What is a game?
On its base
this is a really simple question for example when you type in what is a game on
google, it comes up with a dictionary definition of “a form of competitive
activity or sport played according to rules” or “an activity that one engages
in for amusement” however in this report I am going to explain what a game is
by: analysing games that changed the industry; the big companies in the game
industry; gaming culture in 2017; how multiplayer games have become the norm;
the rise of VR; tournaments and addiction of games.
In October 1958
a small game called pong changed an entire generation’s idea of entertainment,
within an extremely tense time brought forward by the cold war and people losing
their will, pong came at the perfect time this was the first step to the massive
gaming industry we have now. For years gaming was seen as a pastime for people who
were social outcasts and no one really took it seriously…well until the first
golden age of gaming began between 1980 and 2000 which saw the creation of classics
such as: Tetris, Pac-man, Metal Gear solid, space invaders and many more this
sudden rise of games being made created a beautiful domino effect which created
the powerhouses of gaming Sony and Microsoft which until recently have
dominated with their gaming consoles Xbox and PlayStation.
As I mentioned
before the two biggest gaming companies Sony and Microsoft dominated the late
90s and the majority of the 2000s with both of them constantly trying to one up
each other with exclusives such as uncharted for PlayStation and Halo for Xbox
and for a while it looked like no one could stop them. Surrounding these juggernaut
was the WII which much like a little brother kept trying to keep up but was consistently
one-upped. Fortunately because of their
constant battle they spawned multiple companies who realised games onto their consoles
including EA (the worst gaming company in the world) and 2k which are the main
gaming sport companies.
August 15 2013 was
the day like it or not gaming changed forever, this was because Felix Arvid Ulf
Kjellberg better known as Pewdiepie became the biggest YouTuber in the world
and changed the aspect of gaming no longer where people anticipating Triple A
games which half the time did not work but people where now looking at indie
games to see what entertainment they could offer which lead to the spawning of slender
man, flappy bird and a little known game known as Minecraft became a phenomenal.
This is what’s known as the second golden age of gaming and although it only
lasted a short time incredible tittle came out, more indie developers became
popular and gaming youtubers quickly became mega stars, to say the least a lot
of lives changed for the better.
“With 174
million gamers in the united states alone, we now live in a world where every
generation will be a gamer generation” Jane McGonigal. This statement was made
in 2011 in her broken reality is broken this one statement shows how huge the
gaming industry actually is and in 2017 multiplayer games have changed the
landscape once more with more and more people preferring to play a multiplier
game than a triple A game or indie original gaming has once again evolved to
the point where investing in a gaming café is a good invested move but if you
went back two or three years it would be highly advised against.
So far I have
mentioned how gaming has evolved throughout the years the industries its
spawned and the lives of people it’s changed for the better however as much as I
would like to think gaming perfect with all its imperfections there is a dark
side to it which includes: addiction, debt and even death. Firstly even though
gaming is supposed to be fun an entertaining if one is not careful they can
easily become addicted to a particular game where in minor cases their social
life would suffer but in major cases it could lead to death from malnutrition
or exhaustion like in the case of
a 17 year old teen who died after playing Defence of the ancients for 22 days
straight, another sad case was the now infamous case of Korean parents who left
their child to starve to death whilst they took care of their virtual child. Even
though there are sad cases like this that are the result of being addicted to
gaming they are very small.
Finally in 2017 gaming did show the world how massive it
actually was with the rise of tournaments from multiple games like pubg
fortnight and h1z1 it allows players from all over the world to show off how
amazing they are but the two biggest games that hold tournaments Counter strike
Global offensive and Dota 2 have completely changed the landscape and there
have been multiple rumours that both games will be in the 2020 Olympics or the
2024 Olympics which will cement professional gaming as a legit sport instead of
something people play just for fun.
For me personally
gaming has affected me very differently like how Janet says “stories define how
we think” Janet Horowitz Murray makes
me think that there are many games that have personally affected me and even
changed how I think one of these games is Spec ops the line, the lack of
gameplay was made up in its amazing story of a man simple trying to retain his
sanity in a world that won’t give him a chance, this one story has inspired me
to not only build games based around the mind like maze run but also inspired
me to write my first novel on a similar subject.
In conclusion when asked the question what is a game it’s
impossible to just simple say it’s a bunch of coding put together sometimes
even with a story, a game in this day and age is something some people play to escape
from the mundane reality they live in, it’s something that continuity evolves
with the times to suit the players better, something that could build careers
out of thin air, something that could damage lives but a game in my opinion is
not a perfect escape from reality but an extension of it and I can’t wait to
see how it continues to evolve.
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