Ana,

Is that cultural criticism you wrote the same as the book you mentioned with
Peter Englund? Is there any chance that piece was translated into English?
Sounds like an interesting read.

I agree with you. I see all games as a kind of narrative; all games have
some unique story that is different every time you play. Those stories may
be very simple (like a single bout of a fighting game) but there is always
some sort of story there (usually complete with archetypes and cliches as
well).

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: agora--algonet.se [agora--algonet.se]
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 3:49 AM
To: <Address Masked>
Subject: Re: Player ages.


Hi, as autonominated mom or grandmom I can tell a little bit about
me. I am 51 years old, born in South America, in Uruguay, but
come to Sweden as a political refugee in the Seventies. I lived then
in a collective and two of your young members, 14 and 16 years old,
got a Commodore 64 and I got hooked. I played with them and start
to write cultural criticism about the games (I am a writer and a
cultural journalist as well). I played 7 Cities of Gold and reflected
about the impossibilities of the game, if you wanted win and be
promoted you was due to kill indians, the evangelization was tricky
and the program didn't allow any "alternative play".
My ancestors were Spanish and they colonized and evangelized
South and North America. The game was for me an interesting way
of think about them, about their admiration and their lack of
knowledge when they confronted the Mayas and the Incas, two of
the most developed cultures in the American continent.
For me the games (all of them) are a kind of narrative, a tale of
competition, exploring and achieving goals, a kind of "education" to
be a more complete person.
Yes, I know I am a romantic, but it's maybe my age :)

Ana, who speaks and write in Spanish, Swedish and English but
who still don't know how to slow down my machine to play AR
without being killed in tre seconds....