John SzczepaniakSome of the world's commentators say videogames are either incapable of having meaning, or are only now reaching that stage. John Szczepaniak disagrees, providing examples from gaming history.
Issue 29 - Late 1980s and Beyond!
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
- Start date
Original Comment by: Thomas D
Incapable of meaning, eh?
Try Beyond Good & Evil. Developed by Ubisoft (French!), it was released right around the beginning of the 2003 Iraq War. It featured a do-gooder heroine fighting to show a sleeping populace the truth about its unintelligent, overly-militaristic government leaders.
Distrust of government, suppression of dissent, empowerment of the independent press.. given the timing of this game's release, I'd say this is Exhibit A for those arguing for recognition of games as art.
Cheers,
Tom Doll, Jr
Incapable of meaning, eh?
Try Beyond Good & Evil. Developed by Ubisoft (French!), it was released right around the beginning of the 2003 Iraq War. It featured a do-gooder heroine fighting to show a sleeping populace the truth about its unintelligent, overly-militaristic government leaders.
Distrust of government, suppression of dissent, empowerment of the independent press.. given the timing of this game's release, I'd say this is Exhibit A for those arguing for recognition of games as art.
Cheers,
Tom Doll, Jr
Original Comment by: Captain Commando
http://Plenty more
Check out Ultima IV (or read about it in Dungeons and Dreamers as not too many people have time to slog through dungeon crawlers from the early 80s, as much as we might want to). Ultima IV introduced a virtue system where players had to consider the outcome of each action. So it wasn't just some hero going around with a good cause and yet slaying everything under the sun. Each town had its own set of virtues, too, so you had to figure out how things worked in the town and react accordingly. Wasteland was another early game that used this system. I would call this game one of the first that actually makes you think and that means the game can impact the player.
Earlier games like Pac Man have frequently had comments regarding how they are metaphor for capitalism. While we can certainly read these narratives in today, I am not entirely convinced this was the designer's initial intent. When Satoru Iwatani created Pac Man, he was basing the design off the concept of eating. Eating is the consumption of material to gain energy, and as a narrative of consumption, it translates fairly easily with the capitalist narrative of consumption. While I'd like to say Iwatani said this could have an allegorical content where it is not only a narrative of eating but as a narrative of consumption also a capitalist myth, I don't think that was the intent. These games certainly had a cultural impact, but whether it was an intentional impact but rather an incidental impact that I'm not convinced.
http://Plenty more
Check out Ultima IV (or read about it in Dungeons and Dreamers as not too many people have time to slog through dungeon crawlers from the early 80s, as much as we might want to). Ultima IV introduced a virtue system where players had to consider the outcome of each action. So it wasn't just some hero going around with a good cause and yet slaying everything under the sun. Each town had its own set of virtues, too, so you had to figure out how things worked in the town and react accordingly. Wasteland was another early game that used this system. I would call this game one of the first that actually makes you think and that means the game can impact the player.
Earlier games like Pac Man have frequently had comments regarding how they are metaphor for capitalism. While we can certainly read these narratives in today, I am not entirely convinced this was the designer's initial intent. When Satoru Iwatani created Pac Man, he was basing the design off the concept of eating. Eating is the consumption of material to gain energy, and as a narrative of consumption, it translates fairly easily with the capitalist narrative of consumption. While I'd like to say Iwatani said this could have an allegorical content where it is not only a narrative of eating but as a narrative of consumption also a capitalist myth, I don't think that was the intent. These games certainly had a cultural impact, but whether it was an intentional impact but rather an incidental impact that I'm not convinced.
Original Comment by: Szczepaniak
http://www.retrosurvival.co.uk/
Excellent, I'm happy to see people mentioning other examples of such games (both old and modern). Which was my intention when writing about the (probably slightly obscure) older titles that I did.
BG&E was criminally overlooked when it was released, and then soon after consigned to bargain bins and ignored by many. Yet it was great fun and very clever in what it did.
I also agree with you Captain Commando, that when looking at games it's important to consider the intent of the designers. Pac-man being a classic case.
http://www.retrosurvival.co.uk/
Excellent, I'm happy to see people mentioning other examples of such games (both old and modern). Which was my intention when writing about the (probably slightly obscure) older titles that I did.
BG&E was criminally overlooked when it was released, and then soon after consigned to bargain bins and ignored by many. Yet it was great fun and very clever in what it did.
I also agree with you Captain Commando, that when looking at games it's important to consider the intent of the designers. Pac-man being a classic case.
Original Comment by: Tortanick
I'd disagree about Star Control II. It is art and exmplifies everything good about games but when you say it deals with issues like genocide and intolorence, not true. It includes them but only lightly. The Ur-Quan were the only species who tried to justify their behavour, and the Ka-Zar did an exceptional job of it.
However as for the others, their portrayal of an extreem aspect of mankind, while realistic belivible and beautiful dosn't deal with the issue any more than chatting to an extreemist anti-____ about ____ on the bus for 10 minuets dose.
Unless you understand why the phunk believe any mystic jargon you say, or why the Drugee are so greedy and herd them justify their belifs in such a maner that its worth the players time to consider the other point of view then the issue hasn't been delt with.
P.S. I mean deal with the issue for the player not for society as a whole, just want to avoid any confusion on that part.
I'd disagree about Star Control II. It is art and exmplifies everything good about games but when you say it deals with issues like genocide and intolorence, not true. It includes them but only lightly. The Ur-Quan were the only species who tried to justify their behavour, and the Ka-Zar did an exceptional job of it.
However as for the others, their portrayal of an extreem aspect of mankind, while realistic belivible and beautiful dosn't deal with the issue any more than chatting to an extreemist anti-____ about ____ on the bus for 10 minuets dose.
Unless you understand why the phunk believe any mystic jargon you say, or why the Drugee are so greedy and herd them justify their belifs in such a maner that its worth the players time to consider the other point of view then the issue hasn't been delt with.
P.S. I mean deal with the issue for the player not for society as a whole, just want to avoid any confusion on that part.
Original Comment by: Slartibartfast
This was a pretty interesting article, albeit too short. Then again, this is a topic I love. What about Shadow Of The Colossus? This game is full of moral ambiguity and always keeps the player wondering if they really are doing the right thing.
This was a pretty interesting article, albeit too short. Then again, this is a topic I love. What about Shadow Of The Colossus? This game is full of moral ambiguity and always keeps the player wondering if they really are doing the right thing.
Original Comment by: Zaphod
I think the medium has tremendous potential for creating forums for where cultural meaning can be shared. I think to the late 80's and early 90's playing the three initial Wing Commander games where there was a story that players moved through for hundreds of hours. The background and story development (admittedly trivial in nature) allowed in this format far exceeded the capabilities of the short film made from the same series.
Extend this to today's MMOG environment, where games capture the cumulative attention of millions of person-hours, and the nature of the stories told therein should be able to have all the possible cultural mass of any art form.
I think the medium has tremendous potential for creating forums for where cultural meaning can be shared. I think to the late 80's and early 90's playing the three initial Wing Commander games where there was a story that players moved through for hundreds of hours. The background and story development (admittedly trivial in nature) allowed in this format far exceeded the capabilities of the short film made from the same series.
Extend this to today's MMOG environment, where games capture the cumulative attention of millions of person-hours, and the nature of the stories told therein should be able to have all the possible cultural mass of any art form.
Original Comment by: stu
Decent article, but nice job forgetting all the western text adventures and graphic adventures ever published....
Decent article, but nice job forgetting all the western text adventures and graphic adventures ever published....