Video Games are Advancing Too Fast
Only being nineteen years old, throughout my lifetime I have seen video games make huge advancements. They started out as very simple counsel and even more simple games where today there are virtual reality games and can do far more than I ever would have expected. But where will the line be drawn? Will a line be drawn as to what video games should contain and what they don’t? The way video games have advanced I don’t think there will be a line drawn but there defiantly should be.
Before reading the article Video Games Are Better Without Stories, I was unaware that this was even a goal in which video games were trying to acheive. Films, televison and literature have been around for much longer than video games and, in my opinion, will do a much better job of getting the story across than a video game will ever be able to do. By displaying a story through a video game allows for the person playing the video game to be able to control the story. Therefore is the story the video game intended to tell even getting its message across? Video games should not cross this line. Every week there are new movies that are being released and new television shows being aired. The rate at which video games are released is far slower than that on TV.
Another good point in which I agree with in the article Video Games Are Better Without Stories is that “If the ultimate bar for meaning in games is set at teen fare, then perhaps they will reamin stuck in a perpetual adolescence.” What Bogost is saying here is that he sees the difference in how video games are different without stories but he thinks that they should not be held to such a high, praiseworthy standard that they are. What Bogost does not mention is if he does not think that video games are better without stories and they should not be so praise worthy, he doesnt mention what he thinks should be the praisworthy type of video game This is something that I have seen first hand with one of my best friends. She was married at age 18 to a guy who was 20 and addicted to video games. He was always playing video games when he was younger and now a 22 year old, husband, a marine, and living on their own, his video game habits that he acquired as a teenager ultimately were the reason why their marriage had failed and they got a divorce. He was stuck in a perpetual adolescence as he was trying to be an adult and it did not work. He was holding video games to such a high standard in his life where they should not have been held to. Another thing that this article does not mention is that many gammers compete in competitions which the only way to broadcast these gamming tournaments is through online and televised. This is another aspect in which I believe gaming is advancing too quickly and becoming more and more apart of people’s lives.
Another ways in which I believe that video games are advancing too quickly is with the technology and how realistic these video games are becoming. Every year when new video games come out they are better than the previous years with new graphics, weapons, and more advanced with what you are able to do on the video games. Again, where, if anywhere at all, is a line going to be drawn with how realistic these video games will become. In the article What Ball to Play? by Jan Simons, he states that “Moreover, game players also know that whatever happens to their avatars in the game world, nothing nasty will happen to them”. I disagree with this very strongly. If video games continue to advance and become more life like, will the users be able to distinguish what is allowed in video games versus what is allowed in the real world? I guess time will tell. Something that is also very interesting to me is when looking at the situation with my friend and his husband, he is a marine and playing mostly combat and fighting games. Where if the video games keep becoming more and more realistic then would he be able to consciously distinguish the difference between the two? With the excess amounts of gaming that he plays, it makes me curious as to what kinds of effects this would have on him. Another point to mention is that Simons says “nothing nasty will happen to them”. Where in video games you are being rewarded (or being the top of your team) for having the most kills. But if these video games become more and more realistic and to use my friend for example what if he gets deployed and has the same mentality of trying to get the most kills or be the most destructive but then returns home and has PTSD. That is something nasty that can happen to someone because of the objective of video games and how it can impact their real life.
Overall, I do enjoy playing video games or watching other people play video games as well. But there should be some boundaries in which video games should not cross, such as narrating a story. Video games should be used to pass time or for educational purposes in which I think they were originally intended to be for.
References
Eyman, D., & Davis, A. D. (2016). Play/Write: digital rhetoric, writing games. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press
Bogost, I. (2017, April 25). Video Games Are Better Without Stories. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/
Simons, J. (2007). Narrative, Games, and Theory. Game Studies, 7(1). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons
