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
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
[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.
After your time playing video games, what do you think of the quote from the nintendo guy that basically says 'if video games influenced people to kill we would be going around trying to eat each other after playing pacman'?
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