Greetings and salutations, you few people who actually follow me here.
It's been a while, hasn't it?
Well, to tell you the truth, I really haven't had anything to write about. That's probably why I no longer write for Spawnkill, even though the people who invited me to write there didn't exactly give me a written notice of departure. Just a no longer editor/writer status. Which, to tell you the truth, kind of sucked. You know, a "hey, since you haven't written anything here in a while you need to pick up the pace" kind of e-mail would have alleviated the worry I had, but no. Just no more access to the writer side of the page. No worries, though. I hadn't written anything there in a while, and I kind of expected it. Some kind of communication would have been appreciated though. Whatever, I'll get over it.
So, things. Yes, I've been battling writer's block for quite a minute now. It's just that writing about video games hasn't really appealed to me lately, seeing as how everyone and their dog has been writing about how this game is great and how that game sucks and how their opinion is the be all, end all of everything, I just didn't find that that's my niche anymore. So I've been searching myself for what I'd like to write about.
And I can't find anything that interests me enough.
Sad, I know. Well, sad to anyone that's ever had an interest in doing something professionally and then realizing that the market is so over-saturated that regardless of how well you write and how much time you are afforded to put into it while having a nine to five job that even the few scraps that you're handed aren't enough to keep your "job" is. Not trying to bitch, just saying.
So, from now on, I'm going to try and write, not bitch like my fun little diatribe about American drivers was, about things that apply to me in my life. Can't say that I'll be on top of things all the time, but I'm going to damn well try to keep doing this. Stay in practice, for if and when I can actually do something that I really like to do, as opposed to the soul suck that is my real job.
Anyway, long story short, I should be back writing here at least a few times a week about... Well, whatever, but as long as people keep reading and responding, then I'll keep it up.
Thanks.
Mike
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
On Driving (a.k.a. I Fucking Hate You, American Drivers)
If you've ever followed me on an unspecified forums "Venting Anger" thread, you'd know that I rarely every rage against anything. Except driving. Because goddammit you stupid motherfuckers need to get out of my fucking way or at least drive with some semblance of intellegence. Now, don't get me wrong, not everyone out there is a moron, and I'm not the end all, be all driver, but there are enough people out there with no idea of what they're doing in such a large, expensive piece of equipment that I feel it's my civic duty to vent about it on the internet. It's what the Jesus would have done.
First things first though, and why, exactly, am I so mad at all these "innocent" people on the road? Mostly it's because they have forgetten what they're out there for, the main reason being DRIVING. Yes, that's right, you got in your car to go somewhere in a timely fashion, saving you the trouble of walking however many miles because we've moved on in the world. However, some people have forgotten this. The car, to them, is a social place, a place to have conversations with the people riding with them or on the phone. Nevermind that a car is a very complex machine, nevermind that the traffic system has been worked out for cars moving at certain speeds or even expectations of certain speeds, these people need to emphatically finish whatever it is they're talking about before proceeding to push their gas pedal down. That's not even counting the people busy doing something else, from lighting a cigarette to eating, that are too preoccupied in their own world to be considerate of the people around them. I know, it's easy to fall back into doing other things while moving, changing the radio station, seeing who's calling, wondering what that spot on the carpet in the passenger seat is, I've done it, you've done it, we've all done it, but it's really not appropriate behavior while in a moving, massive vehicle. It's dangerous, yo.
Let's now take the first person at the stoplight. You, sir or madam, are the MOST IMPORTANT person in your lane. You dictate the action of all the cars behind you. You are an ambassador of driving for Yourlania to the people from Theotherlania, which also helps dictate the actions of the people of Behindyourfuckingcarvia. So, you see, you have a very important job in which you should be taking pride and careful attention to detail. This means that when the light turns green and you sit there, oblivous to the fact that other people are depending on you doing your job in a timely fashion, you're not only failing yourself but EVERYONE AROUND YOU. You are a disgrace to your job and yourself. Pay a-fucking-ttention. Now, this doesn't mean jam on your accelerator like a mad person everytime the light turns green. No, a steady acceleration is fine, however the wait until the light turns, register, press, realize it's ok, press a bit harder, double check the cross lights are read, realize it's ok, and press harder until you finally start moving across the goddamn intersection is not an acceptable method of moving forward.
Speaking of intersections, I do realize that most people driving nowdays have forgotten what it is to cross an intersection on foot. Designers, realizing that not everyone has cars, decided to help not only the people walking, but people who want to turn right on red and would like to see to their left. They put in what is commonly referred to as a "cross-walk", which you can see as you pull up to the intersection as broad white lines that go from one side of the street to the other. A common misconception is that if you pull all the way up to the far one, that is the one closest to the middle of the street, you will get there faster or the light will change in honor of you being closer to it than anyone else. This is false. In fact, the only thing you're doing is making it harder for people to cross where they're supposed to be crossing, and making it completely impossible for people to see if anyone is coming before they turn without getting themselves hit in the process. Besides that, ninety percent of cars I see do this are the last to actually leave the intersection. So, next time you want to get a jump on being the first across the way, why not hang back and watch the light.
Now for you cell phone people, and I have a whole other post coming for why I hate you specifically, but for now I'll concentrate on the driving part of my hate for you. I, for one, don't understand this fascination with being able to talk to people all the time. Especially when it distracts you from other things, such as making a transaction at a store without being considered a rude asshole that wants everyone to know that you're buying chicken pot pies, to not being able to see that car that's coming and reacting quickly enough to not get hit, to being able to make a right turn without taking your hand off the wheel four times to turn your steering wheel far enough to actually make the goddamn turn. Actually, I can't talk about cell phones for an individual reason, they just make me so goddamn angry. I'll move on.
