The choice with personifying Video Games

SETUP

There has been a lot of talk lately about video games needing to "evolve" and "change", As if now taking it's first wonky steps through adolescence it reflects back on it's childhood as a mistake. As if before hand it was childish and profited of the fact that it's consumers just didn't know any better. As if now that it's evolving it will take on such heady issues as, mans inhumanity to man, the nature of love, death, social satire, and stuff like that...

Not to get too psychological but this is normal, man can only comprehend the confusing barrage of things happening around him by relating those things to his human nature and experience. E.G when people use phrases like "The death of film." That phrase may be used hyperbolically but it comes from an incredibly primal fear, something which all people understand. Other then the occasional jokester as a mass the community surrounding games (be it the makers or you) have never so strongly talked about games in such a personifying way until now. (Except maybe about specific guns and we all agree thats rather silly.)

CHOICE

This is the choice the individuals of the hive mind of games has to make. Do we continue down this path of bending the cultural idea of games to that of human nature (Like art, comedy, film and music,) using it as another microphone to sing the un-understandable all be it making pretty sounds as we do so? Or do we fudge that and just say that games are about nothing but games? getting a high score... getting from a-b and having fun (You know... super Mario)

We are given a very strange opportunity a significant opportunity, due the incredibly fast nature of the internet you can clearly see the medium-person of video games shaping. (Films and Books have gotten to the point of medium-adult-hood and they are well thought out, smart, stuffy teachers.) Due the internets shaping of that person we can decide if they "grow up" or stay kids for ever! Be Peter Pan! Be Bob Marley! And those people had much more interesting things to say then a person of "logical" thought.

WHY CHOOSE? AND WHY WE SHOULD IGNORE THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP?

It is inevitable that we are going to soon create a next state for video games (not in the literal sense but in the hive mind perception of it.) And as humans can only create things in there own image then shouldn't it be created in the image of the best kind of person. The kind that didn't grow up and give in to the temptation of formality, the kind that people attract followings. Said lovely things.

How do we do this then... well by individually deciding make the hive mind perception of games be that of a child. If films and books (The adults of mediums) seek to teach and and illustrate, then the child-medium will look at things from a weird, random, awesome, mind boggling, "hey whats over there, isn't that funny" sought of way. We know whats down the road of the adult-mediums, tortured artists and questioning consumers. You can be the cause of something other then art, joy.

Ignore this struggle for games to become grown up, A child medium like this will string out great fun games for the found and inspire the lost.

"I have no name;

I am but two days old."

What shall I call thee?

"I happy am,

Joy is my name."

Sweet joy befall thee!

William Blake

@underscores: Videogames, like every other art, are big enough to handle all range of human experience. Just as there are immature books, there can be immature games. Just as there are meaningful books, there can be meaningful games. And just as there are certainly tons and tons of purely function-focused books, there can be function-focused games. The same applies to movies and other arts.

To suggest that current attempts to expand upon the medium are somehow causing us to have to make some ultimate choice is patently absurd, and fortunately, it isn't the case. Whenever graphics seem to take over games, some developers push back with function-focused games. Whenever games start facing moral dilemmas and being mature, others joyfully frolic in ridiculousness and violent frivolity. Videogames are expanding, not making a choice. There is no hive mind to manipulate. There are simply people waking up to the reality that videogames can be many, many different things, and that's fantastic and exciting.

This is an amazing time for videogames, and if you really want to personify videogames, consider this. Videogames, like every other art, are now in the domain of everyone. So, there's no need for some videogame community to decide what videogames will become. Everyone will decide. Because videogames are only limited to the imagination and personal visions of each and every person out there today and in the future.

i think artists will use whatever medium they latch on to early in life, so inevitably good mature material will come about in games, but chances are they'll be small indie games.

mainstream gaming is in an embarassing adolescent phase right now, still childlike but with pretensions of maturity, and I don't know, given the way the industry works, as in, how many producers a big game usually has, and how much money they have to make, as in, how many people they are trying to appeal to, I'd say chances are it will stay that way.