Games: They Aren’t What They Used To Be
I was recently packing my house up to get ready to move (which is a whole other issue) and I found a bunch of old PS2 games and even older PS One games. As I started looking through the titles, it got me started thinking about the very first games and how they’ve become, and marketed as, as something we can be, not just play.
The very first game that could be played on a console, such as it was, was Pong. It was hours and hours of enjoyment. After that, there were a slew of video games with really bad graphics (by our standards) and sometimes insanely difficult levels (anyone remember E.T?) Games took a break for a while and then our favorite Italian hit the scene trying to rescue a Princess and stomping mushrooms along the way. But games were something we played, something we did to amuse ourselves. Computer games were slightly more developed, but even they were clunky and often difficult to play. And you never really got immersed in the game. However, in 1993 came Doom. And then gaming all changed.
Doom was one of the first first-person shooters. It got you behind the action. You had to turn to look at bad guys. And when you got hurt, you got hurt real bad. It also added texture and depth to games. It wasn’t exactly 3D, but it was close. It was much closer than the side-scrollers and Mario Bros. like action we had been seeing.
Now, we have games that literally immerse you in the game play. World of Warcraft, for example. People play that for hours and hours and hours. You can join a clan, you can raid, you can actually be your character. The same is true for FPS. The highest selling games on consoles are not ones based on small Italian men, but on games where you are the person, like Halo and Call of Duty. Even with non-FPS, you get immersed in who you are and what you become. When you watch something bad happen to someone, who is in all aspects, an extension of you, it makes you feel. At the end of Heavenly Sword, it really felt like I had done all that stuff with her.
As you watch your character grow and develop and take on their own traits, you become them. They are you. In Fable, you become good or bad. In Mass Effect, you are either aggressive or passive. You pick your own path, you walk your own line. The person on the screen is you. And compared to 20 some years ago when you were just a little dude looking for a princess, I think that’s pretty amazing.
I remember in Zelda 64 I would go around telling people that “I had a horse” she was a beautiful palomino and that she helped me cross hyrule field a bit faster as walking on foot took far to long. I was really immersed in that game, its harder for me to get immersed like that in games anymore, maybe its age or maturity now but I still get addicted so thats all I can ask for.
I agree that is amazing how people become their toon or player in RPG”s especially. It adds a whole new and interesting aspect to gaming, however it also can lead to a type of discrimintation.
For example in Halo 3 people discriminate based on their ranking compared to anothers. ” I am a 50 so I can belittle you because your only a 25″ And people become labled by the players stats. So with the good comes the bad.
Immersion is one thing, role playing is quite another, I wanted to smack a fool or 2 on FFXI online who wouldn’t just talk to me like a human being. but I can understand how they want to take it to that level, just keep it in your club of larpers and try to act functional with the rest of the world.
ROFL yah those darn RPGers!!! talking like night elves or dwarves or whatever.. I’m with you Ty I just leave those people alone.. b/c unlike some of them I have a healthy social life
Ah, Doom! How I love thee so! Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day??
Uh…nvm…
Thanks to hand helds games still are somewhat how they used to be, XBLA and PSN are helping that out to.
I agree at how amazing games have become. Look at games like Fable and Knights of the Old Republic, where how you act is reflected in the game. But of course there are some who go way above and beyond and try to actaully become their gaming characters. But I remember in the 80’s(god I feel old) when D&D was all contraversial. I believe there is a Tom Hanks movie where he actually played D&D character that went overboard. Anywho for the majority of gamers though have a somewhat good head on their shoulders and play responsably
Back to the games though God I remember the good old mini arcade games of Donkey Kong and Pacman. Playing Track and Field on the atari until the palms of my hand were raw and bloody(literally because the faster you moved the stick back and forth the faster you went and it was easier to do that by putting your palm on the top of the stick) so games like Oblivian,Gears, and COD are mind boggling.