MAIN > SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE > Justin_Hall (Nov 08)

Wednesday 8th November 2006 10:57 am

Justin Hall: What Can We Hope for in a Gaming Future?

Before I went to grad school, I reported on the “Christian Computer Game Developers Conference.” Nearly all of the Christian game industry was there; under 100 people.

Most of their games are severely behind the times, technologically, and algorithmatically. If you have an agenda, and a small team, but not much money, and not much promise of big market value, it’s very hard to keep up with the rafts of space marines, athletes and super spies who otherwise populate most game machines. As a player, I must admit some lingering fondness for these power fantasies; I can solve onscreen problems in a heroic fashion! Hurrah!

Hopefully as I grow up, and more gamers grow up after me, they will create a broader market for more quiet, local power fantasies. The Sims was one stab at these more life-compatible, semi-reality based games; I look forward to the chance to play a compelling game as an 80 year old in assisted living, or a twelve year old during her parents’ divorce. At their best, beyond gratification, games can take us out of our own immediate comfort zones and help us understand alternatives. Maybe it’s too much to expect kids to strap on the Source engine and make their own characters anytime soon. But as our overall digital media literacy increases we will see more independent stabs as interactivity; whether through performance in a multiplayer world or design of single-player experiences. My hope lies in increasing media literacy to keep games from simply reinforcing the predominant power relationships between producer and consumer; instead games can inspire people to seize the medium to help other folks see inside their own heads.

Category: Ecology-of-Games

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