For a portion of my life lies within these digital narratives. Many have made inquiry of me of why I and large portion of the populuce have been so enchanted by video games. They ask how such redundant play and repeative sequences can amuse us gamers for such lengths of time. What they fail to see, is that a video game is an enteractive movie, a book where you take control of the fates and strive to reach the end of the tale. Video games like Halo, Mario, Zelda, and even the Final Fantasies do not keep gamers faithful with the mere experiance alone, it is the narrative, the stories. That each game is piece of larger picture slowly being unvieled to the player. That is why we stand in lines at midnight to pick up the latest installment in a series.
However, I am afraid those days are gone, that the Golden Age has begun to decline and make way for the Dark Age of Gaming. Titles are being released prematurely, time no longer is an impendment to create sequels. Sequels to games like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty can now be available annually. But has this process merely traded quality for quanitity? There is a decline in the quality of titles these days. It seems developers are not putting forth enough effort to make anything exceptional or exempellary. They are settling instead for recycled story lines, and mundane gameplay. Add to this a new trend of the anti hero. I having frequented game retailers and I have noticed nearly every cover of every game is the same. Each features a hero who is moody, dark, and wrapped in a blood red background or surrounded by legions of demonic looking creatures. Apparently the anti hero, or dark hero has become popular. Gone is the street wise Herculas, the White Knight, and hero who burns bright in the shadows. We must be content to settle for Edwards, devil spawns, and zombies to save faire maidens from the dragon and villan. Good versus Evil is not longer distinquishable. For the hero is neither good nor evil, he can't seem to make up his mind if he wants to do the right thing or not.
So the old formual has been scrapped, no more Mario vs King Koopa, Sonic vs Robotnik, and Link vs Ganondorf. Instead we get a disturbed character who can't decided if he will just eliminate everyone in a tantrum or take out the villan because he finds him or her obnoxious. Virtue is traded for vice and we are left with games that teach nothing but to button mash and to indulge the desire to render something asunder. It is quite depressing, I've contimplated giving my Xbox 360 away. For there is nothing I would condone playing at present. My only hope lies in The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North, and even that seems very morbid and dark. I have been told there are over one thousand Christian believers in the Gaming Industry. Where are they? All I see is perpetual darkness, and satanic conduits.
I have in reponse to this grime tide chosen to revert to playing the classics. Thanks to the Wii Virtual Console, I can play titles I grew up on. I shall wade through this Dark Age, and pray someone in the Gaming Industry will decid to create games that are uplifting; that teach ethics & morales; and that depict good versus evil once more. I can say that I have sought solace in some of the movie based games. I confess that I thoroughly enjoyed the Tangled The Video Game. :D
Addendum: I had to forsake The War In The North. It was morbid and full of divination. Why WB was permited by the Tolkien Society to taint Middle Earth is odd. Usually Christopher, Tolkien's son, is very rigid about all adaptations and licensing reflecting the original ideas of his father.
ReplyDeleteI have high hopes for The Guardians of Middle Earth and Star Wars 1313 looks promising.