This is why the whole experience for me of photographing as an in game photographer was very strange. People kept saying to me 'well, why don't you just go into the game and take a screen shot.' Sounds simple I know, but firstly, just like in reality you have to trek around these vast landscapes to find the shots you want and them frame them with the controller as you would have to with a camera in real life. there are also smaller underlying factors such as: Camera shutter speed = the brightness of your TV. Also just like in real life searching for an image you have to take a step back. Every photographer has done it before. Been in a busy place and just sat down and watched everyone rush past. This is exactly the same in a video game, you take a step back from where the game is trying to direct you and venture somewhere else, video games weren't programmed for you to be walking around taking pictures of the scenery so there are often obstacles.
David Kelley states in 'Half Real' his definition of a game is:
'...a form of recreation constituted by a set of rules that specify an object to be attained and the permissible means of attaining it.'
But if this phrase is broken down isn't this what ones life is about anyway?
'...a set of rules that specify an object.'
We all have to follow a set of rules everyday, at work, at school, in shopping centres, the law.
'...an object to be attained and the permissible means of attaining it.'
We all have goals in life even if they're not obvious to us. Whether it be something large scale like getting a Job or something small like getting the butter out of the fridge we have goals on a daily basis.
What Im trying to say here is that the way games work arn't really far from different from the lives we live. It just tends to be that our lives are far more complicated. The gap between the real and the virtual is probably a lot smaller than a lot of people realise.