School zones are there to help you slow down and keep an eye out for kids going to/coming home from school. They are generally identifiable by the large flashing yellow light over the big sign that says SCHOOL ZONE. This means slow down to 20 mph and keep an eye out for children. Besides school zones, residential areas, and alleys you should not be going 20 miles an hour. Going fast is not the only way you can be dangerous to other drivers on the road. Going too slow, impeding the way, and not being seen until the last second by someone going twenty miles an hour faster than you can be just as dangerous as going twenty miles an hour faster than someone and slamming in the back of a car that is going too slow for its own good.
Anyway, TL;DR Learn to fucking drive, assholes.
First things first though, and why, exactly, am I so mad at all these "innocent" people on the road? Mostly it's because they have forgetten what they're out there for, the main reason being DRIVING. Yes, that's right, you got in your car to go somewhere in a timely fashion, saving you the trouble of walking however many miles because we've moved on in the world. However, some people have forgotten this. The car, to them, is a social place, a place to have conversations with the people riding with them or on the phone. Nevermind that a car is a very complex machine, nevermind that the traffic system has been worked out for cars moving at certain speeds or even expectations of certain speeds, these people need to emphatically finish whatever it is they're talking about before proceeding to push their gas pedal down. That's not even counting the people busy doing something else, from lighting a cigarette to eating, that are too preoccupied in their own world to be considerate of the people around them. I know, it's easy to fall back into doing other things while moving, changing the radio station, seeing who's calling, wondering what that spot on the carpet in the passenger seat is, I've done it, you've done it, we've all done it, but it's really not appropriate behavior while in a moving, massive vehicle. It's dangerous, yo.
Let's now take the first person at the stoplight. You, sir or madam, are the MOST IMPORTANT person in your lane. You dictate the action of all the cars behind you. You are an ambassador of driving for Yourlania to the people from Theotherlania, which also helps dictate the actions of the people of Behindyourfuckingcarvia. So, you see, you have a very important job in which you should be taking pride and careful attention to detail. This means that when the light turns green and you sit there, oblivous to the fact that other people are depending on you doing your job in a timely fashion, you're not only failing yourself but EVERYONE AROUND YOU. You are a disgrace to your job and yourself. Pay a-fucking-ttention. Now, this doesn't mean jam on your accelerator like a mad person everytime the light turns green. No, a steady acceleration is fine, however the wait until the light turns, register, press, realize it's ok, press a bit harder, double check the cross lights are read, realize it's ok, and press harder until you finally start moving across the goddamn intersection is not an acceptable method of moving forward.
Speaking of intersections, I do realize that most people driving nowdays have forgotten what it is to cross an intersection on foot. Designers, realizing that not everyone has cars, decided to help not only the people walking, but people who want to turn right on red and would like to see to their left. They put in what is commonly referred to as a "cross-walk", which you can see as you pull up to the intersection as broad white lines that go from one side of the street to the other. A common misconception is that if you pull all the way up to the far one, that is the one closest to the middle of the street, you will get there faster or the light will change in honor of you being closer to it than anyone else. This is false. In fact, the only thing you're doing is making it harder for people to cross where they're supposed to be crossing, and making it completely impossible for people to see if anyone is coming before they turn without getting themselves hit in the process. Besides that, ninety percent of cars I see do this are the last to actually leave the intersection. So, next time you want to get a jump on being the first across the way, why not hang back and watch the light.
Now for you cell phone people, and I have a whole other post coming for why I hate you specifically, but for now I'll concentrate on the driving part of my hate for you. I, for one, don't understand this fascination with being able to talk to people all the time. Especially when it distracts you from other things, such as making a transaction at a store without being considered a rude asshole that wants everyone to know that you're buying chicken pot pies, to not being able to see that car that's coming and reacting quickly enough to not get hit, to being able to make a right turn without taking your hand off the wheel four times to turn your steering wheel far enough to actually make the goddamn turn. Actually, I can't talk about cell phones for an individual reason, they just make me so goddamn angry. I'll move on.
School zones are there to help you slow down and keep an eye out for kids going to/coming home from school. They are generally identifiable by the large flashing yellow light over the big sign that says SCHOOL ZONE. This means slow down to 20 mph and keep an eye out for children. Besides school zones, residential areas, and alleys you should not be going 20 miles an hour. Going fast is not the only way you can be dangerous to other drivers on the road. Going too slow, impeding the way, and not being seen until the last second by someone going twenty miles an hour faster than you can be just as dangerous as going twenty miles an hour faster than someone and slamming in the back of a car that is going too slow for its own good.
Anyway, TL;DR Learn to fucking drive, assholes.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Rambles on Gaming, Rock, and Media Interaction
When people bring up the "rock 'n' roll" comparison to the video game acceptance struggle, I've always said to myself that it's a completely different beast. Movies, rock, controversial art, these movements had something that video gaming does not, mainly, a public forum. And with that public forum people could come out and see for themselves what was being lambasted by the writers and talking heads, and (for most of them), be able to form their own opinion based on witnessing what it was that was being said was so wrong. I say had because in this day and age of the internet and "right now" culture, a public forum does little without becoming much more than a soundbite.
