Over the past few weeks, we've been working with a few common threads here at SVGL. We talked a lot about what creates our emotional attachment to games, and discovered that a lot of it has to do with why our childhood memories of video games are so strong even though games were much simpler then: imagination.
These days, games like ICO and Portal earn such dear spots in both our hearts and our pop culture because of all the things they've left unsaid; I'd add to the mix the world of BioShock's Rapture, which presents us a living ruin and then leaves so many of the empty spaces up to our roaming imaginations to fill.
Remember our discussion on the Last Guardian trailer and how it created a similar imagination-connection? We noted at the time that the games that are the best at this have something interesting in common: their creators aren't strictly game designers. Fumito Ueda was a student of art before ever taking his gifts to the game industry; the writers of Portal are exactly that -- writers -- and they would have been writing even if not for a video game (and to you designers who say you don't need writers to truly succeed, good luck with that).
I've also gotten an overwhelmingly positive response (thank you guys!) to the video on which I collaborated with the fantastic Daniel Floyd on why a growing female presence both in the games audience and the games industry is essential to the medium's creative development.
All of our recent discussions, then, have one core value in common: Diversity. The most valuable perspectives come from non-traditional creators, and the industry will thrive on being less insular. It's no coincidence, then, that I recently quizzed you guys in the latest SVGL sidebar poll on how you spend your time.
First of all, thanks for making this the best SVGL poll yet with 918 responses. And given that this is a pretty specific kinda video game blog, it's unsurprising that only 1 percent of you said that games are "pretty minor" in your life. About a third of you count games as your main activity in life, at 31 percent, and 53 percent of you say games take the lead among a few other hobbies. Only 12 percent of you would say you have "many" hobbies aside from video games.
I asked you about this because I wanted to find out how diverse you are in terms of your interests. Last weekend I was enjoying the great weather at a wonderful outdoor concert, and, tongue-in-cheek, scolded gamers via Twitter for spending the weekend indoors when there tends to be lots to do in the summer. Of course, I was largely teasing, but I was alarmed at how virulent some of the responses were. As if it were unacceptable, completely out-of-line, for me to imply that there's anything wrong with focusing on video games to the exclusion of all other things.
We're entering an era of cross-media IP (huh? More on that tomorrow), and I think it'll be a good thing for games when they can diversify in terms of who's creating them and in terms of how audiences can access gameworlds. And while we need diversity on the development side, our insularity as players isn't very helpful to the culture of games either.
I spend so much time on music these days that a lot of people ask me, "well, why don't you become a music journalist?" Because I like being a video game journalist -- I just feel that one's experience of any entertainment medium can only be enriched by the lessons and experiences from other entertainment media. Being into music has helped me enjoy games more, and I want to encourage everyone out there to find new ways to enjoy games through other established art. It's good for us!
That's what I had in mind when I wrote my recent Kotaku feature, in which I invited a popular band from the Brooklyn show scene I've been spending a lot of my free time enjoying to come and play Rock Band with me. Was it a successful ambassadorship? Read it and find out!
I'm slowly digging my way out of a backlog to get back to you guys. More polls, more posts, and more fun stuff soon!
24 comments:
"our insularity as players isn't very helpful to the culture of games either"
I'm going to smile about that one for at least an hour...
~sLs~
why? you don't think it's true?
i worry about the extent to which game culture is only relevant to itself. as players we're demanding a certain level of cultural sophistication for games, and yet we expect it to happen in a vacuum?
Nope, quite the opposite actually. In fact, I probably find it to be a truth to the point of that being a fault in itself. I'm kind of a traitor to my own cause there. =/
~sLs~
Don't feel too bad. We all are.
I'm interested in board games, card games (collectible and non-collectible), tile games, roleplaying games (books and dice type ^^) and all sorts of videogames.
I'm also interested in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Superhero-stuff... (Books, Comics, Graphic Novels, TV, Films...)
I've realised I'm basically interested in Games and Stories ^^
But then again, I'm also interested in politics (especially a few causes), and crafting of all types, and some parts of psychology, and lots of sciencey topics...
I think having a lot of interests, and a few passions, is the healthiest way to be - though I would say that ;)
I think gaming's big problem when compared to other forms of media is that it rarely takes it's inspiration from anything outwith gaming.
I kind of like what Shimmer is describing. If someone can dwindle (and identify) their passions down to a distinct few, it will probably give them a better appreciation for games in general (assuming of course, that one of the passions still remains video-games).
