What the other side thinks

                The current thought about video games is something of an oddity. Growing up, I was often made fun of for playing video games. In junior high I can distinctly remember hearing the word "geek" and it was a swear word. Most who played games back then were made fun of, but not now. Today, gaming has taken on a life of its own. It seem like more and more people are discovering what we, the gamers, have always known. Gaming is one of the greatest mediums for telling a story. The power of this medium is without equal in the current market. The ability to tell a rich story is the secret ingredient that makes the average person love them so.

                As you can see, I have a great soft spot for the video game and what it can do. But what do people really think? Recently, I watched an interesting documentary called Gamers ^[1]that details what it is like to get in to World Of Warcraft(a massive multiplayer online game, Wow). This documentary goes in to depth about what it is to be addicted to a video game and how it effects those around the addicted gamer. I found the film eye opening to say the least. I had heard that people got addicted to video games, but I always made light of it. 'People always have the choice to stop playing a game' I thought. It turns out this may not always be the case. This is scary news. I had to take a step back and look at this film from a different perspective. What would this movie tell me if I was not a gamer? It would say that games get you addicted and have the potential to destroy lives.

                Now, I don't think that most people think this, but with the popularity rise of games like WoW, we will see more instances of game addiction and this is a good thing. People need to understand that being addicted to a game is just like being addicted to anything else. It is something pleasurable that we humans do and anything that provides pleasure has the potential to be addicting.

                This whole addiction things seems all doom and gloom, but that is not the scene I believe in. Games can be a great force for good. Let us take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum. In several different issues of the magazine Game Informer authors talk about how games can be a great story and how they are evolving what it is to tell a story.

                There is an article called, The Future Of Media^[2], that explains how a game can be a great story. It is written by Branden Sanderson, who is a famous sci-fi writer, and he talks about his first time playing a game and feeling like he has played a movie. Here is another person who feels the same way I do. There is something special about picking up a video game and being transported away in to another world. A world where you can interact and do what you would like. This is the future of media as the article discusses. Being able to interact with your environment is much more powerful than just seeing it as in a movie.

                One way a person experiences a video game more is when they fail. In a movie, it is not possible to fail in the sense that a video game can accomplish. Yes, in movies you feel true and deep feelings when the hero falls down. Secretly though, you know inside that he will get back up again. Not so in video games though. The article, Managing Your Mistakes[3], talks about this subject of failure and how it is evolving story telling. It goes in depth how video games are advancing the idea of choice in a medium. Think of that, choice, what a novel idea! Being able to choose how a story plays out makes it your own and all the more entertaining.  What if the idea of choice went too far though?

                The future envisioned by the movie, Gamer[4], is just the fiction of a video game choice taken too far. This movie paints a future where gamers take control of actual human beings and play different realities with them. The star gamer of the movie is one of the world's top combat players. There is also a seedier side of things where people rent out time with their bodies and let others control them. Gamer is an interesting movie, but it seems extreme. I think this kind of movie shows, or plays on, the fear that the average person has about video games taken too far. Games are immersive and can be very violent, but I don't think we would allow others to control our bodies for fun.

                In closing, I think we can see that our current media is critiquing games on all fronts. You have to look no further than the Salt Lake Tribune[5]. They recently released an article highlighting how games are a rich story. However, some are clearly against video games and some are for the advancement of the medium. I think though, like any new technology, time will tell. Video games really are in their infancy if you compare them to something as old as the written word. Even compared against movies they are young, being only about thirty years old. How will we receive future games? I think well. Even as games continue to grow and push the boundaries of how a story can be told, people will enjoy them.

Bibliography

1. Ben Gonyo, Gamers. Film. 2002.

2. Brandon Sanderson, "The Future Of Media," Game Informer, 224.

3. Jeff Marchiafava, "Managing Your Mistakes," Game Informer, 221

4. Mark Neveldine. Gamer. Film. Directed by Mark Neveldine. USA:Lionsgate, 2009.

5. Vince Houriuchi, "'Infinity Blade 2' adds deeper story to hit game," Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 27, 2011

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[1] Ben Gonyo, "Gamers". Film. 2002.

