Video game culture
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Video game culture is a form of new media culture that has been influenced by video games. As computer and video games have increased exponentially in popularity over time, they have caused significant impact upon popular culture. This form of entertainment has spawned many fads. Video game culture has evolved in time, particularly in connection with internet culture. Today, one can see the impact of computer and video games in politics, television, popular music, and Hollywood.
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[edit] Demographics
The average age for a video game player is about 30[1], a number slowly increasing as people that were children playing the first arcade, console and home computer games continue playing now on current systems[2]. The gender distribution of gamers is reaching equilibrium, according to a 2005 study showing that 57% of gamers are male and 43% female[1]. In early 2008 the NPD reported that 72% of people age six to forty-four in the U.S. played video games in the year 2007 with most players using the computer to play video games.[3]
One possible reason for the growing increase in players could be attributed to the growing number of genres that require less of a specific audience. For example, the Wii console has widened its audience with games such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Both require more activeness from the user and provide more reasons to play including family competition or exercise.
[edit] Online gaming
Online gaming has drastically increased the scope and size of gaming culture, although this has much to do with the usage of the Internet itself as a communication medium. Online gaming grew out of games on bulletin board systems and on college mainframes from the 1970s and 1980s. MUDs offered multiplayer competition and cooperation but on a scope more geographically limited than on the internet. The internet allowed gamers from all over the world - not just within one country or state - to play games together with ease.
One of the most groundbreaking titles in the history of online gaming is Quake, which offered the ability to play with sixteen, and eventually up to thirty-two players simultaneously in a 3D world. Gamers quickly began to establish their own organized groups, called clans. Clans established their own identities, their own marketing, their own form of internal organization, and even their own looks. Some clans had friendly or hostile rivalries, and there were often clans who were allied with other clans. Clan interaction took place on both professionally set competition events, and during normal casual playing where several members of one clan would play on a public server. Clans would often do their recruiting this way; by noticing the best players on a particular server, they would send invitations for that player to either try out or accept membership in the clan.
'Clan'- or 'guild'-based play has since become an accepted (and expected) aspect of multiplayer gaming, with several games offering cash-prize tournament-style competition to their players. Many clans and guilds also have active fan-bases, which, when combined with the 'tournament' aspect, contribute in turning clan-based gaming into a semi-professional sport.
From Quake, gaming grew beyond first-person shooters and has impacted every genre. Real-time strategy, racing games, card games, sports games can all be played online. Online gaming has spread from its initial computer roots to console gaming as well. Today, every major video game console available offers degrees of online gaming, some limited by particular titles, some even offer up entire virtual communities.
[edit] Competition
[edit] Slang and terminology
Certain words and phrases have been invented by, or have become popular with, the gaming community as a whole. Internet slang is similar to Leetspeak although the Internet Slang has derived over time from Leetspeak . Some terms are used to describe gaming events, games themselves, or aspects of games. Many games, especially online games, have their communities create neologisms to refer to specific events, situations, actions, or people in the games. Notable recent examples include Diablospeak and the expression "aggro" from MMORPGs such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft. Other notable terms include:
- LAN party
- Leetspeak (or simply "leet") – A pseudolanguage, with its own unique system of grammar (or lack thereof), multiple systems of spelling, and unique words.
- Noob
- Headshot
- Gibs
- Frag
- Pro, opposite of Noob
- Über
- Own or Pwn
- Trash talking
- Pulling A Drifter – During team matches, when a player allows his teammates to do all the work.
Video game slang often varies between genres and games. For example, slang from shooter games including Counter-Strike: Source will greatly vary from slang used in fighting games, such as, Super Smash Bros. Brawl or MMORPGS including World of Warcraft.
