Monday, January 12, 2004
Our Comprehensive Analysis of the Influence of the Experiential Interface of Video Games on the Development of Geek Culture
Evan's busy playing Seventh Saga on the olde skool 16-bit Super Nintendo. I hate those role playing games, and never fail to mention it, which I'm sure Evan appreciates. So I mentioned it.
"I hate having to earn experience points!" I said. And I do. I mean, really, any time in a game where you have to stop and just kill stupid little monsters for like ten days just bores the hell out of me. So I switch it off. It's why I never liked any of the Mario games. Brand me heretic if you will.
The whole idea of experience points is so annoying. Why even have them? Newer games like Half-Life are paced so that you just move from one goal to the next without having to wind some imaginary odometer forward point after mind-numbing point.
I was complaining about this to Evan as he tackled another horde of "undead" and these weird stone tablets that try to fall on your character.
"Well," he said between waves of imaginary monsters, "in video games like half life your control is direct, so you control the characters experience. It's not so much a character, just you doing stuff. In role playing games your experience is alienated from the character's. The character is like a doll that you control, and issue orders to. You are more of an observer than a participant."
I pointed out to Evan that the games almost universally feature a god-like third-person perspective, further reinforcing the sense of distance. He went on,
"So you become alienated from the game world, alienated from the character. Just like geeks feel alienated from the real world. I'm not suggesting a causual relationship, maybe just a mutually reflective relationship."
Which came first the role playing game or the geek? Psychologically, you could say that geeks are drawn to video games because the alienation from the game world mirrors that which they feel in real life. Distance is percieved as safe and comforting, so it's natural that an interface that precludes an intimate relationship with the character would appeal.
"And the feeling of distance in the game reinforces the sense of distance in real life," says Evan over his shoulder. He's fending off an android and some sort of large bird with a Kryn sword.
So it's a feedback cycle, geeks make role playing games which make more geeks who make role playing games which make more geeks.
And then they take over the world, while the rest of us are playing half-life.
We're all doomed.
-Trevor
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"I hate having to earn experience points!" I said. And I do. I mean, really, any time in a game where you have to stop and just kill stupid little monsters for like ten days just bores the hell out of me. So I switch it off. It's why I never liked any of the Mario games. Brand me heretic if you will.
The whole idea of experience points is so annoying. Why even have them? Newer games like Half-Life are paced so that you just move from one goal to the next without having to wind some imaginary odometer forward point after mind-numbing point.
I was complaining about this to Evan as he tackled another horde of "undead" and these weird stone tablets that try to fall on your character.
"Well," he said between waves of imaginary monsters, "in video games like half life your control is direct, so you control the characters experience. It's not so much a character, just you doing stuff. In role playing games your experience is alienated from the character's. The character is like a doll that you control, and issue orders to. You are more of an observer than a participant."
I pointed out to Evan that the games almost universally feature a god-like third-person perspective, further reinforcing the sense of distance. He went on,
"So you become alienated from the game world, alienated from the character. Just like geeks feel alienated from the real world. I'm not suggesting a causual relationship, maybe just a mutually reflective relationship."
Which came first the role playing game or the geek? Psychologically, you could say that geeks are drawn to video games because the alienation from the game world mirrors that which they feel in real life. Distance is percieved as safe and comforting, so it's natural that an interface that precludes an intimate relationship with the character would appeal.
"And the feeling of distance in the game reinforces the sense of distance in real life," says Evan over his shoulder. He's fending off an android and some sort of large bird with a Kryn sword.
So it's a feedback cycle, geeks make role playing games which make more geeks who make role playing games which make more geeks.
And then they take over the world, while the rest of us are playing half-life.
We're all doomed.
-Trevor
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