[2] Brandon Sanderson, "The Future Of Media," Game Informer, 224.

[3] Jeff Marchiafava, "Managing Your Mistakes," Game Informer, 221

[4] Mark Neveldine. Gamer. Film. Directed by Mark Neveldine. USA:Lionsgate, 2009.

[5] Vince Houriuchi, "'Infinity Blade 2' adds deeper story to hit game," Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 27, 2011.

One of the best stories to be had...

This is a short video of one of my favorite video games of all time, Mass Effect.

As you can see it is quite a moving story. And really, that is the point is it not? You can see it. Think for a moment if you had just listened to this video. Would it be powerful? I would argue yes, but not as powerful as seeing it. Video games bring that visual aspect, and also a tactile aspect, to the way we experience story. This way of emerging ourselves in story is, for me, far more powerful then just reading or watching alone.

Can Video Games Be a Force For Good?

                Why should society care about video games and the power of teaching that they represent? That is a great question and I intend to answer it. I touched on this subject some with my first post, but I would like to go in to more detail in this post.

                Video games have been viewed, by society as a whole, at best as a past time, and at worst as a waste of time. For many years video games were a simple interface and had little to no story. For example, the earlier games of Pong and Space Invaders, had almost no story and little to no narrative. I think for this reason video games got their beginning reputation as a waste of time. I would argue however, that video games of today have become a rich medium filled with story and narrative. The current generation of games can transport one's mind to a far away world, just like any good book. This was the subject of my previous post, and I will let the reader explore that topic in more depth there. Why should society embrace this new medium of video games? Because it is the future.

                In the near future every person will be playing some form of a game. In this modern day of tablets and smart phones everyone is playing games. My own mother will spend several hours a day playing Angry Birds or Words With Friends on her phone. This is something I have never seen her do in my entire life and frankly it is amazing. Games are reaching new audiences and frontiers and we, society, need to see them for what they are. A new form of entertainment and, most importantly, a new form of teaching tools.

                Society should realize the teaching potential held within a video game. Imagine, five or ten years from now, a kindergarten class. When the kindergartners arrive at their class room they do not have books or even desk to do their work on. Instead they have several projectors set up with an XBOX 360 and a Kinect device at each. These setups would teach a different subject and the children would rotate, in groups, through each set up learning different topics. The teacher would be more of an administrator and help the children when they got stuck on a certain level or problem. Their weekly tests would be like a boss battle in the game and once they pass that, they can move on to harder material. Now you may be thinking, "Oh no, our future children will be social retards incapable of interacting with other human beings!" I can see how you would think this, but that is why it is a social experience. Humans learn better in groups, as opposed to being alone, and for this reason children will go about their subjects with other students. They will be learning team building skills while learning how to conquer the current material. To give a further example of how kindergartners could learn, imagine a spelling game.

                In this spelling game children could use the Kinect feature  and actually interact with the letters. They could pick them up and physically build words with them. This would teach them proper grammar, build their motor skills, and help with social interaction all at the same time. Another example of a game could be a physics oriented simulation. The kids are presented with a level where a door needs to be opened. On this door is a pulley system with a tray on it. The kids need to work together to gather blocks to put on the tray and lift the door. This teaches them both how to work and communicate together and how to grasp basic physics. The power to learn, and learn rapidly, is why society should care.

                This is where the future of teaching is going. It is moving towards more interactivity and the wide spread distribution of knowledge. For example, if a child gets stuck for a certain period, a YouTube video would come on showing hints on how to solve a certain problem. I know when I get stuck with my homework, the first place I turn to is Google, then the second is YouTube. Right now though, it is a clunky affair to sift through all of the useless sites and find actual gems of help. This interactivity is another reason how video games would help in the learning process.