How many people went to those rock shows, those art house movies, those exhibitions of what one considers art? How many people want to go out and purchase a console and a piece of software to maybe get a chance at figuring out the controls of an unfamiliar medium to maybe be decent enough to experience fully what a game can truly be? It's a difference of seeing something and processing it for yourself right then, with purchasing, setting up, learning the basics, finally being able to experience, and then being trying to make up your mind from what you did, not knowing if what you did was right or not. Chances are that people not already into this experience are going to be able to easily access it to see what all the fuss is about.
With a movie, how much past interaction with movies as a whole do you really need to process what it is that's been presented to you? With a song, how much time having listened to music at all do you need to, at the very least, appreciate it? If you're playing a video game, how much time and effort do you have to put in to know if what you're even doing it right? Gaming, in it's own name, gives itself away. To play a game, you need to know how to play, how to play within the rules, and how to win. With any other form of interaction with a medium all you really need is yourself and an open mind.
And that's not even bringing into light the fact that most gamers didn't even live through those times. The most current event in the cultural landscape that I can even think of is when albums started being subjected to parental advisory stickers after 2 Live Crew went "too far" with their subject matter. To compare something like ratings and being able to purchase a medium to the struggle of an artist trying to get what they believe is a form of expression is just pretentious. And as gamers, we have a ratings board, we have classifications, we have numerous websites devoted to bringing this information to the forefront. So why is it still being looked down on as a kids hobby, and why do we still have to justify ourselves so fully to the "general public", even when that general public is the same demographic that's buying and playing these games?
I think it has to do with how gaming is still presented in the traditional media. While a plethora of information is available on the internet, only those people who know how to get to it get to share in it. Meanwhile, a talking head on the television is relaying "information" about gaming out to an uninformed section of people, using bullet points and avoiding sharing all the available facts while pushing their agenda, mainly fear, to get what they want someone else to think. Never mind if they themselves believe it or not, but an audience is what they want and, by pushing a "sex and violence being thrust upon the poor children of the world" mindset, they are getting their viewers. The unfortunate truth as I see it is that those people's children are growing up faster than they themselves would like while they're watching other people tell them what they should be doing to raise those kids according to an unrealistic standard being set forth by people who have no idea what they're talking about doesn't even come into their minds. Not even to mention that most controversial games are being marketed to a completely different age set that grew up gaming, and would like to see it mature into a new kind of experience. Are kids going to get those "murdergames"? Yes. Would a little parental guidance be a lot easier on everyone than banning one of the more profitable industries in the world? Hell yes.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where a bit of misinformation can become fact quicker than you can type Wikipedia. With repetition, anything can become fact on the internet and in the mind of the public. Just like any conspiracy theory, from the fake moon landing to the 9/11 truthers, if you get enough people yelling that they are right, someone, somewhere is going to believe them. Numbers can lie, and fact and fiction can be worded out to become the truth in different ways. While some studies show that gaming is, while not harmless not any more harming than television or music, some studies show that gaming is becoming the downfall of society. It depends on what information those studies are looking for, and how they garner their information. And with a population that more often than not is looking for a way to back up what they already think, less people are becoming informed on both sides of the issue.
How many people went to those rock shows, those art house movies, those exhibitions of what one considers art? How many people want to go out and purchase a console and a piece of software to maybe get a chance at figuring out the controls of an unfamiliar medium to maybe be decent enough to experience fully what a game can truly be? It's a difference of seeing something and processing it for yourself right then, with purchasing, setting up, learning the basics, finally being able to experience, and then being trying to make up your mind from what you did, not knowing if what you did was right or not. Chances are that people not already into this experience are going to be able to easily access it to see what all the fuss is about.
With a movie, how much past interaction with movies as a whole do you really need to process what it is that's been presented to you? With a song, how much time having listened to music at all do you need to, at the very least, appreciate it? If you're playing a video game, how much time and effort do you have to put in to know if what you're even doing it right? Gaming, in it's own name, gives itself away. To play a game, you need to know how to play, how to play within the rules, and how to win. With any other form of interaction with a medium all you really need is yourself and an open mind.
And that's not even bringing into light the fact that most gamers didn't even live through those times. The most current event in the cultural landscape that I can even think of is when albums started being subjected to parental advisory stickers after 2 Live Crew went "too far" with their subject matter. To compare something like ratings and being able to purchase a medium to the struggle of an artist trying to get what they believe is a form of expression is just pretentious. And as gamers, we have a ratings board, we have classifications, we have numerous websites devoted to bringing this information to the forefront. So why is it still being looked down on as a kids hobby, and why do we still have to justify ourselves so fully to the "general public", even when that general public is the same demographic that's buying and playing these games?