[edit] Massively-multiplayer online gaming
Massively-multiplayer online gaming today has become ubiquitous in the computer gaming realm. Titles like World of Warcraft and Lineage have millions of players. Within this population base, gamers are divided into servers of tens of thousands of people, often called realms. The importance this virtual world has is highly varied among gamers. Some gamers spend as much free time as possible, while others play much more casually. Massively multiplayer online games have become so important that virtual economies have sprung up that allow players to pay real money for virtual property and items. One game, Second Life, has its entire focus on the usage of real-life currency for everything in the game world. Some gamers make a living "farming" items and selling them on auction sites like eBay. Since most, if not all, online games issue 'Terms of Service' documents that specifically prohibit such transactions, any players that are proven to be selling any game assets (items, weapons, etc) will have their game account closed and may face legal action.
[edit] Gaming and popular culture
[edit] Advertising
Games are also advertised on different TV channels, depending on the age demographic they are targeting. Games targeted toward younger kids are advertised on Nickelodeon, while games targeted toward teenagers and adults are advertised on MTV,G4 and BET.
[edit] Gaming as portrayed by the media
- See also: Video game controversy
From the 1970s through even the 1990s, video game playing was mostly seen as sub-culture hobby activity and as a substitute for physical sports. However, during several times in its early history, video gaming caught the attention of the mainstream news outlets. In 1972, Pong became the first video game pop-culture phenomenon. This was followed by Pac-Man in 1981. Other video games labeled as pop-culture phenomena include Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, Pokemon and the Mario games.
As games became realistic, issues of questionable content arose. The most notable early example is NARC, which through its use of digitized graphics and sound and its adult-oriented theme quickly became a target of the press. These same issues arose again when Mortal Kombat had debuted, particularly its home video game console release on the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo systems (due to Nintendo's strict content-control guidelines, that system's version of Mortal Kombat was substantially re-worked to remove any 'extreme' violence). In response to these issues (and in parallel to similar demands made upon the music and movie industries), the ESRB was established to help guide parents in their purchasing decisions. 1993's Doom caused quite a stir, with its detailed 3D graphics and copious amounts of blood and gore. In the 1999 Columbine shootings, violent video games were for a time directly blamed by some for the incident, being labeled "murder simulators". Some serious psychological problems have been attributed to desensitization to violence in video games combined with their often addictive nature, though debate has yet to be conclusive about game addiction and other related issues.
In 2001, Grand Theft Auto III was released, which started the controversy over again. The main issue was that the graphics had advanced much, which made the game seem to have a greater potential impact.
Today, video gaming is viewed as a serious industry, comparable to the movie industry or the music industry. News outlets cover video game console releases in the same manner as they cover the release of a highly-anticipated movie.
[edit] Television channels
The first video game TV show was GamePro TV.
The first television channel dedicated to video gaming and culture, G4, was launched in 2002. However, over the years, the channel has moved away from video game shows, and more towards male-oriented programs. X-Play, one of the channel's most popular shows and the highest rated video game review show, is still produced at G4.
There are also video game shows that appear on other channels, such as Spike TV, Fuel TV and MTV.
In Korea, there are two cable TV channels fully dedicated to video games, Ongamenet and MBCGame, broadcasting professional game leagues that are held in Korea.
In Germany, there is one digital cable and satellite channel fully dedicated to video games: GIGA Television. It is also seen via internet stream by a lot of viewers.
[edit] Internet shows
Pure Pwnage, a fictional series chronicling the life and adventures of Jeremy, a self-proclaimed "pro gamer" has helped define gaming culture with its popularization of gaming lingo such as "BOOM Headshot!"
Red vs. Blue (made by Rooster Teeth), is a machinima (machine-cinema) filmed within the Bungie game Halo. It consists of 100 short episodes with halo characters acting out short, comedic sections of their lives in the halo universe.
[edit] Influences on music
Video game music has been utilized in many ways. The earliest example is Buckner & Garcia's Pac-Man Fever released in 1982. This album featured songs that were both about famous arcade games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Berzerk and also used the sound samples from the games themselves as instrumentation.