                These are some examples how video games are evolving to help be a form of storytelling and a force for good. They do not have to be a waste of time and can be something constructive. But for this to happen they need to be embraced by the masses at large and seen as a good thing. I look forward to the time when video games achieve this level of teaching and I feel that we, as a society, are better for this new breed of video game.

Video Games And Their Literary History

               

Was the first video game Pong? This is what many believe and the answer is yes and no at the same time. It really depends on what you want to consider a video game. According to David Winter, the author of the site pong-story.com, a video game is something that is played on a monitor or T.V.[1] Does Pong tell a story? It could be argued that with Pong, came the birth of conflict on a digital screen and the story was between the players. This idea of a screen of light and pixels telling a story has fascinated me since my early days with Mario on the Nintendo Console. So we have Pong as an early forerunner of telling a tale, but where does the trend go from there?

                The trend goes to the arcades and it goes with a massive following. Fast forward a few years to 1971 and we have our first coin operated arcade game, Computer Space[2]. The arcade scene was born and it turned out to be fascinating one. When I was a kid, arcades were this magical place with lights and sounds that made me feel that I had jumped in to the future. It was a place where time did not exist and the only thing to be had was fun with friends. Arcades in their very nature were a social experience and this meta social experience was the story. Many like minded people gathered to see who could get the top score and who had the fastest thumbs. This display of techno dominance was at a personal level and told a story all its own. When one gamer trumps the score of another, it is emotion and it is a powerful thing. Some could argue that the arcade scene was a niche thing and not many participated, but that would be wrong. We have films such as The Last Starfighter  and Tron that prove otherwise. Both of these films feature heavy usage of arcade machines. If the arcade was so popular, where did it go? Like most forms of technology, the king of the techno arena is usurped by a new arrival on the scene, and in this case, the home console.

                The makers of Computer Space thought that they were not getting enough money for their game so they formed a small company called Atari.[2] Atari came out with the Atari 2600, which featured a remake of the game Pong and it was one of the highest selling games and consoles of its time. Now we have a shift from the arcade story to the home story. Friends gather together in a schoolyard and talk about how they got past a certain level on Zelda[4]. Video games were bringing people together using something that is by definition a solo activity. At this point, video games took their rightful place amongst books and movies as a form of storytelling. Because they were being analyzed and critiqued amongst a group of people. The evolution of video game lore does not stop there however. Because at this time, video games were considered a "nerd" past time. It was thought that only social outcasts sit in front of their T.V.s and play away. Let us once again make a jump in to the future to the next highlight in digital story telling development.

                The year was 2001 and I was standing in an RC Willey department store. My new Xbox sitting in my cart and there I am, staring at the choices for my first Xbox game. It was between some game with a robot looking guy on the cover and some sort of party game. I thought, "well, robots are neat, why not that one". So I pick up Halo and notice that you can have sixteen players, how cool. I get home with my three other friends, because four is the max on one console, and we start to play. Now, you must keep in mind, a first person shooter is not new to us. Golden Eye, on the Nintendo 64, was our first foray in to a shooter match. But Halo blew us away. The graphics and vehicles were something else and absolutely amazing. Soon, my friends had Xboxs each and we were doing sixteen person games every weekend. At this time, I argue, the social outcast notion was blown away with fragmentation grenades and assault rifles. In High School I even heard football players and the class president talking about Halo. Video games had finally reached the mainstream audience of teenagers and it was no longer a "nerd" thing to do. The story telling by games at this point had evolved to include every average person and all parties involved are better for it. Now we have seen that the video game narrative has reached the masses, let us move to modern day and possibly what lies ahead.

                Today, video games have stories as powerful as any book or movie ever could. One of my personal favorites is Mass Effect. This game is stunning. I sat down to play this game expecting just another shooter, and I could not have been more wrong. Mass Effect is a sci-fi space drama with enough back story and alien race lore to fill several novels. The story is so engrossing because you can choose what and how your characters evolves and those choices evolve the world around you[3]. This is the cutting edge of emergent story telling using a video game and it is here to stay. Games in the future will not only shape the world to your successes but also to your failures[5]. This new narrative ability is the future of games and how they will tell a story. It is exciting and awe inspiring at the same time. Thanks for reading my brief history on the story telling of video games. Get out there and find a game that grabs you and does not let go!       

