I decided to play Kim Kardashian Hollywood because I had heard about it before but never actually played it so I wanted to compare what I predicted the game to be like versus what it was really like. The game wasn’t far from my prediction I thought it was going to be just random activities that you do to live in a Kim Kardashian lifestyle. But to get a little more descriptive you actually customize your own avatar then you are started with a list of goals that help you get points. The points are in three categories money, lightening point and silver stars (which I believe determine popularity). As you are complete more goals you attain more popularity and move on to the next level. A couple of things I disliked about the game was that there was a lot of narrative going on, (which made me impatient while playing the game) and there was so much going on the screen like tabs and new goals list there were some tabs that I didn’t even know why they were there they just had random info that seem relevant but I couldn’t do anything with it.
From a psychological level it’s easy to see how some people can get very submerged into the game, because the game becomes your own personal lifestyle. You control aspects of “your life” that in reality that you normally don’t have power over. For example mingling and flirting to acquire a higher status and going out with celebrities for publicity.According to Jesper Juul “A game is a rule-based formal system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome…” and Galloway explains it as “an activity defined by rules to reach some sort of goal”. Taking this into account I would consider Kim Kardashian Hollywood a game because there is a series of steps and rules that help me reach my goal of becoming an A-lister which parallels to Juul’s “variable and quantifiable outcome”. Personally I do not believe that a game should be defined by a goal, it should be defined as an activity that doesn’t apply to the realms of reality.
Video Games and/as Art 
I definitely agree with you regarding there being so much going on. I would get confused and not know what to do, so that was definitely frustrating. However, it would have been a bit more engaging if you would have elaborated more on why it is considered a “game.”
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I looked at Juul’s concept of “variable and quantifiable outcome” and parallel it to the goal of becoming a A-lister, he continues to explain how the “player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome”, me being the player tries everything ( networking, doing photo shoots, and collecting points) to reach that higher status and publicity.
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I agree with your opinion that Kim Kardashian Hollywood is a game. I also share your boredom towards the in game text. I stopped reading the dialog when I reached level 4.
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I do wonder if there is feedback sent from players on what they do or don’t like about this game and if the developers change it accordingly? Because I would definitely try to modify the narrative to a minimum
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The Graphical user interface (GUI) leaves a lot to be desired in this game but it is running on an older engine that the developer wanted to get some use out of it.
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Can you elaborate on what a GUI is and what it does?
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So a Graphical User Interface or GUI is essentially what the application is showing. An example of a GUI that you use every day is Google Chrome. You have the search bar at the top of the screen which allows you to look things up on the web and the bottom of the screen shows the page of the website that you are searching for.
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I liked how you explained the Kardashian game concisely. Also, I agree with you on how easily it can be for a person to get submerged into this game through having a lot of control in this virtual-reality. I still consider this a game because of Juuls’ and Galloway’s perspectives, but it’s definitely a bad one, and doesn’t compare to the most games.
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“You control aspects of “your life” that in reality that you normally don’t have power over”
Like what? Putting on clothing?
“it should be defined as an activity that doesn’t apply to the realms of reality”
I totally agree with you.
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Im glad you agreed even though the game is a little garbage that it still can be regarded as a game. I also played the game for my blog post and thought of it to be a fun-lacking game because of the role playing that requires you to kind of follow the script. I also liked reading your perspective of the psychological aspect of the game and how it indulges the player to have a sense of control over “their” life.
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There’s a bit of a gap between your first and second paragraphs. You spend a lot of time explaining the game, and even mentioning psychological reasons why its visual layout doesn’t appeal to you. Ultimately, you do not link this whole part of the blog to your very quick elaboration of how it is a game. You also don’t really show your reader how it is a game, only going so far as to say that it follows Juul’s account of variable and quantifiable outcomes. What of the rest? Why mention Galloway at all? And why or why do you not take Huizinga’s account with its magic circle if you then argue that games should not impinge on reality!?
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Isn’t the goal a little irrelevant in this case? It takes so many hours of play to reach a higher status, and judging from the game, it probably expands after that to entice the player to play more. I know you said you thought it was a game because of the definition but you personally not sold. Is it possible that there is a hegemony of play conflict going on here? That us as players aren’t used to this type of game and because it is designed for women we are hesitant to fully consider it a game?
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