Delegating passions and interests is something gamers should become more accustomed to these days. There's nothing wrong with a little self-contained and personal elitism. =p
~sLs~
My commitment to gaming has fluctuated wildly over the years. While videogames have been a part of my life for almost as far back as my memory goes, I've gone through periods -- sometimes years -- in which very little of my time was spent gaming.
Aside from being a gamer, I'm also a big movie buff, an avid reader of books and comic books, and I occasionally go out in daylight.
I spent a lot of time in college going to concerts and seeking out new music. That's waned steadily in the years since I graduated, but I still consider music an important part of my life.
The past several years have been something of a gaming renaissance for me, but I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's at least partly due to games being one of the only forms of entertainment that are still innovating.
re: moving into music journalism. It's important to have interests outside the things you do for a living.
An obvious statement, yes, but with the twist that you (Leigh) make a living "from" one of your hobbies.
Personal colour: when I was a student, I was interested in web (and other forms of) design and did a lot of "playing" in my spare time. I wound up doing design work professionally. I love my job, but I can't say I do anywhere near as much personal stuff any more, as after a full day of "work", I generally don't want to do more of the same thing to relax. Perhaps that's just me.
"and to you designers who say you don't need writers to truly succeed, good luck with that"
Thanks.
Thanks for articulating the point about leaving a little something to the imagination. I've been thinking this for a while now. SOTC and Portal are two of my favorites for what they don't do as much as what they do. You could say this is true of many media, and it is, but I think there's something about the interactivity of games -- especially games in which you're a single character rather than a party/abstract entity -- that brings out the imagination factor.
I think that when you start doing what you enjoy and take it seriously as a profession, some of the fun dies away with it. I'm not sure if this applies to everyone, but if I know I'm going to have to review or analyse a game or film, it can have a bit of a sour affect on me. It's harder to relax and switch your brain off.
Looking forward to your thing on cross-media IP tommorrow. We most certainly need more writers in the video game industry, if that's what you're hinting at.
Also, I think gamers can be a rather stubborn, pernickety bunch, but if a game is good then I believe it will find a place within the heart of even the most ardent traditionalist. A good game is a good game, and is likely to appeal to its audience and maybe outside it. A great game can transcend genre boundaries to an even greater extent, unless you absolutely hate video games - in which case, nothing will persuade you.
Most of the heavy weights on the critical circuit are multi-discipline. Kieron Gillen does comic books, Ian Bogost is the holy grail combination of programming, philosophy, and literature. Dahleen has his music, you seem to ground yourself with similar stuff.
I think ultimately the thing about video games is that no matter how you want to spin it, you're talking about an artistic medium that revolves around creating a depiction of reality that you are exploring. Even the most fantastic and wild game is saying, "This is how the world works because this is the reaction to your input as it should be."
The best video game critics have a distinct statement about both. They have something to say about life, the world, and the way it works and how that sensibility applies to the virtual world. I doubt this requirement is even unique for games, it's just something that's the most tangible here because in a video game, more than any other medium, you're bringing your own outlook to the discussion.
Hello Leigh,
Your article, along with some of the previous articles and the discussion that ensued about childhood games and nostalgia had me think a lot about my own connection to games, consequently revisiting some game worlds of my early years.
I came to the conclusion that imagination played a central, if not the central role back then. The limited capabilities of computer hardware the games' visual design provided enough room for the player's own fantasies. And what were those fantasies if not the result of experiences cumulated outside the game: images from stories like ShimmerGeek described them in his comment.
I've played many MMO's over the years, and there seems to be an increase in the unwillingness to talk about other things than the game itself among the players. That leaves the impression that many players don't do much at all in their spare time except play one or another MMO of their choice.
Why is that? Does the huge scale of modern games lead to a state where all the space that was open to be filled by the players' imagination in the past is being occupied by content of the developers' choosing, rendering imagination obsolete?
Ok, I fear this response might get a little verbose; if I had already set up a proper blog (project for the not all too distant future), I'd post it there, but as things stand, I'll have to go for your comment-section. Hope you don't mind.
First off, I made part of the 12 percent that tried to share their time equally between a pretty broad palette of interests: I do play videogames, obviously, but I also hold a degree in literature (and hold it dear - the literature, that is, not the degree), I write sometimes professionally about movies and often less professionally about movies, comics and novels, I go to concerts every so often and do "real life-stuff", like, you know, meeting people, working a job, or doing pyhsical activities of different varieties.
