The Future of Gaming

The Future of Gaming

By Lee Glenister

 

In the beginning, video games were simple. Space invaders, Pong, Tetris, each had a certain charm that preoccupied its audience for a while. But the information age brought with it some impressive innovations. Technology marched on at an alarming rate, and suddenly the potential was there for so much more. Video games became longer, more detailed, more realistic. Developers found themselves with the ability to create an entire world out of data.

 

You only have to look at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (known to many as E3) to see just how far games have come. Microsoft continued to push their full body motion and voice controller, Kinect, and Nintendo unveiled a new motion based addition to their Wii console; the Wii U. Game play for Bioware's highly anticipated title Mass Effect 3 boasted integration of Kinect's voice control in order to command squad mates and select dialogue options. Indeed, the focus of Microsoft's E3 spot seemed to be on creating a more immersive game play experience.

 

Immersion isn't a universally appealing prospect though. Many people have long been of the opinion that the gritty realism of today's violent videogames can cause aggressiveness, especially in children. Whether or not this is the case is hard to say; reliable studies are few and far between. After all, video games haven't been around as long as television or movies. What really needs to be questioned is whether violent games create aggressive personalities, or just attract them. You'll find no argument from me, however, that excessive violence can have negative effects on developing minds. If games are ever going to escape the stigma attached to them, publishers have to either reign in inappropriate content, or give their games a higher age rating.

 

It doesn't help that gaming isn't a particularly well respected pass time in the first place. For a long time games have been seen as a niche hobby; a haven for the socially inept, give or take a few exceptions.  There's this image that springs to mind when talking about a "gamer"; that of the overgrown, unwashed man-child sat in a dark, dank room with a controller clutched in his gnarled hands for hours on end. I'll be honest – it's not an entirely untruthful stereotype. But like most it isn't representative of the entirety of the fandom. I mean, just look at the Nintendo Wii. This is a console that's brought thousands, maybe millions of people into gaming who would never have given it a second thought otherwise. Old, young, man, woman it didn't matter, all that mattered was having fun.

 

One of the biggest changes that better technology brought to the industry was the ability to make games that mean something; games with stories and events that actually mattered. I'm talking about games as art. I always thought of games like a film, or a story like any other. The one big distinction is that you, the player, drive the narrative. You're actively participating. It's like being a film star! Well, a director at least. The fact that you are deciding how the story plays out makes everything more personal, more real, and with the level of technology we have today, the effect is greater than ever. To paraphrase the respected film critic, Roger Ebert; games can never be art. Art is about the artist; if the player determines the outcome that flexibility betrays the artist's intent. Tragedy is satisfying to witness, but players will rarely choose to plunge themselves into it – they want the "good ending". I respect Ebert, but I propose an alternative: what if the developers of the game are not the only artists? What if, by participating in the story, controlling the characters, the players too are the artists? To me, games are a collaborative effort; the developers create the world, and the players inhabit it. Besides, players aren't all about the completion score. A lot of them do plunge themselves into tragedy for the sheer satisfaction of a well crafted story. Let's give them some credit, shall we? I understand the argument though. The problem is game play and story segregation and letting them play off one another rather than restrict each other, but that's a topic for another day.

 

Games, to me, have a pretty bright future ahead of them. New technologies keep on impressing me and developers really seem to want to create something meaningful. If you're a gamer, look forward to the growth of the industry. If you're not, keep an eye out. You might just find something you like.