I think it has to do with how gaming is still presented in the traditional media. While a plethora of information is available on the internet, only those people who know how to get to it get to share in it. Meanwhile, a talking head on the television is relaying "information" about gaming out to an uninformed section of people, using bullet points and avoiding sharing all the available facts while pushing their agenda, mainly fear, to get what they want someone else to think. Never mind if they themselves believe it or not, but an audience is what they want and, by pushing a "sex and violence being thrust upon the poor children of the world" mindset, they are getting their viewers. The unfortunate truth as I see it is that those people's children are growing up faster than they themselves would like while they're watching other people tell them what they should be doing to raise those kids according to an unrealistic standard being set forth by people who have no idea what they're talking about doesn't even come into their minds. Not even to mention that most controversial games are being marketed to a completely different age set that grew up gaming, and would like to see it mature into a new kind of experience. Are kids going to get those "murdergames"? Yes. Would a little parental guidance be a lot easier on everyone than banning one of the more profitable industries in the world? Hell yes.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where a bit of misinformation can become fact quicker than you can type Wikipedia. With repetition, anything can become fact on the internet and in the mind of the public. Just like any conspiracy theory, from the fake moon landing to the 9/11 truthers, if you get enough people yelling that they are right, someone, somewhere is going to believe them. Numbers can lie, and fact and fiction can be worded out to become the truth in different ways. While some studies show that gaming is, while not harmless not any more harming than television or music, some studies show that gaming is becoming the downfall of society. It depends on what information those studies are looking for, and how they garner their information. And with a population that more often than not is looking for a way to back up what they already think, less people are becoming informed on both sides of the issue.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Yup. Sure is Quiet Over Here...
So.
It's been a while.
Well, I've been "busy", so lay off me. No, not really, I just have had the most horrible writer's block for the past month or two. Being starving artist broke will do that to you, along with the post-holiday blues.
However, I feel that maybe I have some motivation, some, INTEREST, in writing again. So, I'll be posting up some stuff in the next few days.
Hope you didn't miss me.
MGMT
It's been a while.
Well, I've been "busy", so lay off me. No, not really, I just have had the most horrible writer's block for the past month or two. Being starving artist broke will do that to you, along with the post-holiday blues.
However, I feel that maybe I have some motivation, some, INTEREST, in writing again. So, I'll be posting up some stuff in the next few days.
Hope you didn't miss me.
MGMT
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Holiday Game Rush, a.k.a. My Wallet has been Raped, Please, Call the Police
Ah, November. A time for giving thanks, getting deals, stepping on people who fall in front of you at Wal-Mart, and buying Christmas decorations. Because FUCK December, right? This year also saw a large quantity of AAA games come out, back to back to back. Being employed and able I saw fit to buy most of these games, the remaining two coming out at midnight tonight, and I got them all for the low, low price of...
Jesus Christ, I've spent over 500 dollars on games in the last month.
Let me show you how I've reached this point.
First off, Brutal Legend came out back in Rocktober, the first of my "must haves" for this year. Tim Schafer is one of my favorite game developers/writers and I've been playing his games for a long time, so I had to go out and pick it up. Schafer on this generation with Jack Black in a heavy metal world? Do want. Got it, beat it, still messing around with the world. I really dug it even if it was a bit on the short side, as the world and characters are so well developed that I'll probably play through it again just to re-experience everything again. So, game one at sixty five with tax.
The next game I got was the large impulse purchase that really did me in. DJ Hero, in all it's awesome glory, was a large, random investment. I'm really glad I got it, though, as I can see plugging it in a playing around with it for a long time, much like I do with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Thankfully I'm not completely retarded and only got the basic set, which saved me eighty dollars for a cd and a "table". Still, one hundred and twenty bucks swirled away like a record.
For around a week after I bought DJ Hero, while I dutifully learned the nuances of the platter and worked my way through mix after mash-up, I watched as EVERYONE ELSE on my friends list played Borderlands. I didn't know if I wanted it, as with a busy game schedule coming out who would still be playing it two weeks later? Besides, why not wait until it drops in price in a few months and pick it up then, when I can find other people who waited and we could all play it together? Because, I'm a whore. So, on the breathless recommendation of most of the people playing it, I picked it up. Not a bad purchase either, as multiplayer is a blast, and single player isn't too bad itself. Still, I only have one, maybe two people playing it, and I finished it up myself last night.
The next game was one of my most looked forward to games of the year, Dragon Age. I picked it up day one, took it home, hooked myself up to it, and lost myself for a few days. Unfortunately, it got pushed off of my rotation by me wanting to finish up a few more games so I had time to play it, and now it's been relegated to backburner. Which sucks, because it's a really awesome game, and I really want to finish it, but it's looooong and I don't have time for long right now. Except for Pew.
Modern Warfare 2 came out next and, as much as I wanted to relegate it to a "later" buy date, with the "controversy" surrounding the release, I knew if I wanted to play through it spoiler free I'd need to get it day one. That, with a few recent games of multiplayer on the first game, convinced me to roll out and get it at the midnight release, maybe be a part of probably the biggest game release of all time. So, with two hundred plus other people I stood outside of the busiest Gamestop midnight release I'd been to, and picked it up. Not regretting it at all, as the single player is good enough to play through Normal and now Veteran, and the multiplayer is crack.
Finally we come to the last two games I wanted this year, oddly enough coming out on the same day. Left 4 Dead 2 is the follow-up to my most played game of the year this last year, and Assassin's Creed 2 is the sequel to one of the better second look games I've played. I say second look, because to be honest I didn't really like Assassin's Creed the first time I tried to play through it. I got about one third of the way into it and just set it down, but, after several, several months of inactivity and seeing that a sequel was right down the bend, I gave it another try. And I loved it. Left 4 Dead didn't get a break, as I've played at least once a week for a solid year. Love it, can't wait for more.
So five hundred dollars later, is it worth it? For me, yes. I don't need to even pay attention to new releases until next year, I've got my multiplayer needs fully taken care of, as if no one is playing MW2 they'll be playing L4D2, and vice versa, and with Dragon Age sitting in the wings I've got my single player fix as well. Do I regret some of the purchases? Yes, I do. I wish I'd waited to pick up a few of the games, but having them now doesn't dissuade me any from switching out every so often, keeping them fresh in my mind. Would I do it again? You bet your sweet ass I would.
