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.