Aphex Twin, an experimental electronic artist, under the name "PowerPill" released the Pacman EP in 1992 that featured a heavy use of Pac-man sound effects. An entire music genre called chiptunes or sometimes gamewave have artists dedicated to using the synthesizer sets that came with past video game consoles and computers, particularly the Commodore 64 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. These bands include Mr. Pacman, 8 Bit Weapon, Goto 80, 50 Hertz and Puss. Moreover, many gamers collect and listen to video game music, ripped from the games themselves. This music is known by its file extension and includes such formats as: SID (Commodore 64), NSF (NES) and SPC (SNES). Cover bands like Minibosses have been founded recently that perform instrumentations.
Full orchestras, such as the Symphonic Game Music Concert tour North America, the United States, and Asia performing symphonic versions of video game songs, particularly the Final Fantasy series, the Metal Gear series, and Nintendo themed music, such as the Mario & Zelda Big Band Live Concert. In Japan, Dragon Quest symphonic concerts are performed yearly, ever since their debut in 1987.
The 14 Year Old Girls is a band that started Nintendocore music[citation needed].
See: Koichi Sugiyama, Nobuo Uematsu, Rob Hubbard, Category: Computer and video game music composers, Bitpop
[edit] Video game and film crossovers
[edit] Films based on video games
As video games often have settings, characters, and deep plots, they have often become the basis for Hollywood movies. The first movie based upon a video game is 1993's universally panned Super Mario Bros., featuring John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. Most of the other movies released that are based upon video games have often been universally panned by critics, and mostly failures at the box office (with the exception of 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, despite being also panned by critics), and especially the movies by Uwe Boll. The contributing factors to the unsuccessful transition from home television to theatre screens are attributed to: a dramatic re-envisioning of the video game that provides a disconnect from the game's plot, the game itself not having a plot rich enough to provide a decent script (particularly with versus fighting games), a substantially altered plot to make the movie more "mainstream" (Doom), and an emphasis on using celebrity actors over actors that would fit the part.[citation needed]
Examples: Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, BloodRayne, Doom, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider
[edit] Movies about video games
Hollywood has also created movies that are about video games themselves. However, there are notably fewer examples. Some movies come close to discussing video games, but with a more fanciful approach, such as 1995's Virtuosity. The first film of this kind is 1982's WarGames, which is about a fictional computer game called Global ThermoNuclear War. 1989's The Wizard, starring Fred Savage is the first movie about a real video game. The plot revolves around about adolescents who compete at games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The movie was also a first look at the mega-hit Super Mario Bros. 3. The main character from 2006's Grandma's Boy was a game tester who developed his own game on the side. The movie made multiple references to video game culture and featured the game Demonik, which was cancelled by its publisher shortly after the movie's release. The most current example of a movie of this type is 2006's Stay Alive, a horror movie about a next-generation video game that is so realistic that it kills its players. The next major gaming movie is going to be produced by Blizzard about the extremely popular World of Warcraft which has 10 million subscribers each month.
[edit] Interactive movies
Interactive movies as a computer and video game genre was the result of the multimedia expansion of computers and video game consoles in the mid 1990s, primarily because of the increased capacity offered by the laserdisc format. Interactive movies started out on arcade machines in 1983, but quickly expanded to computers and video game consoles such as the Sega CD, the Phillips CD-i and the Panasonic 3DO. The games are characterized by more emphasis on cinematic sequences, using full-motion video and voice acting. Interactive movie games have been made in a number of genres, including adventure games, rail shooters, and role-playing games.
The first interactive movie game was Dragon's Lair, originally released in the arcades in 1983, making it the first game to use a laserdisc and animation by Don Bluth, a man who worked for Disney on features like Robin Hood, The Rescuers, and Pete's Dragon, but later worked for other film companies like Metro Goldwin Mayer ( All Dogs Go to Heaven ) and Universal Studios ( The Land Before Time ). In Dragon's Lair, you control the actions of a daring knight named Dirk, to save a princess from an evil dragon, hence the name of the game. Since the dawn of this exact game, more and more companies were influenced by the technology used, and decided to make their own interactive movie games for arcades and consoles.
