However it is important to step back from what we know and consider the view point from the perspective of others. As gamers we understand the different genres, the different developers, terms like FPS, RTS, RPG and so on. If a none gamer looks in at the hobby, all they see are games. They have no idea about what we take for granted, no experience or assumed knowledge. If you want to argue the viability of casual versus hardcore games, bear in mind that to someone who doesn’t play, and doesn’t want to, they are all simply games.
Whenever you get a specialist in a certain area, they are invariably incapable of seeing beyond their own knowledge on something. I once worked with a chef in a bar who complained when customers returned a steak. The customer had requested it be medium cooked, and sent it back complaining it was rare. He began ranting about how he had spent years being trained as a chef and knew exactly how steak should be cooked, and that what most people thought was medium was actually well done. All very well, but the fact is, what he thinks of the matter is irrelevant, the customer is paying for a meal, they need to get whatthey think is medium, not what the chef thinks. In a similar way, gamers sometimes cannot understand why non gamers don’t ‘get’ something.
There have been a number of public scandals recently which the general populace has gotten hot under the collar over, and which have enflamed the gorges of the gaming community. It is important for us as gamers to look objectively at what we do and see it for what it is.
The first scandal I want to touch on, is that of the ‘sexbox’ outcry surrounding Mass Effect. For anyone unfamiliar with it (probably no-one) the public were told that Mass Effect depicted graphic scenes of nakedness and nudity. The reality was very different, to quote Yahtzee, “you only see like one second of bare arse anyway.” News corporations function on the basis of selling scares. It is sensationalist over the top nonsense by and large, respectable news companies try to hide it in intellectual prose, but they are no better off than the tabloids who will try and tell you immigrants ate your dog.
What happens therefore is a single frame of footage becomes the basis for an entire overblown news story and moral crusade, brought to an abrupt end when gamers turn round, show their evidence and go ‘uh, no, and shut up.’ As gamers we are very sensitive to these stories, we don’t like people maligning our passtime with their rubbish. But of course all aspects of life get similar treatment. It doesn’t matter whether you are an extreme sportsman or a stamp collector, someone somewhere will be writing an article about how your hobby undermines social harmony.
News is eminently disposable, it is a consumer service like any other, people read it, watch it, and forget it. Today’s headline is tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapper. It is therefore important to step back, take a deep breath, and just laugh at Fox News and their silliness. Let them embarrass themselves all they want, their opinion does not change the truth, nor is it going to affect your enjoyment of Mass Effect, or any other game.
The same can be said of Roger Ebert and his recent comments that games are not, and never will be, art. Now as a British person I couldn’t tell Roger Ebert from my grandmother, apparently he does film reviews or something? Again, the fact is that his opinion need not have any impact whatsoever on your enjoyment of something. I am not a fan of American Football, and I don’t play sports games, but I doubt Mr Madden cries himself to sleep over it. That would be kinda creepy.
The question of games as art has I think for most gamers got a very simple answer, probably involving a number of expletives. Whilst I don’t give a damn about Mr Ebert’s opinion, I think it does highlight a wider issue surrounding gaming.
At a basic level, video games are simply this generation’s bad influence. Every era has them, the things that will rot your brain and cause you to murder people. It is down to a lack of knowledge, and the above point of news agencies preying on fears. Whether it be an online story, a news paper, or Mr and Mrs Caesar discussing the bad influences of the Celts, someone has always been spreading scare stories. The Victorian’s believed that all table legs ought to be covered up, so as not to enflame sexual ardour and cause most uncivilised raunchy behaviour. As such table cloths were vital in protecting the virtue of young ladies. Cricket was banned in England at one point (something I whole heartedly support) because it once resulted in the death of a member of royalty. It is currently illegal to eat jam tarts in London on a Sunday. All manner of silly laws and stupid prejudices arise as a result of social norms of a given time.
Video games are the current bad apples, like Marilyn Manson music, or being a postal worker. But one must remember that art has always been criticised. Many films have been banned for decades, such as Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, paintings and books have been burned and hidden away.
