As the article points out in its opening, science fiction and aliens in video games are a dime a dozen. Players enjoy the feeling of being transported from their normal, everyday lives into the shoes (or claws depending on the species) of some sort of alien creature. Before reading this article, I took alien-based games for granted, and I didn't even think that these games, while being "alien" and different, were still coming from a human perspective. The one part of the article that got me pondering was this:
"Inhuman otherness isn't something that can be achieved in video games at this point in time. Short of a full body and sensory altering piece of tech, no controller and television display is going to make you feel like you're a creature not born on this planet. At this point, though, that's no bad thing. Right now, game makers and players should be concerned with getting games to meaningfully and convincingly convey humanity before we start working on evoking the interstellar other. We're getting there. Every time we construct a new digital world and a set of rules to obey and break within it that inspires a deeply human reaction, whether it be joy or sadness, amusement or fear, we get closer to a point where games will be able to let us be a monster from outer space. We don't need games to show us what we aren't. We're only just figuring out how to make them to show us what we are."
John Constantine, the author of this article, points out a great fact: that developers and players should focus more on making games more "human" before seeking ideas from beyond the stars.
When Electronic Arts announced a video game version of Dante's Inferno, the classic poem by Dante Alighieri, I thought to myself, "They really must have run out of good ideas." Any doubts I had were squashed when what turned out to be a very good game released. I was very happy when Bob Mackey, who I have communicated with on several occasions, wrote this article about the pros and cons of basing video games off works of literature. The one part of this article that got me thinking wasn't even directly related to video games:
To be fair, it's nearly impossible for any narrative to escape the influence of Classical Literature; due to the importance placed on their works over the centuries, the epic stories of Classical authors set up a sort of storytelling template for their audience over the centuries -- even today, you can't escape 12 years of basic education without running across something like The Iliad or The Odyssey."
Mackey reminds us that something does not have to be completely original to be good, which is a lesson we as writers should take to heart when reviewing our own work.
It is always interesting to look back and reminisce about the past. Whether it be events, old photos, or even video games. The final paragraph of this article proves an important point in anybody's life:
The video game industry might be an entirely different world today, but as any good high school teacher will tell you, it is important to look back at our history so that we're not doomed to repeat it. Besides the obvious nostalgia trip a study like this brings, it also helps us learn a little bit more about ourselves and how far we've come."
While I agree that it is important to look back and not repeat past mistakes, I don't think anybody or anything can completely stop from repeating history.
No comments:
Post a Comment