Jesus Christ, I've spent over 500 dollars on games in the last month.
Let me show you how I've reached this point.
First off, Brutal Legend came out back in Rocktober, the first of my "must haves" for this year. Tim Schafer is one of my favorite game developers/writers and I've been playing his games for a long time, so I had to go out and pick it up. Schafer on this generation with Jack Black in a heavy metal world? Do want. Got it, beat it, still messing around with the world. I really dug it even if it was a bit on the short side, as the world and characters are so well developed that I'll probably play through it again just to re-experience everything again. So, game one at sixty five with tax.
The next game I got was the large impulse purchase that really did me in. DJ Hero, in all it's awesome glory, was a large, random investment. I'm really glad I got it, though, as I can see plugging it in a playing around with it for a long time, much like I do with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Thankfully I'm not completely retarded and only got the basic set, which saved me eighty dollars for a cd and a "table". Still, one hundred and twenty bucks swirled away like a record.
For around a week after I bought DJ Hero, while I dutifully learned the nuances of the platter and worked my way through mix after mash-up, I watched as EVERYONE ELSE on my friends list played Borderlands. I didn't know if I wanted it, as with a busy game schedule coming out who would still be playing it two weeks later? Besides, why not wait until it drops in price in a few months and pick it up then, when I can find other people who waited and we could all play it together? Because, I'm a whore. So, on the breathless recommendation of most of the people playing it, I picked it up. Not a bad purchase either, as multiplayer is a blast, and single player isn't too bad itself. Still, I only have one, maybe two people playing it, and I finished it up myself last night.
The next game was one of my most looked forward to games of the year, Dragon Age. I picked it up day one, took it home, hooked myself up to it, and lost myself for a few days. Unfortunately, it got pushed off of my rotation by me wanting to finish up a few more games so I had time to play it, and now it's been relegated to backburner. Which sucks, because it's a really awesome game, and I really want to finish it, but it's looooong and I don't have time for long right now. Except for Pew.
Modern Warfare 2 came out next and, as much as I wanted to relegate it to a "later" buy date, with the "controversy" surrounding the release, I knew if I wanted to play through it spoiler free I'd need to get it day one. That, with a few recent games of multiplayer on the first game, convinced me to roll out and get it at the midnight release, maybe be a part of probably the biggest game release of all time. So, with two hundred plus other people I stood outside of the busiest Gamestop midnight release I'd been to, and picked it up. Not regretting it at all, as the single player is good enough to play through Normal and now Veteran, and the multiplayer is crack.
Finally we come to the last two games I wanted this year, oddly enough coming out on the same day. Left 4 Dead 2 is the follow-up to my most played game of the year this last year, and Assassin's Creed 2 is the sequel to one of the better second look games I've played. I say second look, because to be honest I didn't really like Assassin's Creed the first time I tried to play through it. I got about one third of the way into it and just set it down, but, after several, several months of inactivity and seeing that a sequel was right down the bend, I gave it another try. And I loved it. Left 4 Dead didn't get a break, as I've played at least once a week for a solid year. Love it, can't wait for more.
So five hundred dollars later, is it worth it? For me, yes. I don't need to even pay attention to new releases until next year, I've got my multiplayer needs fully taken care of, as if no one is playing MW2 they'll be playing L4D2, and vice versa, and with Dragon Age sitting in the wings I've got my single player fix as well. Do I regret some of the purchases? Yes, I do. I wish I'd waited to pick up a few of the games, but having them now doesn't dissuade me any from switching out every so often, keeping them fresh in my mind. Would I do it again? You bet your sweet ass I would.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Gaming as a Legitimate Medium
A lot of people have expressed the notion that games need to move on to that next plateau of critical acceptance to become a more legitimate medium in the eyes of the masses. Games as "art" is a common argument that is pushed as how this is supposed to be accomplished. Games that are supposed to be meaningful on several levels, games that are supposed to make you think, games that are supposed to make you feel, these are popular examples of how the entirety of the genre is supposed to clear that hurdle. But with games in all the aforementioned categories existing, what is it that needs to be done to help with popular critical acceptance?
One of the problems with this subject is that with different mediums comes different methods of drawing in the audience to experiencing what is being told or shown to them. With movies there's a lot of subtlety and nuance in what is being shown, what is being expressed in the scene or the whole. There is a compassion from the audience that is being drawn out, a feeling of familiarity with the problems being shown and, in most cases, overcome. Even when the problems are unfamiliar, and even when those problems cannot be overcome, the audience in most cases can relate to the feeling of insurmountable objectives ahead of them and form a sympathy to the characters, helping them to develop attachments to the story and overall arc of the film. With art proper there is what the artist means, as well as what the viewer takes out of it, regardless of if that was the artist's original intention or not. Even when designed for a single purpose, to evoke a single emotion, that emotion may or may not be what the artist had in mind when viewed from a different perspective by a different person. With books or short stories the author may present a version that they believe, or want those who read it to believe, and those that read that story will take from it what they know from experience and what they perceive as the meaning. So even with the architect of all those trying to express and evoke what they want the subject audience to take out of those experiences, it all rests in the hands of those being subjected to take what they will and process it to something they can understand.