Why then do I care about this particular incident? Whilst the opinions of the plebeians are unimportant, an acceptance would result in certain changes. If you look at films and video games, what do you see on the cover? A nice big warning telling you how old you have to be to play. How many books have age ratings? How many galleries? As media develops and new forms arise, the latest gets highlighted and scrutinised. Plenty of pieces of artwork have been banned over the centuries, but art is now a high minded and intellectual subject largely beyond reproach. A hundred people can stand around naked outside a famous building and it is art, it is empowering and a celebration of the human form, but a single blue fictional buttcheek in a videogame causes public outcry. If games were accepted as art, some of the inherent inconsistencies and idiocies might go away. All manner of graphic photos get taken by war correspondents, yet a game depicting violence can be accused of promoting violent behaviour.
What I would like to see is a movement away from this kind of hypocrisy. I don’t believe it will happen in the next decade, but I would hope to see something take place. What people fear is, I suspect, the interactive aspect of gaming. Seeing a photo is one thing, causing a digital recreation quite another. People assume gamers cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality. This is enhanced when someone commits a crime and it turns out they play games too. The fact is, some people are going to commit crimes, games or films or music do not create that urge, they do not manufacture murderers, the notion is ridiculous, but games are guilty by association. When the Columbine shootings took place, people mentioned the shooters listened to Marilyn Manson, they didn’t mention the fact they ate food, or walked about on their own two legs. So this is not a phenomena associated only with gaming, it is something afflicting all aspects of culture your parents might not understand.
The final scandal I wanted to mention was the recent study that links video games to lack of attention span. Aside from anything else, I think any gamers coming here and reading my blogs are proving they don’t have attention problems. I took a look at the study, and read through the findings so that you don’t have to, you all being twitchy and unfocused. The science is deep stuff, and I hope you are all sitting down. What the study actually determined, was that kids like playing video games! Hard to believe I know, I was stunned, but it got even more intense. Scientist then discovered that because kids like playing games, they don’t like being in school. That’s right, it seems that some children would actually rather be at home playing games, than in class. This is hardcore stuff, and could well doom us all. On a serious note, what they actually said was, that kids who play games might find it harder to concentrate at school, because they would like to play more games. That is it, that is the study. Now personally, I think think of dozens of things I would rather have done when I was at school, and I actually liked school. My dad hated every minute of school, he would much rather have been outside doing something else, and video games hadn’t even been invented. So basically the research is a complete waste of time and money, and an insult to all people with common sense. But news broadcasts were able to twist this into something spectacular and revelatory.
What this brings me to then, is the impact of things like Facebook games. How, I hear you cry? Going back to my first point, gamers look at gaming tinged with their own experiences. Non hardcore gamers only see games. As such, more and more people are being introduced to games via sites like Facebook and trying out games. It doesn’t matter how shallow the experiences are, millions of people are now dipping their toes. What that does is bring gaming one step closer to normality, one step closer to mainstream activities and thus one step closer to being something people don’t bother to mention.
This is why I dislike Roger Ebert saying games are not art, it underlines an inherent bias against a valid medium. Ultimately, it wont stop me playing games, nor lessen my enjoyment, but I hope we can all see a time when gaming is not something people think of themselves as being for or against.
netspeak at its' finest.
all chefs should be like him
The first scandal I want to touch on, is that of the ‘sexbox’ outcry surrounding Mass Effect. For anyone unfamiliar with it (probably no-one) the public were told that Mass Effect depicted graphic scenes of nakedness and nudity. The reality was very different, to quote Yahtzee, “you only see like one second of bare arse anyway.” News corporations function on the basis of selling scares. It is sensationalist over the top nonsense by and large, respectable news companies try to hide it in intellectual prose, but they are no better off than the tabloids who will try and tell you immigrants ate your dog.
some people just wont get it...
the sign of a serial killer's mind
the destiny of news
it came from below...
