Ghostbusters to Gaming: Professor is Passionate for Movies and Tech

Having joined the faculty only two years ago, Ryan Milner is fast becoming one of the students’ favorite communication professors.

Ryan Milner

College of Charleston Magazine caught Professor Milner in a free moment and asked him to share his interest in new social media tools, the future of communication and his love of video games.

Q: How did you get into the study of communication?

A: I joke with my intro media studies class that it started when I was 2 years old and my mom sat me down in front of Ghostbusters. I was entranced. I wouldn’t move. From then on, I was always intrigued by stories. So, combine a lifelong love of story with a lifelong interest in how people engage with each other, and you have a scholar who looks at the crazy cacophony that is participatory media. Now I get to see how people share Ghostbusters gifs on Tumblr, not just watch the movie at home.

RELATED: Read Milner’s insights on the phenomenon of Netflix bingeing.

Q: You’re a gamer. You even wrote your thesis on the video game fallout. What was your favorite video game growing up?

A: I remember getting my Nintendo 64 and playing way too much Wave Race 64, a game about Jet Ski racers that was just breathtaking for its time. Then I stumbled my way through Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the same console and, even as a middle schooler, realized the medium could be art, could express an epic story.

But I really, really cut my teeth on the original Fallout role-playing games in the late ’90s. I remember so vividly the first time my friend dropped the disc into his PC drive, and the hours I spent wandering the post-apocalyptic wastes after I got a copy of my own. They were funny, gritty, and allowed you as a player to make decisions about what happened in the world. Your choices meant whole different dialogue, twists, different endings. I hadn’t engaged stories like that, and I fell in love.

Video games have established their commercial viability and are on the verge of acceptance as a mass medium like film, music or TV. I think more attention to artistry develops next.