sociologist

Thanks for sharing - it was a fun (and well attended) panel.

Hey guys, just a note that I'm presenting an early version of the paper to the Pacific Sociological Association conference in a month. Academic things can take awhile with the juggling of multiple simultaneous responsibilities (teaching, writing, job market), etc. Will update - cheers!

Writing it up. Academic writing and publishing are slow Thanks, Brian. Got back to you via email.

Thank you so much for your time and insight! And sorry for the late reply - have been working on the article Hmm... didn't know this. Thanks!

Thanks so much for this post! The encouragement is very heartening. I really appreciated your perspectives on the relationship between video games and early computing! Also, some of the articles in the two volumes of the Video Game Theory Reader may be of interest. I don't know how widely those books are read by nonacademic gamers. Thank you both! At the moment, I'm wrapping up my first round of interviews, and am going to incorporate them into the draft of the article. I may well return in two or three weeks' time for a second round! Gary

Fair point about the Odyssey being basically a version of Pong - I suppose the overlays gave players a sense that they were actually playing different 'games'/sports (the marketing also emphasized this), but it was ultimately just pong. Funny you posted that What's My Line clip - I was actually thinking of doing the same thing myself. I discuss that clip in my article, actually. It gets at the novelty of being able to manipulate the image on the screen. It will be semi-public; it will end up in an academic journal, probably in about a year (academic writing / publishing are very slow).

Yep, Jim, I did mean the original Odyssey, but this is a really kind and generous offer on your part. I'm going to keep conducting interviews focusing on the Odyssey and VCS for now, but may take you up on this offer in the future. I'm really interested in the earliest consoles as a way into the moment of 'inception' and initial sociocultural impact of this new technology.

Thanks so much for this reply. Re 1) yes, that is interesting... suggests there was an initial novelty factor that wore off quite quickly 2) Hmm, I know that RCA is meant to have really botched its attempt to enter the video game market in the 70s. 3) This I'd heard of but had sort of forgotten about. I know one issue with initial sales was that many consumers were under the impression that the console only worked with Magnavox TVs. There's something interesting at play there about the relationship between branding and technological development, i.e., how market dynamics shape, help, and/or hinder technological development. Thank you again!

I just might - thanks! Not a hardcore gamer myself, but I've always taken an interest in the history of the genre. I certainly played a ton as a kid - in particular I have fond memories of Madden and Fifa 94 on Sega. Also, don't know how many of you have encountered the book Racing the Beam: The Atari VCS, but it's probably the most widely read academic piece on the Atari: https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Beam-Computer-Platform-Studies/dp/026201257X

Thanks so much for the replies, and the warm reception.

Hi everyone, I'm a sociologist of media doing a project on early game consoles, especially the Odyssey and VCS. If you played those consoles when they came out - or perhaps slightly later versions of them - I'd be really interested to talk to you! I want to understand how these systems impacted people's relationship to consumer technology in general, and television in particular. Find my previous publications / information here: https://soc.ucla.edu/grads/gary-yeritsian Thanks! Gary

Hi everyone, I'm a sociologist of media doing a project on early game consoles, especially the Odyssey and VCS. If you played those consoles when they came out - or perhaps slightly later versions of them - I'd be really interested to talk to you! I want to understand how these systems impacted people's relationship to consumer technology in general, and television in particular. Find my previous publications / information here: https://soc.ucla.edu/grads/gary-yeritsian Thanks! Gary