At a basic level, video games are simply this generation’s bad influence. Every era has them, the things that will rot your brain and cause you to murder people. It is down to a lack of knowledge, and the above point of news agencies preying on fears. Whether it be an online story, a news paper, or Mr and Mrs Caesar discussing the bad influences of the Celts, someone has always been spreading scare stories. The Victorian’s believed that all table legs ought to be covered up, so as not to enflame sexual ardour and cause most uncivilised raunchy behaviour. As such table cloths were vital in protecting the virtue of young ladies. Cricket was banned in England at one point (something I whole heartedly support) because it once resulted in the death of a member of royalty. It is currently illegal to eat jam tarts in London on a Sunday. All manner of silly laws and stupid prejudices arise as a result of social norms of a given time.
does it turn you on?
Why then do I care about this particular incident? Whilst the opinions of the plebeians are unimportant, an acceptance would result in certain changes. If you look at films and video games, what do you see on the cover? A nice big warning telling you how old you have to be to play. How many books have age ratings? How many galleries? As media develops and new forms arise, the latest gets highlighted and scrutinised. Plenty of pieces of artwork have been banned over the centuries, but art is now a high minded and intellectual subject largely beyond reproach. A hundred people can stand around naked outside a famous building and it is art, it is empowering and a celebration of the human form, but a single blue fictional buttcheek in a videogame causes public outcry. If games were accepted as art, some of the inherent inconsistencies and idiocies might go away. All manner of graphic photos get taken by war correspondents, yet a game depicting violence can be accused of promoting violent behaviour.
What I would like to see is a movement away from this kind of hypocrisy. I don’t believe it will happen in the next decade, but I would hope to see something take place. What people fear is, I suspect, the interactive aspect of gaming. Seeing a photo is one thing, causing a digital recreation quite another. People assume gamers cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality. This is enhanced when someone commits a crime and it turns out they play games too. The fact is, some people are going to commit crimes, games or films or music do not create that urge, they do not manufacture murderers, the notion is ridiculous, but games are guilty by association. When the Columbine shootings took place, people mentioned the shooters listened to Marilyn Manson, they didn’t mention the fact they ate food, or walked about on their own two legs. So this is not a phenomena associated only with gaming, it is something afflicting all aspects of culture your parents might not understand.
The final scandal I wanted to mention was the recent study that links video games to lack of attention span. Aside from anything else, I think any gamers coming here and reading my blogs are proving they don’t have attention problems. I took a look at the study, and read through the findings so that you don’t have to, you all being twitchy and unfocused. The science is deep stuff, and I hope you are all sitting down. What the study actually determined, was that kids like playing video games! Hard to believe I know, I was stunned, but it got even more intense. Scientist then discovered that because kids like playing games, they don’t like being in school. That’s right, it seems that some children would actually rather be at home playing games, than in class. This is hardcore stuff, and could well doom us all. On a serious note, what they actually said was, that kids who play games might find it harder to concentrate at school, because they would like to play more games. That is it, that is the study. Now personally, I think think of dozens of things I would rather have done when I was at school, and I actually liked school. My dad hated every minute of school, he would much rather have been outside doing something else, and video games hadn’t even been invented. So basically the research is a complete waste of time and money, and an insult to all people with common sense. But news broadcasts were able to twist this into something spectacular and revelatory.
What this brings me to then, is the impact of things like Facebook games. How, I hear you cry? Going back to my first point, gamers look at gaming tinged with their own experiences. Non hardcore gamers only see games. As such, more and more people are being introduced to games via sites like Facebook and trying out games. It doesn’t matter how shallow the experiences are, millions of people are now dipping their toes. What that does is bring gaming one step closer to normality, one step closer to mainstream activities and thus one step closer to being something people don’t bother to mention.
This is why I dislike Roger Ebert saying games are not art, it underlines an inherent bias against a valid medium. Ultimately, it wont stop me playing games, nor lessen my enjoyment, but I hope we can all see a time when gaming is not something people think of themselves as being for or against.
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