The birth of the 'interactive movie' genre was studded with unimpressive flops, though the genre later came into its own; at the time, video-capture technology was still in its infancy, with short (and often grainy and low-quality) video segments being the norm for games of any length.
Notable examples – Bioforge, Night Trap, Sewer Shark, Under a Killing Moon, Rebel Assault, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace
[edit] Video game paradox
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As Marshall McLuhan said, Media is the message.[4].Media narrative reveals and creates culture patterns. Video games as a form of media have the same function as well, such as its content of bingo, roulette, casino are all phenomenon that can be found in our culture, and it creates new culture customs as well. According to the narrative embedded in the video game, it raises controversy, particularly when the player has internal conflicts about the content of the game, and several debates in society are carried out. For example, games about the Columbine Massacre or based on crime (like Grand Theft Auto) or controversial movies like the Da Vinci code or Left Behind may be praised by some groups, but denounced by others. See also video game controversy. Some video games that are the subject of debate but are not considered controversial, have given the player the option to play either a good or an evil character, like Black and White or Heroes and Villains. Released in November 2007, the latest version of Simcity, Simcity Societies gives the player to choose societal values for their city, and the city evolves and changes based on the values that are chosen.
[edit] Terry Flew
Terry Flew, the Australian lecturer who commented on the video game culture in his book ‘’Games: Technology, Industry, Culture’’, wrote that there was a new participatory culture that had arisen in the media sphere. He makes note of three new trends that are being witnessed in the market.
- New media technologies that allow consumers to appropriate technology for themselves
- Rise of subcultures that promote a do-it-yourself attitude towards media production
- Growth of horizontally integrated media, in the sense of media being diversified within its common fields, as opposed to outward to other fields.
As a result of its broad appeal in the wider demographic, it is said that video games often segue into political, moral and ideological debates such as gender identities, education, violence and social interaction.
[edit] MMORPG and identity tourism
Flew suggests that the appeal of the ‘’’Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game’’’ lie in the idea of escapism, and the ability to assume the role of someone or something that is a fantasy in real life. He notes that ‘…for some women, [they] enjoy adopting what they feel to be an image of femininity more acceptable or desirable than their real world body…’(p. 264)
This is what he calls ‘’’identity tourism’’’, a form of hopping from one persona to another, for which there usually is a stereotypical discourse associated with the protagonist. This is seen in the case of males who assume the personas of the female gender, and the character’s representation of her gender being overly sexualised and/or passive, ‘…this tends to perpetuate and accentuate existing stereotypes of…women…’ (Nakamura).
Bias of gender exists in games, as females are usually constructed as visual objects, and they need to be protected, whereas men are adopted with more power. Although not all video games contain such stereotype, there are enough to make it as a general trait. Ultimately, Flew ends with the statement of the broad demographic's excessive demands, in that '...different genders have different gaming styles or preferences and that these differences are not catered for in the market...'(p. 265)
[edit] Violence narrative
Violence content in video game is criticized, which is related to ‘moral panic’ subject.[5] Fox News reported that Montreal shooting case in Canada was carried out by the criminal Kimveer Gill,[6] who is a player of Super Columbine Massacre, whose narrative attaches with strong violence sense. On the other hand, some people who hold social determinism theory assert technology is neutral,[7] but it is the way that humans manipulate technology which brings about its social impact.
[edit] Ownership
Ownership of video game entities is a major issue in video game culture.[5] On one side, players, especially who played with avatars for several years, have treated the avatars as their own property. On the other hand, publishers claim ownership of all in-game items and characters through the EULA (End User License Agreements)[5]. In this case, governments are supposed to establish the pertinent laws.
[edit] Addiction
Some people criticize the youth who, due to their lack of self-control, are addicted by video games, and it causes their underachievement. Players get addiction for fantastical backdrops, and addiction continues to circulate in various strands of ego-psychology. [8] For instance, Ever since the release of The Sims in 2000, there has been talk in the media that people who play the game project aspects of their lives into their Sim characters.[8] On the other hand, Thaddeus disagrees with it by scientifically measuring players’ personalities.[8] Which decides their response to The Sims 2. Moreover, The American Medical Association proclaims that saying video games cause psychiatric addiction is premature, and more proof is required.[9]
[edit] Video game globalization
Video games may be viewed as an invasive, imbalancing force on native cultures, but may also be considered as a form of cultural diversity that makes people broaden their horizon. For example: Japanese video games have dominated the world market since the mid-1980s; but Hong Kong is one of the consumption centers of Japanese electronic games in Asia [10]. The medium of video games can affect global culture in ways that other mediums do not, by transcending specific language and customs. Transcending languages and cultures can be specifically seen during online gameplay where players directly interact with others who live in other countries. Many nations also hold professional gaming to a level of importance. For example, the 2008 Olympic Torch Run will include eight professional gamers to carry the torch.
[edit] Video game and traditional media forms
With the rapid convergence of all media types into a digital form, video games are also beginning to affect, and be affected by traditional media forms.
In the history, the Television engineer Ralph Baer, who conceived the idea of an interactive television while building a television set from scratch created the first video game. Video games are now also being exploited by pay-TV companies which allow you to simply attach your computer or console to the television cable system and you can simply download the latest game.
Games act in television, with the player choosing to enter the artificial world. The constructed meanings in video games are more influential than those of traditional media forms. The reason is that 'games interact with the audience in a dialogue of emotion, action, and reaction'.[11] The interactivity means this occurs to a depth that is not possible in the traditional media forms.
Computer games have developed in parallel to both the video game and the video arcade game. The personal computer and the new console machines such as the Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox offered a new dimension to game playing. They have now largely been replaced by the Xbox 360, Wii and, the PlayStation 3.
Games are the first new computer-based media form to socialize a generation of youth in a way that traditional media forms have in the past. Therefore, the ‘MTV generation’ has been overtaken by the ‘Nintendo generation’;[12] however, some refer to the current generation as the 'iPod Generation'.
Because they straddle the technologies of television and computers, electronic games are a channel through which we can investigate the various impacts of new media and the technologies of convergence.[13]
[edit] See also
- Gamer
- List of books on computer and video games
- List of books based on computer and video games
- Video game controversy
- Computer and video game journalism
[edit] References
- ^ a b ESA report on the sales, demographics and usage data of the industry
- ^ Jupiter Media gamer age study - press release
- ^ "NPD: 72% of U.S. Population Played Games in 2007". Shacknews, 2008-02-04. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ McLuhan, M,& Fiore, Q(1967) The Medium is the Message, Hardwired, San Francisco, pp.8-9, 26-41, 74-75.
- ^ a b c 2Flew, Terry and Humphreys, S 2005 “ Games” Technology, Industry, Culture” in Terry Flew, New Media: an introduction(second edition), Oxford University Press, South Melbourn 101-114.
- ^ Foxnews2006
- ^ 3Green,L2001 Technoculture, Allen&Unwin, Crows Nest, pp.1-20.
- ^ a b c Signifying Play: The Sims and the Sociology of Interior Design by Charles Paulk (2006) from Gamestudies.org
- ^ Glick, Jon, 2007 Video Gaming Is not An Addiction, yet, fall AI Magazine p104.
- ^ Wai-ming Ng, B2006 [1].
- ^ Video games researcher Vincent O’ Donnell.1997.
- ^ Stewart, C and Lavelle, M (eds), 2004, Media and Meaning: An Introduction, BFI Publishing, UK. pp.119.
- ^ Marshall, P.D. 2002, Video and Computer Gaming, in Cuningham, and Turner, (eds).,The Media and Communication in Australia (Second Edition), Allen&Unwin, Crows Nest.pp.273.
[edit] External Links
- Tom Chatfield writes on the culture of video games for Prospect Magazine
