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Culture |
Changes in the video game market: I like video games a lot, and have enjoyed playing many modern and old games over the years. But I have noticed a trend towards a different style that I dislike. There is a type of game that is particularly unappealing, usually single player and typically violent. Now don't get me wrong, i'm not going to turn in to one of those anti-game/film violence preachers. I believe these people entirely miss the point behind what they are saying, but i'll save that topic for another time. Still they aren't the only people missing the point here, the game and computer designers are too. I feel the aim behind a game should be to enjoy it by playing with friends, alright a single player game can be fun for a while, but the only games with a long term appeal are multi player games. People don't want to spend time with their computer, they want to spend time with other people. Now in the 80's nearly all designers knew this, few games didn't have a multi player option, and the various platforms supported them. The Intellivision had two controllers, the C64 had two joystick ports, and the Sega master system did too, so why do they often overlook this valuable aspect when making expensive games now? Admittedly the consoles have two or more controllers and have sold many fun multi player games, but in the world of desk top computers muti player is a long forgotten phrase. Many of the games marketed for them have fallen in to a stagnant rut of single player games that centre around violence. Of course we can only have hind sight afterwards, for example what we would call a harmless game now was considered violent and unsuitable in '77. Believe it or not this game was the all time classic space invaders! In light of this my opinion of these games may be harsh, but not unfair. For all their modern advancements in technology with svga displays and stereo sound they have missed the whole point to a computer game, to have fun with friends. Many wonderfully designed games with beautifully rendered graphics that look appealing are lacking a lot compared to their counter parts just fifteen years ago. These old games like Mattel's Reversi or even Atari pong bought people together in much more enjoyable ways than they could ever hope to achive with all their fancy pictures and sounds today. Theres more reason to dig out your old Atari or Commodore than just retro fun, they are in fact incredibly entertaining social activities. |
