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I’m a big boy now…Video games and maturity
Today video games have now become part of the broad media market after so long under the shadow of their previous image of an industry aimed at children. Game corporations have made many great lengths to make them more mature to represent a broader audience. Thus the image of the video games industry has been literally screaming society that videogames are not just for children anymore (although they are still the crucial target audience). Indeed the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival changed its name to remove any connection that it involves videogames. Also the number of mature rated video games has tripled due to the ever increasing appeal since the average gamer is aged between 20 and 35. However, have modern videogames been able to shake away the stereotypical image of the nerdy teen playing in their bedrooms with no lights on like some sort of Gollum creature and made them mature?
The problem with the debate that videogames have matured is what classes as a videogame to be one? Modern videogames now have a wide range of game types and ways that psychologically involve the player more; as such it is hard to justify something that makes games mature. Is having a videogame with an 18 certificate rating slapped on the front cover make it mature? Or is having better graphics, better character building and better narratives that may even involve world issues make them mature?
Before video games had anything that resembled a person you could actually see properly society saw videogames as nothing but mindless pixels causing seizures to kids. Than as the technology began to improve so did the many things that videogames could show. Games such as Alone in the Dark, Grand Theft Auto and Doom began to show just how videogames had improved by trying to appeal to a mature audience. Thus it seemed that videogames had become mature by having gore splattered across the screen and wider interactions with an improved pixilated environment (well sort of) that you can actually do whatever you wanted to do. Even today videogames with an 18 certificate rating are being certified more times than kids putting money into their favorite arcade machine.
So can a videogame with an 18 certificate be classed as mature? Not really. Although they are rated for a mature audience it doesn’t mean that the game is. For example games like Left 4 Dead 2, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Madworld have 18 certificates but despite of this they still have features that can’t be mature; as such using gore and killing people which can’t be shown in a children’s game are still seen by today’s society as nothing more than mindless actions that just appeal to a teenager. Even the community that play the games know that they aren’t considered mature but play them for the voyeuristic pleasures of beating up and shooting people just for the fun of it.
Most of today’s video games have abandoned the novelty of producing a game for its game play and are now turning their attention to the film industry for inspirations. Using the faculties of script writing, art design and computer wizardry videogame narratives and characters are now so complex and thought out that people can get fully immersed into them. Even the inspirations of videogames are now being made into films to show just how developed they have become in terms of artistry and complex storylines. For example games such as Mass Effect, Bioshock, Assassins Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 all use character interactions and an engaging plotline that need more thought into playing them and rather than just running around and shooting people for no reason. Even Hideo Kojima the famous games director and founder of the Metal Gear franchise got his inspiration from movies to inspire cinematic techniques for his cut scenes; as such they have been highly praised by both the game and film industry for immersive and character driven stories with world issues of war and the negatives of it.
However, could using better narratives and characters make a game mature? No. Even if a video game has a good story or better characters there is one thing that all games need to use: Game play. Without the game play a video game is not considered a videogame and so the game play is the major integrity of having a player move from one level to the other to continue on with the story. The games mentioned before seem to make player’s believe that they are mature but in fact are not since they use still use simple actions and voyeuristic pleasures of beating up and shooting people. Even the tasks given can’t be seen as mature since collecting something or solving an issue with quick time events or bashing people in the head are plain simple and childish. One major controversy that has been seen as a step backwards is the notorious mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The mission “No Russian” sets the player in an airport where you have to forcefully gun down innocent people for no reason whatsoever. Talk about trying to be mature eh?
So you may be asking what makes a video game mature? Puzzle elements. That’s right those minigames involving puzzle elements you play in video games are what make games mature. After all solving a puzzle with the power of your noggin whether it would be from putting shapes into manageable blocks or putting objects into the right order is educative and indeed encouraging. This can be seen by Nintendo's Brain Training where the player can learn to read better to working out math problems. The game is so popular that it is played not just for children but for people of all ages. This is what made Ninetendo DS and the Wii popular as the games encourage people to lose weight with the balancing board or the new feature in Pokémon where it encourages people to walk on the go; enabling the Pokewalker device to check on you and your Pokémon’s progress.
slippery road or when it’s the right time to change gears can help people remember when in a real situation. Thus you don't need a game with a good story or an 18 certificate to make it mature but having something that uses your brain.
The problem with the debate that videogames have matured is what classes as a videogame to be one? Modern videogames now have a wide range of game types and ways that psychologically involve the player more; as such it is hard to justify something that makes games mature. Is having a videogame with an 18 certificate rating slapped on the front cover make it mature? Or is having better graphics, better character building and better narratives that may even involve world issues make them mature?