[1]

Winter, David. "The Pong Story." Pong Story. 2010 accessed Sep 21, 2011. http://www.pong-story.com/intro.htm

[2]

History Of Video Games. Wikipedia. Sep 21, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games

[3]

caval 14. "Mass Effect: Keeping Wrex from Dying/Charismatic Achievement," YouTube. Sep 21,2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNoqEs5B48&feature=related

[4]

Eiji Aonuma, "The Legend Of Zelda," Game Informer 222, pg 40.

[5]

Jeff Marchiafava, "Managing You Mistakes," Game Informer 221. pg 46.        

Why you should care

                In choosing this topic it is my intention to express my great fascination, and passion, with video games in general. I wish to convey upon the minds of the reader what a video game can be and why you should care about them.

                Many times in my life I have had to defend the entire genre of video games to those around me and this has led me to my chosen topic. I feel, as an avid gamer, that everyone can find a video game they just love and never want to put down. Video games can be an expression of how a person truly thinks on the inside, or they can portray the inner workings of the mind. I don't pretend to have a strong grasp on the field of psychology, but I have noticed certain personality types gravitate towards certain types of games. For example, I would argue that the average player of call of duty has a shorter attention span and is happier with instant gratification. But I digress, this is something I wish to talk more about in a later post, back to my original thought, why everyone should enjoy a video game.

                When I was around four or five I remember the first time I played a truly epic game. Here I do not use the term "epic" lightly, it is a proper word and is overly used in society. This epic game was called "Kings Quest V. Absence makes the heart go yonder". This game was something magical. It was my first role playing game and the first adventure game I had ever seen. It had wizards, evil creatures, and everything else a little boy could want in a good fantasy tale. There was only one problem. Back in those days there was no voice acting, there was not even the technology to support voice acting, so everything about the story was done in text. And I could not read. As you can see, this made it quite hard to play the game. My older sister even told me that I could not play the game, which was technically hers, because I could not read. This did not discourage me however. I rose to the challenge and through some long nights of study I learned how to read just so I could see her wrong and play this great game.

                This is the experience I am truly talking about. A video game can be a great tool for learning and creativity. This game  gave me a extra drive to learn to read and now that I look back on this event, it is amazing to think about. Because of this, I know everybody can experience something like this as well with a good game and I encourage people to do this.

                One of my favorite activities while in the employ of Gamestop was to engage in an exercise with my co worker. We would each try to find the perfect game for our customer and the winner of this exercise would be when said customer returns and has a huge smile on their face, and can't stop talking about the game. I loved doing this. You see, there is no one game for everyone. It is like picking out the perfect fitting pair of shoes for someone. Not everyone is going to like a shooter or a role playing game. Those two genre crowds do not generally get along. The fun part about this co worker exercise is that the customer usually has no idea what kind of game they like, and that makes it a fun thing to do.

                You must inquire about the person, do they have the patience for a stealth game? Where it could take 15 minutes just sitting and surveying the area before deciding what to do? Or do they have the internal drive for a sandbox style game, such as Minecraft or Oblivion, which requires that they make their own story and play their own way? Or are they a third type, someone who does not have a lot of time and they just want to waste their buddys in a frag fest and laugh as their bodies hit the ground?

                All of these aspects are something to consider when thinking about games in general. It is rare that a shooter fan will enjoy something as "boring" as Minecraft. Or that the person who spends 80 hours building a to scale recreation of the star trek enterprise, this really exist(warning, it swears!)¹, in Minecraft will think that shooting somebody is fun.

                In the end though, all that matters is that a person enjoys what they are doing and they have fun doing it with others. In closing to this long winded rant about video games, my question to the masses is thus.

What kind of gamer do you think you are?

¹