So gaming should have an upper hand in this argument, right? Video games take something from all the aforementioned mediums and combine it into something tangible that those that play them can actually control and have a say in the process of the journey through the story. They now have the cinematic control of showing the audience what the creator wants them to see, they have control over the art style to try and evoke feelings throughout, and they have the ability to tell a story that can rival even the greatest stories from literature. However even with all of these advantages something is missing from video games that all those other groups have; something is holding them back from being truly meaningful.
That's not saying that some games aren't well and truly great, and mean something deeper than most of the mindless hack, slash, and shoot drivel that exists, but there are some things that just can't truly be expressed by this digital form of story telling. Problems such as addiction, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, or any type of personal problem just can't be handled by a player driven device. True, there are games that attempt to tackle things such as these in them, but the difference between having temporary stat penalties and the unyielding thirst of an alcoholic are worlds apart. Having your screen disorient in a game is not equal to coming off of weeks of drug abuse and having to reorient yourself to normal life. There is no audio cue that can express depression of a character well enough. There is nothing that can make a person experience how jarring it is when someone with something wrong with their mental state gets forced not to do what they feel they need to.
However, who wants to play a game about a main character who has a drug and depression problem, who's goal is to survive themselves? Where would fun be derived out of something like that? As many people are clamoring over themselves to cry out that games need more, deeper meanings, have any thought to themselves about what that would entail for actual gameplay, length, and story? Gaming is a large story telling device, but when it goes from the story to actual control of the character, all the emotion disappears. Sadness can not be expressed running around a static game world, anger can not be felt selecting attack from a menu, and deeper meaning can not be expressed by simply "playing" a game.
Can gaming become the next emotional medium, rivaling movies and art as a moving and legitimate platform? Yes, they can. It's going to take a lot of rethinking on the developer side and audience side of things to make this happen though. Developers will have to rethink what a game is and what they can do with it, and the audience is going to have to rethink what they expect from a game, as a deeply moving story should not have to be made with a jump button, or with the main character having a gun for an arm. Doing that, however, runs the risk of making a game "boring" and alienating potential users, but if that bridge is gapped somehow, balancing an experience worth playing with a story worth following through with gameplay that makes sense to the story without making a fourth wall that is too great, games could potentially be the best damn medium for story telling that we as a culture have.
One of the problems with this subject is that with different mediums comes different methods of drawing in the audience to experiencing what is being told or shown to them. With movies there's a lot of subtlety and nuance in what is being shown, what is being expressed in the scene or the whole. There is a compassion from the audience that is being drawn out, a feeling of familiarity with the problems being shown and, in most cases, overcome. Even when the problems are unfamiliar, and even when those problems cannot be overcome, the audience in most cases can relate to the feeling of insurmountable objectives ahead of them and form a sympathy to the characters, helping them to develop attachments to the story and overall arc of the film. With art proper there is what the artist means, as well as what the viewer takes out of it, regardless of if that was the artist's original intention or not. Even when designed for a single purpose, to evoke a single emotion, that emotion may or may not be what the artist had in mind when viewed from a different perspective by a different person. With books or short stories the author may present a version that they believe, or want those who read it to believe, and those that read that story will take from it what they know from experience and what they perceive as the meaning. So even with the architect of all those trying to express and evoke what they want the subject audience to take out of those experiences, it all rests in the hands of those being subjected to take what they will and process it to something they can understand.
So gaming should have an upper hand in this argument, right? Video games take something from all the aforementioned mediums and combine it into something tangible that those that play them can actually control and have a say in the process of the journey through the story. They now have the cinematic control of showing the audience what the creator wants them to see, they have control over the art style to try and evoke feelings throughout, and they have the ability to tell a story that can rival even the greatest stories from literature. However even with all of these advantages something is missing from video games that all those other groups have; something is holding them back from being truly meaningful.
That's not saying that some games aren't well and truly great, and mean something deeper than most of the mindless hack, slash, and shoot drivel that exists, but there are some things that just can't truly be expressed by this digital form of story telling. Problems such as addiction, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, or any type of personal problem just can't be handled by a player driven device. True, there are games that attempt to tackle things such as these in them, but the difference between having temporary stat penalties and the unyielding thirst of an alcoholic are worlds apart. Having your screen disorient in a game is not equal to coming off of weeks of drug abuse and having to reorient yourself to normal life. There is no audio cue that can express depression of a character well enough. There is nothing that can make a person experience how jarring it is when someone with something wrong with their mental state gets forced not to do what they feel they need to.
However, who wants to play a game about a main character who has a drug and depression problem, who's goal is to survive themselves? Where would fun be derived out of something like that? As many people are clamoring over themselves to cry out that games need more, deeper meanings, have any thought to themselves about what that would entail for actual gameplay, length, and story? Gaming is a large story telling device, but when it goes from the story to actual control of the character, all the emotion disappears. Sadness can not be expressed running around a static game world, anger can not be felt selecting attack from a menu, and deeper meaning can not be expressed by simply "playing" a game.