That said, I'm also way too familiar with the fact that it is a downright struggle to keep up with all those interests, keep informed, up-to-date, whatever. But I also do very firmly believe in the fact that it pays off.
Thus, I whole-heartily agree with your opinion that insular thinking won't take us anywhere - I'd throw in "No More Heroes" as another prime-example for your line of argumentation: as much as it is a "gamer's game", it also feeds on a pretty perculiar, but nevertheless broad range of influences. Of course that's also true for a lot of games that don't wear their inspirations as proudly on their sleeve.
As far as I know, there are not too many game-designers commonly revered to as "great" (Myamoto, Wright, whoever) that actually started their career in game-design. I am sometimes a bit concerned, though, that the professionalisation of the formation might lead to some sort of incestuous trend. I don't remember exactly were it was, but I think in one of the rant-sessions on GDC, somebody asked the audience about how many books they read a week/a month/a year... needless to say, the poll's outcome wouldn't have made my old literature-teacher proud. I wonder if the becoming of all those game design only-degrees will have an influence on the future development of games in that regard.
(And here come part two - at least I keep my promises about verbosity and stuff):
That's the developer's side; but of course I also do agree with L.B. Jeffries's point that it also holds true for the critics' side. In every academic and journalistic field that I know, the most interesting opinions do come from people who are experts not only in their "core field", but have a somewhat broader outlook.
So, na, don't stop raving about bands. It's appreciated here.
Which leads me to the last point:
I do not think that the gaming-community is, in fact as insular as some of us might think. Quite on the contrary: Some of my favourite artists working in other medias are inspired by video-games and work that inspiration into their art - art that can, at the best of times, also teach us to look on the games it came from in different ways.
I already wrote a serie of articles on that subject, or more specifically, about what was called "video game-realism" in comic, novels and music - unfortunately, the articles were in German. But I'm thinking not only of novels like D.B. Weiss' "Lucky Wander Boy" or Xaver Beyer's "Weiter" that do talk explicitly about games; I also think of a book like Danielewski's "House of Leaves" which in its bizzare construction of space made me think that the guy certainly has played some game or another in his past.
And then there's that musician and that comic artist that can't go unmentioned here, be it only because I never read anything about them here, even though I'm pretty sure that Miss Alexander might potentially get excited about them, would she only know about it:
First one is Owen Palett (http://tinyurl.com/3nrqq8), who's not only indie music's most prolific strings-arrangeur, but also as a solo-project entitled "Final Fantasy", in which he uses nothing but his violin, a sampler and his voice to put out genuinely brillant song after song, coming up with tons of nerdy references - given his moniker, it won't be surprising that some of the concern games.
And then there's Brian Lee O'Malley (www.radiomaru.com)'s comic-saga "Scott Pilgrim", for which the term "video game-realism" was originally coined (currently being made into a very promising movie by no other than www.edgarwrighthere.com). It's a kind of mash-up of what was and is great about being young ca. anno turn of the millenium, heavely rooted in alternative-rock, manga, anime, kung-fu flicks, romance, and, yes, video-games. The way O'Malley uses game-structures as metaphors would put most of the so called artgame-creators to a shame.
And if we can learn nothing from it, at least we can have a bliss with it.
Update: Just when you try to put out the word on the street, the word itself gets back at you, calling you a lazy late-comer: Very recently, a Scott Pilgrim-game was anounced, RPS' Kieron Gillen has covered it http://tinyurl.com/mwqxqb. In his personal blog, he also talked in length the comic's merits, touching more than a few topics that are touched in this discussion as well. Plus: a videogame-inspired comic that inspired a movie that inspired a game based on that comic - was somebody here talking cross-media IP?!
uh, christof? it's kind of a huge topic that we've covered in the past and wll do again. it's not the kind of thing one can really be 'late' to :\
I meant "late" in regards of wanting to preach you the greatness of Scott Pilgrim, when Kieron has seemingly already been doing so for years and Ubisoft has already gotten wind of it, too. The rest of the topics under discussion are, of course, of eternal and immediate interest, nevertheless.
oh yeah :) you are a bit late to that!
http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24605
So, appreciating more things gives you more appreciation for each thing? Gotcha.
It's true though that everything influences everything else. Seeing cultural movement and exchange and feeling its trajectory is an exciting thing.
Having a broad perspective is crucial to informed criticism.
