Just a small gaming thought.

[Ramzal]

When was it that the gaming industry had so much impact on the community in general? I don't mean in an economical sense, no. But rather in a community sense? I remember in the 1990's if you so much as mentioned the term "game" in proximity to "video" the usual responce from bigger angry kids would be to beat you up, take your pants off and use them as the schools new flag. But now it seems that now you can't take two steps without noticing that same bully is now an energy drink chugging Halo/ Gears of war junkie. (I'll be coming back to his point in a tick.) Now I'm not saying the 90's ruled...because in all honesty, they sucked. But I'm sure that almost every gaming geek like myself when I was in third grade or so had the usual cockstomper ask "You're playing a GAMEBOY?!" Followed by the usual insult of nerd, geek, twimp, and I've personally got a "Bill Gates" comment at that point in my life so, I guess that guy was psychic.

But I when I sat in my campus computer help desk playing pokemon white, three guys from the football team came over after hearing the battle theme. The first thing asked was "what starter did you pick?" Followed by -them- talking about EV and IV's...which is a hole of pokemon I refused to dive into while they've pretty much swan dived into. And then proceeded to set up college events around pokemon battles. And---I kid you not---set up a list for a tournament for next semester that includes at least 60% of the football team and 40% of the womens soccer team. Another example was when I was working in a dog walking company. When dropping off dogs, I've noticed that the 30-50 year old customers had Wii's, 360's and Ps3's in their homes.

One customer in general was in her underwear, (And a bit too comfortable with the idea of me being there and her in it.) sitting on her couch, playing Megaman X8 and cursing Sigma's Palace for having too many spike traps. Another was a Marine who had a Wii with Mario Galaxy playing with the biggest smile I've ever seen on someone serving in the military. Oh, and many with guitar hero stuff, but yeah. Has no one else noticed this? Has gaming brought people together in one mass community that will rip the face off Nintendo if it dare try and shut down? And why the -hell- do people drink energy drinks to play games? They don't even taste good and they don't even give you "energy" at the moment, but rather a week later when fat begins to build in your system.

It's not as if gaming is the same as running. Running and drinking one makes sense, due to getting your heart rate up to increase how much fat burn you get and lose weight faster. But gaming you're not the chunky space Marine in the game. Soooooo, I don't get it. Do you? But last question. What sparked the "gaming movement" that is active today?

[Acid]

I do think that due to videogames becoming a much greater market, and due to easier access through internet and the fact that there are a LOT more games produced nowadays videogames have become less of a "nerd only" area. By now it's a rather common medium, like movies, and people are generally less "afraid" of trying videogames.

Just my two cents.

[Bolt Crank]

Yeah. games have become more widespread in reach and type. You've got flavors for just about everyone. Not just Mario/Megaman/Pokemon.

[Align]

Games used to be new technology, so only the hardest of cores even knew about it. Response at that time was probably curiosity and fascination.
Then it started commercializing, but primarily towards kids since "games are toys". Curious and tech-interested kids got them, jocks and bullies generally did not or at least would never admit to it... response changed accordingly.
Then the kids grew up and wanted more mature games as they were now mature gamers; they got them. And if ordinary parents play games, then anyone can play games without looking immature or nerdy.

So it was just a matter of time until it filtered upwards through the generations.

[Hiryu]

I think the gaming companies today have tried to make the systems to include not only the gamers who've played their NES back in 3rd grade, but for new, potential consumers as well. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have adopted a "family friendly" policy to their systems. But it's basically it's the same old strategy companies have been using since the beginning of the industry by luring in families, the mom and pop specifically. Why? Because they buy stuff for their kids to make them happy, but the mom and pop don't really know what to get their kids sometimes. So, they make ads directed to kids. How many times when you were watching TV did you see a commercial for a toy or a game, or maybe even at the supermarket and you beg your parent(s) to get you that special something?

Back in the 70's companies tried to market their video game consoles as "Family Personal Computers." Why? Because the companies who made the computers back then were making a killing by marketing their hardware as educational and entertaining. I'd imagine some schools had  bought into this and had a couple in a few classrooms that the students could use. Do you remember the first time you looked or even played with a computer? Do you remember how fresh, new, and exciting it was to use it?  Did you ever go home and tell your parents about it?

This can be evidenced by looking at the Nintendo Famicom, which stood for "Family Computer."

Off-topic: I think they could've put a few more spikes in Sigma's fortress [/sarcasm]

[Bolt Crank]

Sigma's fortress definitely did not have enough spikes.

[Mirby]

Speaking of spikes... *obligatory comment on Zero's helmet*

[Bolt Crank]

*rolls eyes*

[Krystal]

What sparked the "gaming movement" that is active today?

Basically, the digitisation of our culture as a whole directly affected our entertainment. Zoom out of gaming for a bit, and look at people's general lifestyles.
Nerdrant comin' up~
Laptops, netbooks, smartphones, GPS in cars, facebook as the medium of choice for contact, humans have begun to live a life completely immersed/dependent on technology. Information used to be something we had to go out of the way to obtain, such as through books and newspapers, but now we're drowning in it. This oversaturation of information and being conditioned with daily networking is part of our daily lives.

