My taste in videogames is kind of hard to pin down. I grew up playing equal parts innovative Amiga 500 videogames and crazy Japanese Role Playing Games and platformers. It may be easier to tell you what I don’t like. Sports games. Even then, it’s not that clear cut. Lets just say I like games. The problem is, even amongst the games I do like, most games don’t hold my interest for more than five hours or so. These days, I tend to lose steam about half way through your average length videogame – and if a game frustrates me, then it has no chance of ever making back onto my TV screen. So what is going wrong? Is it a case of “its not you, its me” between the gaming industry and I, or is it time for me to rethink my own gaming habits?
The Industry
So why do I play games? I’m an economist, so in my language what utility do I gain from engaging in this ‘time wasting’ activity? It’s an issue that has been tackled by all of our parents at some point; rather tactlessly I might add. But after 40 years of gaming existence the question still remains, why do we do it? I guess it’s the same reason we read a book, or see a film; but there is one main difference. The act of playing videogames in itself is a resistance upon society. Yes, videogaming is still in its relative infancy, and as such society as a whole still hasn’t grown to accept it as a legitimate use of one’s time. It’s not until we, as gamers, come up with a valid answer to the age old question of “why” that it will become legitimate in all pop culture circles. And that’s where it gets hard. Thinking about the question has caused me some soul searching to answer you this question “why do I play games?” But instead of an answer, I have become more disillusioned with my favourite past time. So sit down, relax, and enjoy the journey through my rather erratic train of thought on the issue.
I’ll start with the end. I think that video game industry, to some extent, has gone backwards. Somewhere along the line it lost partial sight of what it was trying to achieve. Lets go back to what gaming was about until not that long ago (and in some quarters, how it still is [no pun intended…]). Space Invaders, Galaga, Joust, Defender and Donkey Kong. What do these games have in common? Well a hell of a lot, but there is one very cohesive line running through all of these titles and it relates to what the player gets out of playing the game. You see there is no endgame in these titles. There are no cutscenes. no half-baked narrative and generally no morality choice you are forced to make (that’s no fair, Mass Effect 2 is probably the single most significant video game since Half Life). That’s right kids it wasn’t about that; but what it was about was something much simpler. Good old fashioned unadulterated fun. Has this changed? I posit that to some degree it has and that we play games for entirely different reasons now. The question here though is what is this change a function of? Technology advancements? Consumer choice perhaps? Or just a natural progression of the medium? Like it or not our past time has grown up; but it certainly has me considering whether its outgrown me. Allow me to explore this idea further.
Narrative has become a form of crack for gamers. I’ll plead guilty to saying on more than one occasion that I don’t read books because I satiate thirst for a good story from the games I play. I’ll now caveat that statement with this: games cannot replace film or literature. Yet. But I’ll ask you this question; do you feel satisfied with the closure of a videogame storyline as the credits role, or is there a sense of relief that its over? Me, well its probably about 75 per cent relief in cases and 25 per cent closure. Not a great strike rate. Of course it varies game to game, but there is one driving factor that usually will give me the push in the direction of seeing a game through to the closing credits; the next big release. Like it or not, we are somewhat slaves to the industry. Sure we can choose whether we do or not buy a game, whether we buy the next generation of console, even down to the level of supporting a game vocally on the various online forums. But in somewhere in that decision making process, we are bombarded with propaganda from not only the publishers but also those outlets of the press who are less strong in their convictions. When games are pitched as the ‘must have game of the year’, its hard to see it as a choice. At that point you are confronted with the internal dilemma, am I really a hardcore gamer? Imagine a film buff admitting he’s never seen Citizen Kane. Truth be told, that’s a ridiculous term – but it’s a construct of the way in which games are marketed and discussed in today’s industry. And as gamers it adds pressure, almost forcing you into somewhat of a time constraint to the point where it actually starts to feel like work. So while you do have a choice, it’s at the expense of being considered ‘in the know’. And it’s human nature to want to be ahead of the game.
Okay so we play games to be experts. And while I expect that when whoever gives my eulogy does so, they incorporate a long list of the games I have ‘completed’, I’ve come to the realisation its not the end of the world if I don’t finish a game to its end. And it doesn’t make you any less of a gamer. I hear a sudden sigh of relief from those who have played Gradius or Ikaruga. I’m with you. But this sentiment is ultimately lost once we start talking about the way videogames are treated by Sony and Microsoft. I see the merit of trophies and achievement points. I do. It is giving something ‘tangible’ to a player as a reward. But the question here is why do we feel the need to achieve something – and are these games so poorly designed that it doesn’t give the signal when you’ve achieved all it had to offer, whether it be credits rolling or a ‘good ending’ out of a number of possible endings? The answer here is ‘no, they’re not’, well at least no worse than previous generations have done.
The Player
Fellow Piranha poodle Senor Tubbs would characterise me as ‘otaku’ (hey, Otacon was cool, right?) noting my preference for the latest JRPG. Of course I’m not – at all, but I am a tragic for the genre – even going as far as to play the Dark Spire on the Nintendo DS (which is strangely awesome). But I am also a self confessed lover of the 2D fighter and the proposition of sitting down and playing BlazBlue for hours gives me no end of excitement, and defeating some tough-guy at the arcade (yes, we have a few left) in Street Fighter IV is about as outwardly excited as I’ll ever get.
Blazblue, you and I will be seeing a lot of each other over the next year...
The problem is, I don’t find time to play these games because I’m too busy playing everything else. So do I like the idea of videogames more than I like playing them?
The answer is a resounding, yes.
I remember when I lived at home, working a part-time job to pay my way through an Economics degree. Of course, outwardly that is what I was earning money for. But for anyone that was privy to have access to my bedroom saw a different story. Piles of videogames. Most unplayed. And some stretching as far back at 1991. “Why do you buy all of these games, you can’t play all of them” I vividly remember my parents saying. Although I disagreed with them at the time, I’ve grown up and realised that they were right. I couldn’t play all of them. Some I will probably never play.
So why do I buy them? Because I like the IDEA of them. “What’s that, Hideo Kojima has a new game? Oh, Tetsuya Nomura did the character art for this? – I love zippers”. I love the mythos behind videogames, the history, the personalities, the art. But I just can’t seem to enjoy the act of playing them quite as much. Folklore, I’m looking at you. And Cross Edge, you’re JUST as guilty.
Tetsuya Nomura character design is like crack...
So its time to call it quits, so to speak.
Not completely of course. But its time to quit old habits, if only for one reason. Being a gamer is expensive. There’s no doubt about it. I spend a significant proportion of my income on video games and video game related wares over the span of a year. As a trained economist, its easy to justify these purchases, much in the same way a petrol head would justify the purchase of something that makes their car louder, faster or just plain look cooler. I look to theories such as opportunity cost, utility, consumer preference, propensity to consume. All those good things. The thing is, I just can’t justify them anymore. Its not you, gaming industry, its me.
Which is why I am issuing a challenge to myself. The year 2010, ending with God of War III will henceforth be known as the year I don’t buy any new videogames. Sure, I have Heavy Rain coming next week, Final Fantasy XIII a few weeks after that, followed by BlazBlue and finally ending with God of War III, but that is it. It is. Really. I promise. The upside to all this is that I’ll get around to all those games I’ve been putting aside. Folklore here I come. But even better, I’ll get to dedicate more time to posting (sometimes) insightful articles on this here humble blog. So while you can’t expect me to be writing about the latest, you can expect me to touch on just about everything else.
Folklore, you're next.
Wish me luck.
Old Gaulian
(on a side note, check out 101videogames.wordpress.com where two British lads are counting down 101 games that made their lives slightly better. The only site i’ve seen in ten years to discuss personal classics such as Stunt Car Racer and Colony Wars. Be warned, they seem to love the Amiga 500 just as much as I do…)
(In order: images courtesy of Aksysgames.com, gamespot.com and playstation.com.au)
The Piranha Poodles 