Video Games
Having grown up in the 1970s and 80s, I’ve been playing video games a long time, and oh my how they’ve changed over the years! From what used to be a specialized hobby using home computers and dedicated consoles hooked to your TV and having to seek out an arcade for entertainment, to the ubiquity of smartphone apps today, I’ve seen and played quite a bit. Formerly considered “nerdy” or for those outside the mainstream, now video games are played by celebrities and athletes, have their own teams and sponsors like physical sports, and are even considered relaxing and therapeutic. (The occasional, unproven “video games cause violence” has had staying power all these years, too.)
Game design has also grown, evolved, and broadened during this time. Chess and some sports have been around from the beginning; space combat games, too. While there’s not much you can change with a chess video game aside from graphics and difficulty, other genres that started as simple squares moving across your screen have progressed to figures close to indistinguishable from actual players. At first we were limited to a knob and a dial, or single joystick and button, to control a player’s actions. Controllers gained more buttons, added more directional sticks (and pads). Motion sensing arrived too, so instead of moving a stick to play tennis, one could now swing the controller as if playing an actual game (complete with requisite soreness the next day!). Keyboards, mice, and touchscreens continue to be useful means of control too, as well as dedicated controllers like dance pads, light guns, and even fishing rods!
Another element of design is duration of play. An arcade game, by its very nature, is a finite experience. Insert coin (or coins) and see how far you can get. You might have a timer limiting things, or a set number of “lives” and extensions gained through various milestones. Even then, with the great big letters GAME OVER on the screen, there could be “continue?” underneath. Pop another quarter in and pick up where you left off. At home, the same limitations may exist, but without the coin box. Games made for the home environment allow more changes to be made that extend play time. Your life bar may slowly regenerate, or character “death” could make you a ghost and you have to go back to your corpse for resurrection, at no cost except time. Of course play time is also different depending on genre. Short games or sports like poker or bowling could be simply one hand or game, or there could be a tournament option to stretch things out. Role-playing games are long, epic adventures – as you may only be able to spend a small amount of time in one sitting, there needs to be frequent areas to pause the story, so there might be “save points” at certain locations, checkpoints where things auto-save for you, or it might just let you pause and save anywhere.
How about cords? While there still are cables that connect the device to a screen, as well as power cords for those, no worries with them on a controller, stretching across the living room just waiting to ensnare passersby. Now it’s cordless and get out the batteries (or rechargeables). With smartphones and tablets, none of that is a concern, it’s all in one place – just get that backup power pack ready, or stay plugged to your charger for those marathon sessions.
Lastly, video games can be a social activity. At first we would take turns, or play against one opponent. Then consoles could accommodate 4 players, and the TV screen would be cut into quarters, each person getting their own “mini-screen” so to speak (now picture that on the smaller TVs of 20 years ago!). Computer users would create networks and have LAN parties with folks bringing their computers out. Then the internet, and with it the number of players in a game was limited to server capacity, hundreds playing at once in the same world in massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs, like Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, and World of Warcraft. Today’s mobile games continue the trend, allowing you to play a friend, or anyone who might be online playing that game, around the world. Guilds, clans, what have you – groups of like-minded individuals then gather together within each game, creating teams to share resources and information. We may not be playing on the same couch these days, but we can game with a great number of players in different states, time zones, and even countries.
While our branches do not have games available for checkout, we do have other ways to explore this part of our culture. There are art books celebrating both game images and box art of old, books looking back on publishers and series, the occasional old hint guide (most of those needs fulfilled today with a quick google check), and even game music. Don’t forget to take a trip into the game while you’re at it.
For a really deep dive on the subject, there’s also the Wikipedia series, “History of video games” (here’s a link to the beginning). Happy gaming!
Game design has also grown, evolved, and broadened during this time. Chess and some sports have been around from the beginning; space combat games, too. While there’s not much you can change with a chess video game aside from graphics and difficulty, other genres that started as simple squares moving across your screen have progressed to figures close to indistinguishable from actual players. At first we were limited to a knob and a dial, or single joystick and button, to control a player’s actions. Controllers gained more buttons, added more directional sticks (and pads). Motion sensing arrived too, so instead of moving a stick to play tennis, one could now swing the controller as if playing an actual game (complete with requisite soreness the next day!). Keyboards, mice, and touchscreens continue to be useful means of control too, as well as dedicated controllers like dance pads, light guns, and even fishing rods!
Another element of design is duration of play. An arcade game, by its very nature, is a finite experience. Insert coin (or coins) and see how far you can get. You might have a timer limiting things, or a set number of “lives” and extensions gained through various milestones. Even then, with the great big letters GAME OVER on the screen, there could be “continue?” underneath. Pop another quarter in and pick up where you left off. At home, the same limitations may exist, but without the coin box. Games made for the home environment allow more changes to be made that extend play time. Your life bar may slowly regenerate, or character “death” could make you a ghost and you have to go back to your corpse for resurrection, at no cost except time. Of course play time is also different depending on genre. Short games or sports like poker or bowling could be simply one hand or game, or there could be a tournament option to stretch things out. Role-playing games are long, epic adventures – as you may only be able to spend a small amount of time in one sitting, there needs to be frequent areas to pause the story, so there might be “save points” at certain locations, checkpoints where things auto-save for you, or it might just let you pause and save anywhere.
How about cords? While there still are cables that connect the device to a screen, as well as power cords for those, no worries with them on a controller, stretching across the living room just waiting to ensnare passersby. Now it’s cordless and get out the batteries (or rechargeables). With smartphones and tablets, none of that is a concern, it’s all in one place – just get that backup power pack ready, or stay plugged to your charger for those marathon sessions.
Lastly, video games can be a social activity. At first we would take turns, or play against one opponent. Then consoles could accommodate 4 players, and the TV screen would be cut into quarters, each person getting their own “mini-screen” so to speak (now picture that on the smaller TVs of 20 years ago!). Computer users would create networks and have LAN parties with folks bringing their computers out. Then the internet, and with it the number of players in a game was limited to server capacity, hundreds playing at once in the same world in massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs, like Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, and World of Warcraft. Today’s mobile games continue the trend, allowing you to play a friend, or anyone who might be online playing that game, around the world. Guilds, clans, what have you – groups of like-minded individuals then gather together within each game, creating teams to share resources and information. We may not be playing on the same couch these days, but we can game with a great number of players in different states, time zones, and even countries.
While our branches do not have games available for checkout, we do have other ways to explore this part of our culture. There are art books celebrating both game images and box art of old, books looking back on publishers and series, the occasional old hint guide (most of those needs fulfilled today with a quick google check), and even game music. Don’t forget to take a trip into the game while you’re at it.
Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: the PRIMA official game guide by Bryan Dawson
The Greatest Video Game Music, Andrew Skeet and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tron starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner (the sequel, Tron Legacy, is pretty good too)
For a really deep dive on the subject, there’s also the Wikipedia series, “History of video games” (here’s a link to the beginning). Happy gaming!
- by Dennis, West Windsor
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