Reviewed by Robert Bloom; D.A.R. Forrester, Editor, Frank Sewell Bray,Reviewed by R. S. Waldron; Louis Goldberg, The Florescent Decade: Accounting Education in Australia 1945-1955 Reviewed by Barrie O\u27Keeffe; Edgar Jones, Accountancy and the British Economy: The Evolution of Ernst & Whinney 1840-1980 Reviewed by M. J. Mepham; Kenneth S. Most, Accounting Theory, Second Edition Reviewed by Dale L. Flesher; Harry Norris, Accounting Theory Reviewed by William G. Mister; Donald A. Ritchie, James M. Landis: Dean of the Regulators Reviewed by Stephen E. Loeb; Clinton H. Scovell, Cost Accounting and Burden Application Reviewed by Lamont F. Steedle; Izume Watanabe, Son-Eki Keisanshi Ron (A History of Profit and Loss Accounting) Reviewed by Yoshiro Kimizuka; T. A. Wise, Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. 85 Years, Reviewed by Gary John Previts Language : en

Invention/Re-invention

This article examines the relationship between texts that are re-invented for different media and/or contexts including: film remakes, prequels and sequels, video games that become films and vice versa, internet mashups, and television series that move across geographical borders. The article points to significant sources in this emerging field and presents some of the challenges that arise in relation to its study. In particular questions of originality, fidelity, repetition and difference as sources of pleasure, and subject position are examined, leading to suggestions for possible future research

Red Pilled - The Allure of Digital Hate

Hate is being reinvented. Over the last two decades, online platforms have been used to repackage racist, sexist and xenophobic ideologies into new sociotechnical forms. Digital hate is ancient but novel, deploying the Internet to boost its allure and broaden its appeal. To understand the logic of hate, the author investigates four objects: 8chan, the cesspool of the Internet, QAnon, the popular meta-conspiracy, Parler, a social media site, and Gab, the "platform for the people." Drawing together powerful human stories with insights from media studies, psychology, political science, and race and cultural studies, he portrays how digital hate infiltrates hearts and minds

Rescuing the Hero: The Ramifications of Expanding the Duty to Rescue on Society and the Law

The ongoing debate about the legal duty to rescue another person in peril is fraught with a familiar tension. On one side stands the traditional and distinctly American determination that freedom from such a duty is essential, that the technical rules of tort law and self-preservation instincts disdain such a requirement, and that the postulates of religion and morality are sure to fill in any legal gaps. On the other, a more recent humanitarian perspective-seen in revisions to the Restatement, case law, and some state statutes-advocates for requiring easy rescue, positing that religiously inspired morality and public good-doing are unlikely, and citing highly publicized incidents in which bystanders remained callously, though lawfully, inactive. But the classic dialogue between an autonomist\u27s protection of the rescuer and the humanitarian protection of the rescuee has thus far neglected a thorough treatment of a figure viscerally affected by the slow erosion of the historical no-duty rule: the hero. The hero derives his meaning by acting in ways that are not legally required; in other words, the hero is valuable because he acts not as the law\u27s reasonable man, but as a figure wholly outside of it. This Note argues that as the duty to rescue expands, the moral realm in which the hero acts consequently shrinks, and that the values a hero inspires in society-hope, exemplary conduct, public celebration, societal reflection, and spiritual absolution-are likely to suffer as well. In this way, increasing the duty to rescue not only affects society but also runs the risk of confusing the law by deeming potentially heroic: action reasonable. This dual distortion of social and legal values merits a new and invigorated examination of the role of the hero as a real and meaningful concept-a concept that risks danger should the duty to rescue continue to expand

Assessing the Tax Administration Law of the People\u27s Republic of China

This article discusses the effort of the People\u27s Republic of China (PRC or China) to obtain revenue through taxes rather than through receipt of profits from state enterprises. In order to strengthen the tax system, in 1992 the Standing Committee of the National People\u27s Congress enacted the Law of the People\u27s Republic of China to Administer the Levying and Collection of Taxes (Tax Administration Law). The authors evaluate the PRC’s Tax administration Law, and discuss the factors that influenced the enactment of the Tax Administration Law and the Implementing Regulations. The authors also examine the Tax Administration Law’s general principles, and conclude that the Tax Administration Law cannot function effectively until China trams sufficient administrative and judicial personnel and alleviates tax illiteracy among its citizenry