Can gaming become the next emotional medium, rivaling movies and art as a moving and legitimate platform? Yes, they can. It's going to take a lot of rethinking on the developer side and audience side of things to make this happen though. Developers will have to rethink what a game is and what they can do with it, and the audience is going to have to rethink what they expect from a game, as a deeply moving story should not have to be made with a jump button, or with the main character having a gun for an arm. Doing that, however, runs the risk of making a game "boring" and alienating potential users, but if that bridge is gapped somehow, balancing an experience worth playing with a story worth following through with gameplay that makes sense to the story without making a fourth wall that is too great, games could potentially be the best damn medium for story telling that we as a culture have.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and DJ Hero, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Plastic Peripheral
There was a time, not long past, when music games consisted of you, a pad, and the thumping rhythm of poppy music. Sure, a few other games had come out that took you, a controller, and fingers and thumbs frantically tearing up your controller to the beat, but I hadn't heard about those. Except for Parappa the Rapper. That game was keen. But a few years ago, a game, with a little plastic accessory, would come in and change the landscape of the rhythm game forever.
And I thought it looked stupid as hell.
Seriously, a little fake plastic guitar with five buttons, a "strum bar", and a whammy that looked like it was Smiling Bob before the Enzyte? The real musician in me looked at it, looked at my guitar, looked back at the ukulele-looking control, and laughed and scoffed at those who decided to have "fun" with what amounted to a very complex game of simon says. What sort of loser would go out and spend a hundred bucks on a game that makes you look like an idiot, and transfers no real skills over to actually playing the guitar? Why not just spend that money on a cheap guitar and lessons, and impress your friends? You too could be that douchebag sitting on campus with your acoustic playing songs to the ladies, and not be "that guy" sitting at home banging around on your overpriced accessory.
So I ignored it for a bit. Having no desire to play it, and watching the ridiculous videos of people cruising through Expert mode, I let it fester in the back of my mind for a while. Eventually Guitar Hero 2 came out, so people could play it on their xboxs and see shiny note charts coming down the same thing that the first game had, except shinier. Shiny. About that same time the price for the first game had gone down and, seeing the reception of how excited people were for the second game, I decided that maybe I'd give it a shot, see just what the big deal was with this fake guitar peripheral movement was all about.
And I got hooked. It was such a simple concept, hold the button down, press the strum, whammy bar when a note was held, but it was so much fun. Playing along with songs I had no patience to learn on my "real" guitar, playing songs I already knew, and playing songs I'd never heard of, it helped to open me up to different bands and different styles of rock. So I rocked through it on medium in probably a day or so, having too much fun to possibly stop for anything.
Then I discovered the evil orange button. Don't let anyone fool you into believing that this button is anything but the devil. Well, at least until you can figure it out.
Anyway, that damn orange button is one of the reasons I gave up on Guitar Hero for a little while. I got the second one, played through it too on Medium, and promptly gave up on playing hard. "It's too hard," I said. "My fingers won't stretch and position like that," I whined. "Baaaaaaw," is probably what I meant. And then, one day, far into the past from now and the future from then, I played with someone who gave me the confidence to step up past the blue into the orange, and after a few months of practice I done got pretty good. (Special Mid-Article Pro-tip: Move your hand to where your pinky is on the orange button, and your index finger is on the red. It's easier to move your index to the green from there then it is to move your pinky from blue to orange. Also, alternate up and down strums!) Around this time, a new addiction had arisen from the world of rhythm games, and that beast's name was Rock Band.
Imagine, a whole new world of rhythmy goodness! Not only is my plastic guitar good for being a fake guitar, but now it can also be used as a fake bass. And drums come with it! Sure, it's not completely like real drums, but close enough to feel like I have some type of rhythm with my feet and hands, which, as many people found out soon afterwards, we do NOT. And singing! Well, I really let other people do the majority of that, but throw me a few beers and I'll be your huckleberry. For a solo player, it adds that much more you can do with the game. So as opposed to just playign through it once, you can play through it up to four times to see just how each part of the song works with the other parts, hopefully opening you up to just how awesome bands really are and how much work it takes to make a great song. And what Rock Band really did for music games, was take away the stigma of "just some guy with a plastic guitar" and turn it into quite possibly the funnest game you can have going at a party. Regardless of what their backgrounds are, people flock to a good game of Rock Band where they can make an ass of themselves or show off their "skill" to other people.
Introducing DLC to the mix, we now have limitless potential for how many songs we can fake rock out to, or really rock out depending on how much you get into it, but what's next? After all, even with all the bands and songs in the world, how many times can you rock your fake guitar before you get bored? Activision, being the kind, considerate overlords that they are, decided to go ahead and take a break from their nine Guitar Hero games releasing this year to show us the way. And the way is DJ.
Coming out last month, DJ Hero finally released. Being skeptical of a new rhythm game with a new peripheral, and being unsure of how exactly the damn thing would work by looking at it, I decided to hold off on buying it. I succeeded for 10 days. Then, in a fit of whorish passion, I ran to the store flung money at the counter for the ability to play around with a new plastic "instrument". And I'm sooooo glad I did.
DJ Hero is fun, plain and simple. It's got a learning curve, that's for certain, but once you get the hang of it and move on to the more difficult levels, just like in Guitar Hero, the feeling of accomplishment and being there are exponential. While I don't one hundred percent love all the songs on it, there is enough variety in the mixes that are there that aren't really any songs I hate, and they've moved on by the time I've figured out I don't like them. However, DJ Hero takes a step back from Rock Band and Guitar Hero, as even though it's been promoted as a "party" game, the learning curve and starting difficulty is too high for it to be passed around from person to person without them getting glossy eyed and giving up after half a song.
