About 40 years ago electronic boxes with controllers we call video game consoles were released for anyone at home to enjoy. It was a big step forward for the industry; we could now play arcade games at home. Many games and subsequent systems have been released, and massive changes have occurred in American culture since then, and indeed it would be hard to speculate about what has influenced these changes.
In these 40 years of creating interactive entertainment, what have we said about ourselves in the process? If there is no meaning in most games, why not?
Art is always a reflection of those creating it.
What does it really mean when we are saving a princess in so many games?
Why are video game protagonists almost always male?
Is violence really the only way to deal with problems?
If all of these are questions simply answered by, “it’s just the mechanics of the game, and it’s easier to build upon them”, perhaps we need to step back.
If the games we play are simply a construction of mechanics and visuals with nothing to say, why not?
I don’t have the answers for an entire industry or culture but perhaps if we continue to ask, we will eventually get the answers.
“Let me write the songs of a nation, I care not who writes its laws” – A.F.
