Whew, I just had to come up for air. I know I said I'd post more, but this holiday rush has been FAR larger than previous ones. I have plenty to say about that, but for now, I'd like to talk about something far more important, at least to me.
Back in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected (if you can call it that) to the White House, he was sold by the Republican party as a uniter, not a divider. “Compassionate conservatism,” was billed as a conservative policy that could still at least be agreeable to moderate and liberal elements in the country. Fast forward to 2009, 18 days from the inauguration of Barak Obama. The country is the most bitterly divided it's been in recent memory, clustered into coalitions of red and blue states, with about five “battleground states” deciding the last election. I wonder if President-Elect Obama will ever be able to repair this broken husk of a nation.
Why do I bring this up in a gaming blog? The success of the Wii, rather than bring gamers and non-gamers together as Nintendo envisioned, has served to partition the gaming community in much the same way the presidency of George W. Bush has partitioned the United States.
The term “casual” has always been around, of course, but never before had it been such a venomous word. In the prime of the PS2/Xbox/Cube, people who played games with dedication would throw the occasional barb at one another, but didn't much give a bunch of crap to those who enjoyed games casually. Now look at where we are. Instead of meaning someone who enjoys gaming without the intensity of the traditional gaming demographics, or even the short association with PopCap Games' style of easy to learn, hard to master and addictive as hell puzzle games, “casual” has become a classification of cheap to make, unimaginative shovel ware like Rig Racer and Anubis II. It's become a derogatory term, not only for many games outside of the traditional gaming genres, but also for the people who play them.
The PS3 and 360 camps have, with some exceptions, united under their mutual hatred of what Nintendo has become, but the real tragedy is the rift seen within Nintendo's fan base. On one side, you have people who have become myopic about the company, defending even the most pedantic, infantile effort from them (Wii Music, for example) as signs of the sort of progressive thought that only Nintendo has (in their mind, anyway). On the other, you have disillusioned gamers, of which I am admittedly one, who view Nintendo's current console as little more than a cynical attempt to make quick cash from the mouth-breathing Oprah crowd.
While there have always been divisions with regard to gaming, they've never seemed so deep, so bitter, or so irreparable as they are now. Say what you will about the PS2, but the diversity of games offered on the platform made for an equally diverse community that the majority of people with any interest at all in gaming were part of. Today, the gaming nation is tangibly split into coalitions of Wii and PS3/360 states. And unlike the US, there's no Obama coming to try uniting us.
I weep for what the gaming community has devolved into.
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