So, besides broke but jamming, where does this leave me? Happily enough, it leaves me broken and spent on the floor, wondering what song I'll get to play next or what mix of songs I'll get to hear remastered. Are plastic instruments ruining music? No, bad musicians who write terrible songs are ruining music. If anything, GH, RB, and DJ Hero are opening up people to new music, and helping the music industry. And if someone finds so much inspiration in playing their fake instruments that they go out and pick up a real one while also being inspired by the better bands on the games, we end up all winning in the end.
And I thought it looked stupid as hell.
Seriously, a little fake plastic guitar with five buttons, a "strum bar", and a whammy that looked like it was Smiling Bob before the Enzyte? The real musician in me looked at it, looked at my guitar, looked back at the ukulele-looking control, and laughed and scoffed at those who decided to have "fun" with what amounted to a very complex game of simon says. What sort of loser would go out and spend a hundred bucks on a game that makes you look like an idiot, and transfers no real skills over to actually playing the guitar? Why not just spend that money on a cheap guitar and lessons, and impress your friends? You too could be that douchebag sitting on campus with your acoustic playing songs to the ladies, and not be "that guy" sitting at home banging around on your overpriced accessory.
So I ignored it for a bit. Having no desire to play it, and watching the ridiculous videos of people cruising through Expert mode, I let it fester in the back of my mind for a while. Eventually Guitar Hero 2 came out, so people could play it on their xboxs and see shiny note charts coming down the same thing that the first game had, except shinier. Shiny. About that same time the price for the first game had gone down and, seeing the reception of how excited people were for the second game, I decided that maybe I'd give it a shot, see just what the big deal was with this fake guitar peripheral movement was all about.
And I got hooked. It was such a simple concept, hold the button down, press the strum, whammy bar when a note was held, but it was so much fun. Playing along with songs I had no patience to learn on my "real" guitar, playing songs I already knew, and playing songs I'd never heard of, it helped to open me up to different bands and different styles of rock. So I rocked through it on medium in probably a day or so, having too much fun to possibly stop for anything.
Then I discovered the evil orange button. Don't let anyone fool you into believing that this button is anything but the devil. Well, at least until you can figure it out.
Anyway, that damn orange button is one of the reasons I gave up on Guitar Hero for a little while. I got the second one, played through it too on Medium, and promptly gave up on playing hard. "It's too hard," I said. "My fingers won't stretch and position like that," I whined. "Baaaaaaw," is probably what I meant. And then, one day, far into the past from now and the future from then, I played with someone who gave me the confidence to step up past the blue into the orange, and after a few months of practice I done got pretty good. (Special Mid-Article Pro-tip: Move your hand to where your pinky is on the orange button, and your index finger is on the red. It's easier to move your index to the green from there then it is to move your pinky from blue to orange. Also, alternate up and down strums!) Around this time, a new addiction had arisen from the world of rhythm games, and that beast's name was Rock Band.
Imagine, a whole new world of rhythmy goodness! Not only is my plastic guitar good for being a fake guitar, but now it can also be used as a fake bass. And drums come with it! Sure, it's not completely like real drums, but close enough to feel like I have some type of rhythm with my feet and hands, which, as many people found out soon afterwards, we do NOT. And singing! Well, I really let other people do the majority of that, but throw me a few beers and I'll be your huckleberry. For a solo player, it adds that much more you can do with the game. So as opposed to just playign through it once, you can play through it up to four times to see just how each part of the song works with the other parts, hopefully opening you up to just how awesome bands really are and how much work it takes to make a great song. And what Rock Band really did for music games, was take away the stigma of "just some guy with a plastic guitar" and turn it into quite possibly the funnest game you can have going at a party. Regardless of what their backgrounds are, people flock to a good game of Rock Band where they can make an ass of themselves or show off their "skill" to other people.
Introducing DLC to the mix, we now have limitless potential for how many songs we can fake rock out to, or really rock out depending on how much you get into it, but what's next? After all, even with all the bands and songs in the world, how many times can you rock your fake guitar before you get bored? Activision, being the kind, considerate overlords that they are, decided to go ahead and take a break from their nine Guitar Hero games releasing this year to show us the way. And the way is DJ.
Coming out last month, DJ Hero finally released. Being skeptical of a new rhythm game with a new peripheral, and being unsure of how exactly the damn thing would work by looking at it, I decided to hold off on buying it. I succeeded for 10 days. Then, in a fit of whorish passion, I ran to the store flung money at the counter for the ability to play around with a new plastic "instrument". And I'm sooooo glad I did.
DJ Hero is fun, plain and simple. It's got a learning curve, that's for certain, but once you get the hang of it and move on to the more difficult levels, just like in Guitar Hero, the feeling of accomplishment and being there are exponential. While I don't one hundred percent love all the songs on it, there is enough variety in the mixes that are there that aren't really any songs I hate, and they've moved on by the time I've figured out I don't like them. However, DJ Hero takes a step back from Rock Band and Guitar Hero, as even though it's been promoted as a "party" game, the learning curve and starting difficulty is too high for it to be passed around from person to person without them getting glossy eyed and giving up after half a song.
So, besides broke but jamming, where does this leave me? Happily enough, it leaves me broken and spent on the floor, wondering what song I'll get to play next or what mix of songs I'll get to hear remastered. Are plastic instruments ruining music? No, bad musicians who write terrible songs are ruining music. If anything, GH, RB, and DJ Hero are opening up people to new music, and helping the music industry. And if someone finds so much inspiration in playing their fake instruments that they go out and pick up a real one while also being inspired by the better bands on the games, we end up all winning in the end.
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