Back to gaming. Games, and playing, have been part of natural human behaviour since forever. I'm sure we all know this. Before they were contained in digital form, the most popular and accessible games were in the form of sports, board games, playing cards, etc. So I guess naturally, if you liked, played, and were good at popular games like sports, you were 'cool'.
But as technology developed and more people used computers for their convenience, things like gaming evolved with it. Naturally, it also became wider and more varied to encompass the various needs of its ever expanding audience. Games are entertainment, kids might want it more, but adults need it as well. I still remember when I'd grab a computer just to play solitaire, then later pinball, because I wanted to have fun but no one else was around to play with. Things like Angry Birds is built around this same concept, add to the fact that it's portable, simple and you don't need to go out of your way to buy a 'console' for it, and you have a very popular and widely accepted game. And you have to admit, it's much more entertaining than solitaire.
Things get accepted by communities as soon as they become popular or normal. That's just how people are. Technology is popular and normal nowadays because it's easy to access and convenient. What's harder? Calling your mates out for a football game or organising a round of CSS over IM? They're both fun~ People prefer one because it's easier. Of course that doesn't mean other games have become obsolete, since there are experiences you can only get from them, but it's helped with the popularity of video gaming a lot.
So has the commercialisation of games. But commercialisation goes for everything nowadays because of, you know, oversaturation of information. People have realised that digital entertainment has money in it, so they sell it to as much people as they can. Games for really young kids, games for older people, games for your grandparents. It's a little sad though to see kids being patronised and reducing them only being able play 'easy', 'nice' games. Kids are fine with the themes of life/death/blood/whatever, they're not stupid. And they can figure out difficult puzzles and timing just fine. But that's a rant for somewhere else.

But hey, tl;dr: Because games are fun bro \o/

[Bolt Crank]

/thread

[Protoman Blues]

Basically, the digitisation of our culture as a whole directly affected our entertainment. Zoom out of gaming for a bit, and look at people's general lifestyles.
Nerdrant comin' up~
Laptops, netbooks, smartphones, GPS in cars, facebook as the medium of choice for contact, humans have begun to live a life completely immersed/dependent on technology. Information used to be something we had to go out of the way to obtain, such as through books and newspapers, but now we're drowning in it. This oversaturation of information and being conditioned with daily networking is part of our daily lives.

Sadly, it's not exactly a good thing that this is happening either.

[Krystal]

Whoops, did I kill all discussion with my essay?

And, everything has its upside and its downside. Unfortunately for humanity, we're getting lazier, losing essential skills, and becoming more distant/socially awkward due to our reliance on technology. The worse part is that, because of our current reliance, we forget to learn skills we once should have know. So when we lose this technology, we become completely helpless. Sounds like a good base for a survival plot. I can see it now, a bunch of geeks get stranded on an island and start using knowledge from Harvest Moon to try to survive.
One thing that scares me is that data is increasingly becoming intangible. Hard copies take up space and resources, sure, but without a computer interface, it's impossible for us to verify the existence of the digital data we've amassed. One of the areas in which we can easily see this happening is in art, photography, and writing. We understand that the art we've created is there, we can carry it around contained in a physical object, we can access it through a computer, but we can never see, hear, smell, taste, or feel the data itself. In other words, it doesn't exist in this dimension as far as we, as 5-sense humans (Don't get into the more-than-5-senses argument with me, I know), are concerned.
But once again that's a discussion for somewhere else.

Back to the point, because of digitisation, people are losing touch with the tangible. Artists who paint in Painter instead of on canvas can't feel the paint or the brush. They can't smell the turpentine, they can't see the glisten of the paint in sunlight before it dries. Despite us trying harder to emulate reality, we can never completely replicate it.
Same with games, I suppose. People are losing touch =\ Quite sad, but that's the way we're heading \o/

OT: I think I actually miss writing essays.

[Protoman Blues]

I think another danger of information overload is that people are just becoming way too distracted and oblivious nowadays. I see it especially when people are walking and driving, the latter of which scares me.

[Gaia]

I think another danger of information overload is that people are just becoming way too distracted and oblivious nowadays. I see it especially when people are walking and driving, the latter of which scares me.

And such it's why I stopped taking my handhelds with me to the car, or other activities that require full focus, such as walking the dog so that little turd doesn't run off on ya chasing a squirrel and winding up hitting a tree.

I'm trying to balance tech and life out, so that way I won't get easily as distracted as such.

[Align]

Back to the point, because of digitisation, people are losing touch with the tangible. Artists who paint in Painter instead of on canvas can't feel the paint or the brush. They can't smell the turpentine, they can't see the glisten of the paint in sunlight before it dries. Despite us trying harder to emulate reality, we can never completely replicate it.

But is that desirable? For old-school painters, turpentine smells of home and glistening paint brings memories, but for someone who has only ever used the digital arts the former is a dangerous and irritating gas, and the latter a meaningless and unnecessary delay in the process.
A separate argument could certainly be made for digitization removing delays and waiting making us very impatient, though.

[Krystal]

That's like saying safer, faster, and cleaner is always better =w=;

Perhaps they do sound more appealing at first, but what anyone creates art for, is the experience. The result is important, but most people make art because they want to, and because it's fun when they do. Some people like getting their hands wet, and sitting back to wait for paint to dry. It's just a physical experience you can't get by sitting in front of a computer. S'all~

[Align]

That's like saying safer, faster, and cleaner is always better =w=;

Well, yes. They just tend to come with some negative aspects as well, like a less visceral experience or whatever.

I'm not saying that nobody should like getting their hands wet, just that the new generation shouldn't be forced to hold on to the old ways.

[Krystal]

I never said anyone should be forced to do anything. I'm just whining that people are forgetting that the old ways can be good as well =|