I think Leigh's hit on to an excellent point there... and if I'm understanding her right, when she's talking about the subject of diversity it can be taken at least two ways: Diversity in the field of game design, but also diversity of interests.
It's not so much that they're women designing games, but they're an expanded group of people with ideas of their own. Sort of like the gene pool, you want it to be as big as possible.
And like ShimmerGeek points out, as gamers, we all have a variety of interests beyond just console and PC gaming, but there's a lot of cross-over. I myself wish there was a site that kind of touches on all of these subjects, from movies, to games, to tabletop RPGs. Basically all the things (and potentially more) that interest us as gamers.
Cristof,
Concerning the output of those "game design degree" people, and the relative paucity of significant author figures in the space of games, I'd like to point out that Kim Swift, luminary of Portal, came from a game design background. Granted, she had help from Wolpaw and Falsiek, but that sort of outlines the way that games are changing as a medium - we're starting to recognize that professional writers can augment an experience created by dedicated designers. We're becoming, in a way, more like film, which is sort of useful in a medium like ours.
I'd also like to at least try hopping up to the defense of developers. For every Jaffe we've got a Levine. That is to say, for every cultural representative who can't seem to complete a sentence without the word "fuck," we've got a guy who's off in the corner thinking about Proust and only occasionally stepping into the spotlight. No disrespect intended to Jaffe, his games are fun, but I don't think anyone will ever mistake him for one of gaming's great thinkers. I think we've got readers in the wings, I just don't think that they're prominent, loud people at present. That said, I haven't actually read the interview and I totally agree that we've got a serious problem with appearances either way.
That sort of brings me to the paucity of noteworthy author figures who have their roots in games. I strongly disagree with that point. I think it's more occluded than it is in other mediums, and that, since many of the budding figures in the industry now are at the beginning of their careers in general, we tend to see them as having their "roots" in their BA, MA, or PhD. I wouldn't call Denis Dyack an outsider, despite his Phys Ed degree. He's been making games and doing little else for years (arguably one of the problems with Dennis Dyack).
And both Falseik and Wolpaw, the people behind Portal's brilliant writing, have been doing the game thing since the mid-ninties. Sure, they were writing about rather than for games back then, but they've been figures in the industry for as long as I can remember.
I'm not trying to downplay the importance of outside interests; quite the contrary. I think we need people who, as Alexander put it, would be creating even without a game's industry to facilitate it. But I think being part of that industry helps to focus the creative process of these people. Not to say that they don't need to look outside of it, but I don't think SotC or Portal would exist as they do without the topos and tropes of games to define their operation. The same could be said, on the side of literature, of House of Leaves. That book couldn't exist without a lengthy history of literature and, more importantly, an academic community surrounding literature dedicated wholeheartedly to picking it apart as a spectator's sport. Even though it draws from a variety of influences, its core, its heart, is rooted in literature. In fact, if we want to get really specific, I'd argue it's rooted in the modernist, post-textual tradition established three hundred years earlier by Lawrence Stern.
Anyhow, sorry if that got too nitpicky. You raise some interesting points, I just wanted to hop up and...well, nitpick, to the defense of our auteurs.
Michael,
thanks for your comment that didn't come across as nitpicky at all. Admittedly, I relied a bit heavily on broad generalisations to make my point.
My comment might be read as an extreme result of an extreme experience, that is trying to finish "Persona 4" and read "Infinite Jest" at the same time... made me recall the lively debates around the time-consuming nature of many games and the troubles it causes for professional journalists, designers, and gamers alike.
But, since I have already mentioned "Infinite Jest", similar things could be said about other media, as well. And of course, I only have a rudimentary picture of what is actually taught in game design-degrees; reading Tracy Fullerton's book on the subject, you do indeed get the impression that the students are encouraged to broaden their horizons.
That said, I am - though a bit pessimistic at heart - the last person that wouldn't be happy being proven wrong by the future. You brought up some good examples that make the lingering incestuous danger look a bit less threatening indeed.
To finish, I do agree with your observation that neither SotC nor House of Leaves could exist without a deep insight into the topoi and tropes of their proper medium; I'd just like to think that this is to some degree the bare minimum of knowledge that anyone working seriously in a medium should bring into the process. What I am more interested in at the moment are people who transcend those basics by integrating topoi and tropes of other media into the ones they're working in. It's great to see that the vocabulary of the videogame is finding it's way into other media more and more smoothly - and that it is used there to reflect, you know, really big stuff. I was just wondering aloud if there's not a lesson to be learned by game designers in there as well.
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