Apr
7
The dreams of a gamer
Filed Under Uncategorized
Well, before I discuss why I enjoyed Turkle’s article so much, it is important to understand how I became what I consider myself to be: an avid gamer. As cliché as it may sound, I’ve been playing games ever since I was old enough to hold a controller in my hands. Although I wasn’t lucky enough to have grown up with the “first generation” of gamers in the Pong or Atari era, and thus wasn’t able to embrace the beginnings of what would quickly become one of the most revolutionary and influential industries of all time, I still consider myself fortunate for having the pleasure of playing videogames when the industry as a whole was booming.
I was born three years after Nintendo saved the gaming industry in 1985 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment console after lackluster movie to game adaptations (Looking at you E.T.) on the Atari 2600 left a bad taste in the public’s mouth and resulted in what videogame historian Steven L. Kent describes as “The Crash of the Gaming Industry.” Having been born in 1989, and turning four years old by 1993, I was alive during what I personally believe was the golden age of gaming. My first system was a Sega Genesis which introduced me to the dynamic world of gaming. As my username indicates, one of my favorite gaming mascots of all time is Sonic the Hedgehog who was as inspirational to me as Pac-Man or Space Invaders was to gamers in the 1980s. This introduction to video games got me excited and interested in all aspects of video gaming on every level.
I don’t think I enjoyed Turkle’s article because of the subject matter, because trust me, I took a freshman seminar last year, and some (not all) of the readings about videogames were a snooze-fest. Rather, I enjoyed her article because she seemed to defend videogames just when I was starting to lose faith in them. I’m sure many of you guys remember when I first joined Dr. Campbell’s class, I jokingly shared my “gaming addiction” with the class. Well, although I was over exaggerating a bit, as I got older, I’ve been told that videogames were a mindless activity, as Turkle so successfully argues against. I loved how she countered the “videogames are like television” argument, because “games demand skills that are complex and differentiated” (501). I’ve always contended that gaming is an active and engaging activity, whereas television is a passive and lazy activity (although there is such a thing as “active viewing,” but a great majority of people do not engage television this way).
I believe that the negative rep that videogames get is because of the mere fact that the name “game” engenders notions of child’s play or toy. Most of the negativity comes from the high brow Literature, Film, and Theatre experts who, in order to keep their medium from dying, feel the need to dissuade people away from videogames, as they are a serious threat to their very careers.
It was actually very recent that I was forced to go to a reproduction of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I tried to make the most of it, and pretended to be excited, so I began casually conversing with this lady who was sitting to my right before the play began. We talked (well, actually, I just bullshitting) about Shakespeare, and then eventually we began discussing such topics as George Washington (because I told her I went to Mary Washington), and then we talked about her kid who was attending the “very prestigious school of Oxford,” as if to make a big deal. And then, when discussing what career I was pursuing, I told her that I would love to be a videogame critic or possibly a designer. All of a sudden, she looks at me awkwardly and then immediately turns her neck and begins conversing with the person sitting to her other side (presumably about herself and her amazing daughter). Well, I didn’t think much of it, because I could care less about her, but when the play was finally over, I was kind enough to tell her that, “I wish your daughter the greatest success in all her future endeavors,” to which she replies, “Why how thoughtful of you. And you stay away from those videogames” as she wagged her finger at me. I, of course, said “I’ll try,” however, in my mind, I was saying something along the lines of the girl at the cafe in the beginning of Turkle’s essay.
To get back on track, I also enjoyed Turkle’s article because of the personal connection I had to gamers like Jarish. I know for a fact that I, too, shared his dream of one day creating my very own videogame. One of my favorite lines in the article was, “just as pinball gave way to video games for Jarish, videogames are starting to give way to the computer.” Although I never played pinball, I can agree that videogames were the main reason I decided to use a computer daily. At a young age, I dedicated much of my time on sites that focused on gaming and tried to read and soak up as much information from the nation’s best critics, improving my writing skills along the way (no thanks to school. Just kidding…to an extent). Although I differ with Jarish, in that, videogames haven’t introduced me or interested me to programming, I know many gamers, actually many students in the Computer Science department of UMW, whose main purpose for majoring in Computer Science is to design and program a game.
Another point that Turkle made in her article, and is very relevant today, is the notion of achievement in games. Arguably, that is one of the main selling points of videogames. Although high scores are all but obsolete (as are arcade machines, to a much lesser extent), just recently the gaming community has seen the impact of achievements. The Xbox 360, for example, has a very simple idea appropriately called “Achievement Points.” Essentially, every game has up to 1,000 points that you can unlock if you do certain predetermined tasks, whether it be completing certain chapters, finding secrets, getting ten headshots, etc. I know that this idea has been a phenomenal success, because people have been buying 360 games over PS3 games just for the mere fact that the PS3 doesn’t offer those points. To be honest, I’m not too obsessed with getting the achievement points as some people are (as they play even the worst games in order to get the points), but I do feel good when the little box on the bottom of the screen pops up and says “100 points for your 500th kill.”
Anyways, Turkle’s article was probably my favorite reading so far, and has helped me regain faith in videogames. My generation’s job is to help raise the status of videogames from just games, to an intellectually and emotionally stimulating experience.
I also enjoyed Turkel’s article for the way she focuses on the positives of video games. There is a great deal of criticism in the media regarding the amount of time kids spend playing video games, which I pay attention to because it is a constant battle to limit the amount of time my two boys spend playing XBox. They get very excited when they “beat the game” or “beat the level” — there is definitely a strong sense of achievement. The downside is that they cannot seem to stop playing because they are so focused on meeting whatever goal they are working towards!