The State Of Gaming

Stone here, and I am proud to say that I have watched and grown with the gaming culture as it has come into it’s own. I was there for the polygon glory of the Atari, I grew up with the NES and the Master System. I remember the behemoth original GameBoy with it’s dot matrix screen. I jumped at the Jaguar, went on a journey with the Saturn, and finally came into my own along side the industry with the PS1. And since then things have only gotten bigger and better.

But bigger and better is not always better. When exactly do we reach the pinnacle of gaming? When is enough enough? It wasn’t hard to imagine better graphics when you are trying to imagine that peach square is Superman’s head on the Atari. But can you really expect anything better than real time sweat mechanics in the latest Madden?

We all know how I feel about Retro Games. I have fond memories of them but just don’t find them as interesting anymore. Like a great deal of you I am spoiled by modernization and technology. However, I can remember when those retro games were the IT thing. There are legions of gamers out there who hold retro games near and dear to their heart. These are the true gamers in a sense. Stop, I am not calling you little Johnny a non-gamer. What I am saying is these retro gamers were there in the arcade with me playing Street Fighter ONE. We are the ones who grew gamerdom into what it is today. We carried that torch. We are the ones that experienced the evolution in gaming, so we are the ones that modern gamer have to thank.

I know why Nintendo is successful with their army of mini games. They are no commitment. It is easy to sit and play for five minutes at a time than it is to invest 30+ hours in an epic like Mass Effect. We as gamers are used to the addicting lure of the complex games that envelope our lives with massive stories and intricate gameplay. So in today’s terms, Nintendo represents the launching pad for new gamers, like the beginning of long ago when we had Atari. But unlike those of us who grew with gaming, these new gamers can jump from the Wii to the PS3 in a week. I hate to say it, but I feel that perhaps the majority of these new gamers don’t have the appreciation for games that us Original Gamers’s have. I can’t believe I said OG in a post! I feel there is a vast difference in growing and developing a culture over having the ability to jump in and be ‘spoiled’ from day one.

I am not dissing new gamers. Not at all. I am just saying that I can imagine there are vast differences in gaming from the OG’s to the new G’s. Sit down in Halo and play online. You hear the younger set trash talking evily the whole time. It’s the older gamers that are playing to have fun, to be doing something that is part of their lives – gaming. These younger gamers, well they just don’t have the respect for the game anymore. They all play to be the best and flaunt their skills. Games are not about skills. They are about games, having fun. But how would they know that? They never got to stare at a black and orange screen playing a polygon fun fest called Hard Hat Mack. They never got the brotherhood that came from the arcades. They instead got technology delivered on their doorstep. They didn’t go through the evolution. So yes, I know I have a deeper appreciation of a game, from Donkey Kong to Bioshock 2, that is missing in a whole new generation of gamers who don’t remember when Donkey Kong was something outside of the local Laundromat.

Gaming is one of the only cultures that undergoes drastic changes on a bi yearly basis at least. Technology is always improving. Cars haven’t changed much. Sports are the same. And those are just two examples. In those two fields, the fans are all on the same level. Now I have to stop. No, I am not saying I am some frakish uber gamer. I am not. I am just making a point that today’s gamers just don’t have the same foundation as us OG’s. It’s not their fault. I’m only 32 and I’ve seen such wonders emerge in the gaming industry. That’s not a long time. There haven’t been any major innovations in the automotive industry in over 60 years at least. And sports, well they never change. It’s just the matter of technology that what’s ‘in’ today is outdated tomorrow.
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The state of gaming.

It’s good, but when do we draw the line? When are the graphics, which have peaked, get any better? When can we slow it down so that the fans can grow with the culture as it progresses? In my opinion, gaming reached it’s golden age with the PS1. Yeah, today we have so many more options and improved graphics, but with the PS1 there was just that lingering sense of wonder and enchantment that has not survived as gaming transitioned into hyper reality. Want hyper reality? Go outside. Do something. Instead we got new gamers who live online. We are coming into our own more and more everyday, transitioning from the ‘dark basements’ to having our own television station. Unfortunately, the gamer fan does not seem to last as long as they used to. The newer gamers lose interest and move on. Old Gamers retire and settle down. It’s not easy to be a full time gamer these days. Everything is complex and time consuming. Look at WoW as a prime example. There is no save button. It’s a living world that goes on with or without you. But true gamers, like me, keep it alive through out their life. That’s one of the reasons why I started the GamerDad series. It’s a way to help those of you transitioning from junior gamers to full fledged adult gamers cope and know that it can be done.

Games are fun. They are nicer looking and more involving. We are in good age of gaming. There are more of us today than there used to be, with more everyday. But if we do not slow down we will kill off the culture. If we do not take the time to appreciate what we have instead of looking for the next bigger, better thing than the next generation of gamers will have no hope. We need to relax and understand that it doesn’t matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better, so just play to have fun. When games stop being fun, then we are all fucked. When we put in a new game and we are not full of that tingling, magic feeling inside, then we know it is time to call it quits. Our culture will have died. I love playing the newest game. I love my 360 and my Mass Effect’s and my TimeSplitter’s. I just think that my love for them is not the same as a lot of you out there have. We’ve got bigger tv’s, games on our phone, internet everywhere, louder home theatres, but what does this all really give to a true game? It doesn’t matter what size your TV is, or how big your hardrive is. What matters is that you, the gamer, are playing a game. Plain and simple.

Stone Out.