As I write, I’m sat in my armchair feeling slightly confused and desolate because I’ve just finished yet another video game. That makes ten this year. The fact of the matter is that before this year I may have bought plenty of games, but I didn’t actually play them. So why the change? I put it down to not being in the pub in principle; it’s not like I don’t have plenty of things to do. With training for runs I’m generally more busy than ever, but I seldom drink. I have never been dreadfully into playing games when hungover, which is not often a problem in recent times. Besides, as mentioned, I’ve bought all these games and feel rather ashamed of how little I’ve actually played them.
During the last twelve years the nature of the video game has changed, reflecting increased popularity, the diversified interests of gamers, and the former pioneers of video game consumption maturing in age. It is, perhaps, none too surprising that video game players have become an increasingly complex and demanding demographic. Afterall, it isn’t just the technology that has developed: Our reactions are honed, our problem-solving and pattern recognition skills eclipse pre-gaming generations, and we expect to be consistently amazed. In this modern age a successful game typically needs complex characterisation, plot, intrigue, special effects and the high production values associated with a blockbuster film or successful tv series. That’s in addition to the puzzle and AI implications traditionally associated with computing and the prevalence of online multiplayer gaming as a social recreation.
Maybe it’s natural that an activity that acknowledges its origins as darkened rooms, pizza faced adolescents and all-night sessions to finish “just one more level” should attract some of the most creative designers, architects and production teams of our time. Afterall, with no prerogative to be achingly cool, or even to appeal to the high earners, games are a true mass commodity, with a well-established code of embracing the weird and other. In fact, although one could easily forget it in the current climate of painfully overpriced gaming systems, the games console was based on Atari’s original design concept for leisure computing that everyone could afford, and with a little sacrifice here and there, it still succeeds on the back of that noble sentiment.
I feel optimistic for video games. They are pushing back the boundaries of our drab, overcrowded, polluted world, offering hitherto unparalleled degrees of interactivity with creative media. If the unknown world is the past, the unknown imagination is the future.
Advertisement
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
BBC News
A few thoughts upon the occasion of finishing a video game
As I write, I’m sat in my armchair feeling slightly confused and desolate because I’ve just finished yet another video game. That makes ten this year. The fact of the matter is that before this year I may have bought plenty of games, but I didn’t actually play them. So why the change? I put it down to not being in the pub in principle; it’s not like I don’t have plenty of things to do. With training for runs I’m generally more busy than ever, but I seldom drink. I have never been dreadfully into playing games when hungover, which is not often a problem in recent times. Besides, as mentioned, I’ve bought all these games and feel rather ashamed of how little I’ve actually played them.
During the last twelve years the nature of the video game has changed, reflecting increased popularity, the diversified interests of gamers, and the former pioneers of video game consumption maturing in age. It is, perhaps, none too surprising that video game players have become an increasingly complex and demanding demographic. Afterall, it isn’t just the technology that has developed: Our reactions are honed, our problem-solving and pattern recognition skills eclipse pre-gaming generations, and we expect to be consistently amazed. In this modern age a successful game typically needs complex characterisation, plot, intrigue, special effects and the high production values associated with a blockbuster film or successful tv series. That’s in addition to the puzzle and AI implications traditionally associated with computing and the prevalence of online multiplayer gaming as a social recreation.
Maybe it’s natural that an activity that acknowledges its origins as darkened rooms, pizza faced adolescents and all-night sessions to finish “just one more level” should attract some of the most creative designers, architects and production teams of our time. Afterall, with no prerogative to be achingly cool, or even to appeal to the high earners, games are a true mass commodity, with a well-established code of embracing the weird and other. In fact, although one could easily forget it in the current climate of painfully overpriced gaming systems, the games console was based on Atari’s original design concept for leisure computing that everyone could afford, and with a little sacrifice here and there, it still succeeds on the back of that noble sentiment.
I feel optimistic for video games. They are pushing back the boundaries of our drab, overcrowded, polluted world, offering hitherto unparalleled degrees of interactivity with creative media. If the unknown world is the past, the unknown imagination is the future.
Share this:
Like this: