A cross post from the Bioboard.
BitMob has billed itself as the place 'Where Community Meets the Press.' Lately it has released a couple of articles that are the journalistic equivalent of pond scum. (All provided by community members, of course.)
The latest is, The Face of Gaming Needs a Make-Over. I clicked on it thinking it might relate to the depiction of minorities in gaming. Ha!
The article begins simply enough: “Being a 27-year-old male I am still surprised how consistently I have to defend the honor of videogames. I dream of the day when games aren't looked at as the lowest rung on the entertainment ladder.”
Okay! This is written by an adult who wants one of his preferred entertainment venues to receive the respect he feels it disserves. Now, he’s being a touch melodramatic (“I have to defend the honor” makes it sound as those TV lovers are constantly calling him out in duels) but I also would like video games to get a bit more respect as an artistic medium. Um, well, he says entertainment but I’m sure he means artistic or intellectual respect.
“The gaming industry grosses just as much money as movies or books, yet both of those are seen as intellectually superior. Why is that?”
Huh? Yes, video games are more profitable than films and books, but that hardly seems like a pertinent fact. The amount of money a product makes has nothing to do with its intellectual value. Dumb and Dumber made more money than Pan’s Labyrinth. Harry Potter made more money than The Things They Carried. Halo made more money than Psychonauts. Yet I’ve heard the latter all described as strongly intellectual or artistic works, while the former aren’t.
I’d suggest the answer to the question ‘Why is that?’ would be that video games still largely lack the elements needed to be considered intellectually superior.
“Just as clearly, I remember the first time I knocked out Mike Tyson, and the first time I dominated in a 16-person Halo LAN party. These are all great feelings, but truthfully none of them really accomplished anything. I didn't solve world hunger; I didn't save anyone's life. Just because they weren't actual accomplishments doesn't take from the enjoyment I experienced while partaking in these events. These were legitimate pleasurable moments in my life, and looking back neither making the winning basket or beating Punch-Out!! is better or worse. They are just different.”
And interestingly, the author is back to games as mere entertainment. Games are about ‘great feelings’ and do not make one’s life ‘better or worse.’ I’ve never heard a fan of film or books say the same about their preferred medium. Personally, 1984 did not give me a great feeling, but it did expose me to ideas about language and societal power that have become part and parcel of how I conceptualize the world.
” I've learned that pointing out the inconsistencies in people's beliefs does no good. For instance, whether you are reading a book or watching TV, you're doing the same amount of activity. Yet, I've been told countless times by people attempting to impress me, "I don't watch TV, I'd rather read a good book."”
Watching TV and reading a book require the same amount of physical activity, therefore they are intellectually equal -- At this point, I’ve decided the writer has no idea what he’s talking about. He also fails to point out how preferring a book over TV is inconsistent.
Moving ahead to this man’s plan to save ‘the face of gaming.’
” The only way to make people accept something new is to make them feel that they are stupid for not understanding it.
The next time someone wants you to explain to them why gaming is a legitimate source of entertainment, brush them off. Tell them that they won't understand. Make them feel stupid and inadequate. Say things like, "How can I put BioShock in layman's terms?" and then sigh and stare bravely at the horizon. Or, "Let's see if I can dumb down for you why Final Fantasy is awesome." Maybe leave out the part about how Tifa was the first woman you really loved.“
Wow. Just wow.
Don’t make better games. Don’t promote and support games which expand and improve the medium. Don’t attempt to foster an attitude within the gaming community that values more than mindless run-and-gun with cutting edge graphics. Don’t demand more of yourself as a gamer – perhaps exploring outside your preferred genre or thinking critically about the games you buy.
This man’s plan for saving the face of gaming is to spew BS. Pretty thin BS too, if he thinks Bioshock has elements that would be difficult to put into layman's terms.
I think Derek Amundson should take his collection of games, pile them up, urinate on them, and set them on fire, because that would be the best expression of the esteem he holds video games in. He doesn’t want games to *be* intellectually superior. He wants his grandmother (seriously, read the article) to consider his Halo matches just as good as Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.
Personally, I’d rather a developer make the gaming equivalent of Remembrance, or Pan’s Labyrinth, or the Things They Carried, and to for enough people to buy it that they can stay in business. The face of gaming I’d like to change is the (white, male) grizzled space marine who solves his problems by killing stuff or Madden MCXXXVI.
The great thing is that I see this happening. The sad thing is the so-called ‘fans of gaming’ whose only objection to the current state of gaming is that Fox News writes mean stories about us.
BitMob has billed itself as the place 'Where Community Meets the Press.' Lately it has released a couple of articles that are the journalistic equivalent of pond scum. (All provided by community members, of course.)
The latest is, The Face of Gaming Needs a Make-Over. I clicked on it thinking it might relate to the depiction of minorities in gaming. Ha!
The article begins simply enough: “Being a 27-year-old male I am still surprised how consistently I have to defend the honor of videogames. I dream of the day when games aren't looked at as the lowest rung on the entertainment ladder.”
Okay! This is written by an adult who wants one of his preferred entertainment venues to receive the respect he feels it disserves. Now, he’s being a touch melodramatic (“I have to defend the honor” makes it sound as those TV lovers are constantly calling him out in duels) but I also would like video games to get a bit more respect as an artistic medium. Um, well, he says entertainment but I’m sure he means artistic or intellectual respect.
“The gaming industry grosses just as much money as movies or books, yet both of those are seen as intellectually superior. Why is that?”
Huh? Yes, video games are more profitable than films and books, but that hardly seems like a pertinent fact. The amount of money a product makes has nothing to do with its intellectual value. Dumb and Dumber made more money than Pan’s Labyrinth. Harry Potter made more money than The Things They Carried. Halo made more money than Psychonauts. Yet I’ve heard the latter all described as strongly intellectual or artistic works, while the former aren’t.
I’d suggest the answer to the question ‘Why is that?’ would be that video games still largely lack the elements needed to be considered intellectually superior.
“Just as clearly, I remember the first time I knocked out Mike Tyson, and the first time I dominated in a 16-person Halo LAN party. These are all great feelings, but truthfully none of them really accomplished anything. I didn't solve world hunger; I didn't save anyone's life. Just because they weren't actual accomplishments doesn't take from the enjoyment I experienced while partaking in these events. These were legitimate pleasurable moments in my life, and looking back neither making the winning basket or beating Punch-Out!! is better or worse. They are just different.”
And interestingly, the author is back to games as mere entertainment. Games are about ‘great feelings’ and do not make one’s life ‘better or worse.’ I’ve never heard a fan of film or books say the same about their preferred medium. Personally, 1984 did not give me a great feeling, but it did expose me to ideas about language and societal power that have become part and parcel of how I conceptualize the world.
” I've learned that pointing out the inconsistencies in people's beliefs does no good. For instance, whether you are reading a book or watching TV, you're doing the same amount of activity. Yet, I've been told countless times by people attempting to impress me, "I don't watch TV, I'd rather read a good book."”
Watching TV and reading a book require the same amount of physical activity, therefore they are intellectually equal -- At this point, I’ve decided the writer has no idea what he’s talking about. He also fails to point out how preferring a book over TV is inconsistent.
Moving ahead to this man’s plan to save ‘the face of gaming.’
” The only way to make people accept something new is to make them feel that they are stupid for not understanding it.
The next time someone wants you to explain to them why gaming is a legitimate source of entertainment, brush them off. Tell them that they won't understand. Make them feel stupid and inadequate. Say things like, "How can I put BioShock in layman's terms?" and then sigh and stare bravely at the horizon. Or, "Let's see if I can dumb down for you why Final Fantasy is awesome." Maybe leave out the part about how Tifa was the first woman you really loved.“
Wow. Just wow.
Don’t make better games. Don’t promote and support games which expand and improve the medium. Don’t attempt to foster an attitude within the gaming community that values more than mindless run-and-gun with cutting edge graphics. Don’t demand more of yourself as a gamer – perhaps exploring outside your preferred genre or thinking critically about the games you buy.
This man’s plan for saving the face of gaming is to spew BS. Pretty thin BS too, if he thinks Bioshock has elements that would be difficult to put into layman's terms.
I think Derek Amundson should take his collection of games, pile them up, urinate on them, and set them on fire, because that would be the best expression of the esteem he holds video games in. He doesn’t want games to *be* intellectually superior. He wants his grandmother (seriously, read the article) to consider his Halo matches just as good as Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past.
Personally, I’d rather a developer make the gaming equivalent of Remembrance, or Pan’s Labyrinth, or the Things They Carried, and to for enough people to buy it that they can stay in business. The face of gaming I’d like to change is the (white, male) grizzled space marine who solves his problems by killing stuff or Madden MCXXXVI.
The great thing is that I see this happening. The sad thing is the so-called ‘fans of gaming’ whose only objection to the current state of gaming is that Fox News writes mean stories about us.
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Great post.
Just a thought. Your "post a comment" function seems a little whacked out, at least on my Mozilla browser - only part the preview screen is visible at a time, and there is no scroll function. It's pretty tough to use.
the undercurrent of pleas for acceptance and legitimacy is probably one of the worst things about gaming culture.
http://www.magicalwasteland.com/2009/02/no_seriously_ive_gone_legit.htm
this line of thinking always comes back to not having to justify gaming as a hobby; advancement isn't getting better games or bringing more diverse audiences into the fold, it's just not having mom tell you to stop playing that nintendo. it's also telling that people making this argument always seem to act as if it's some unique stigma of gamers to have a hobby that others don't appreciate, or to have a new form of entertainment that gets unfairly scrutinized by people who didn't grow up with it.
the author's solution is naturally to try and ostracize people, only in a way that's passive-aggressive enough to both resemble the "trying way to hard to impress people" tactic he mocks earlier and still make it plainly evident that he cares very much about acceptance.
the really funny thing is that the wii has probably been more beneficial than anything else in making a first step to convince outsiders that hey maybe these vidya games aren't a complete waste of someone's life, but anyone namedropping bioshock in a "games are legit" post invariably derides the machine.
@ripper – Thank you for the comments. Do you have difficulty posting on other blogspot blogs? I’ll fool around with the settings tonight and see if I can get it working.
@deepseasharc – Games are wildly popular, and that trend is just going to continue. I think that as more quality games are created ‘legitimacy’ will come naturally. It’s true that some pundits will always see games as a corrupting influence, but that’s the case with music, movies, TV, etc.
Thanks for the link, interesting article.
I frequently hear fanboy rants like this. They want 'games to be taken seriously/considered art' but once anyone actually makes critical interpretation or analyses of a game, they're 'reading too much into it' and are told to STFU because 'it's just a game'. I swear, these fanboys have no idea WHAT they want.
They're just whining that they don't get 'the respect they deserve' for playing video games because apparently, it's -vital- that everyone else in the world legitimizes your interest in a particular hobby. =P
P.S. I also cannot see or scroll down to click the 'post' button after being prompted to type in the anti-spam code. You need to use TAB to nudge the form down far enough to click it.