Before video games had anything that resembled a person you could actually see properly society saw videogames as nothing but mindless pixels causing seizures to kids. Than as the technology began to improve so did the many things that videogames could show. Games such as Alone in the Dark, Grand Theft Auto and Doom began to show just how videogames had improved by trying to appeal to a mature audience. Thus it seemed that videogames had become mature by having gore splattered across the screen and wider interactions with an improved pixilated environment (well sort of) that you can actually do whatever you wanted to do. Even today videogames with an 18 certificate rating are being certified more times than kids putting money into their favorite arcade machine.
So can a videogame with an 18 certificate be classed as mature? Not really. Although they are rated for a mature audience it doesn’t mean that the game is. For example games like Left 4 Dead 2, Grand Theft Auto 4 and Madworld have 18 certificates but despite of this they still have features that can’t be mature; as such using gore and killing people which can’t be shown in a children’s game are still seen by today’s society as nothing more than mindless actions that just appeal to a teenager. Even the community that play the games know that they aren’t considered mature but play them for the voyeuristic pleasures of beating up and shooting people just for the fun of it.
Most of today’s video games have abandoned the novelty of producing a game for its game play and are now turning their attention to the film industry for inspirations. Using the faculties of script writing, art design and computer wizardry videogame narratives and characters are now so complex and thought out that people can get fully immersed into them. Even the inspirations of videogames are now being made into films to show just how developed they have become in terms of artistry and complex storylines. For example games such as Mass Effect, Bioshock, Assassins Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 all use character interactions and an engaging plotline that need more thought into playing them and rather than just running around and shooting people for no reason. Even Hideo Kojima the famous games director and founder of the Metal Gear franchise got his inspiration from movies to inspire cinematic techniques for his cut scenes; as such they have been highly praised by both the game and film industry for immersive and character driven stories with world issues of war and the negatives of it.
However, could using better narratives and characters make a game mature? No. Even if a video game has a good story or better characters there is one thing that all games need to use: Game play. Without the game play a video game is not considered a videogame and so the game play is the major integrity of having a player move from one level to the other to continue on with the story. The games mentioned before seem to make player’s believe that they are mature but in fact are not since they use still use simple actions and voyeuristic pleasures of beating up and shooting people. Even the tasks given can’t be seen as mature since collecting something or solving an issue with quick time events or bashing people in the head are plain simple and childish. One major controversy that has been seen as a step backwards is the notorious mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The mission “No Russian” sets the player in an airport where you have to forcefully gun down innocent people for no reason whatsoever. Talk about trying to be mature eh?
So you may be asking what makes a video game mature? Puzzle elements. That’s right those minigames involving puzzle elements you play in video games are what make games mature. After all solving a puzzle with the power of your noggin whether it would be from putting shapes into manageable blocks or putting objects into the right order is educative and indeed encouraging. This can be seen by Nintendo's Brain Training where the player can learn to read better to working out math problems. The game is so popular that it is played not just for children but for people of all ages. This is what made Ninetendo DS and the Wii popular as the games encourage people to lose weight with the balancing board or the new feature in Pokémon where it encourages people to walk on the go; enabling the Pokewalker device to check on you and your Pokémon’s progress.
Any game doesn’t have to be a puzzle game itself as it can feature elements of puzzle solving to be thoughtful and proactive. Real time strategy games involve players to be mindful of what resources they have and how many units they can produce. First person shooters enable players to pick a strategy and be observant of their surroundings. Research has found that first person games give players’ better observation and hand-eye coordination as the level of concentration and thought process of tackling a situation requires a lot of
slippery road or when it’s the right time to change gears can help people remember when in a real situation. Thus you don't need a game with a good story or an 18 certificate to make it mature but having something that uses your brain.
However, even if Videogames may not seem to be mature they can still give the delights that people want which is to escape the dull routines of life. Whether if it's engaging in battles, talking to fantasy creatures or racing in
an imaginary car the joy of doing these things makes the experience all the better. Just like films and novels before it videogames can provide all the entertainment that you need and can easily suck you in. If other media
entertainment has no restrictions on what to show than surely videogames can as well. So what if they will never be accepted by society for not being mature. After all everyone who interacts with some form of media who wants an experience that maybe seen by others to be childish still has a child in them. Well I'm
not worried I'm having fun. Are you?
Comment
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Comment by Illmatic on September 30, 2010 at 10:09pm
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Comment by Cagefightin' Craig on September 30, 2010 at 12:17pm
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You could really pick apart ANY kind of fiction and label it immature. Name a mature film, book or video game that isn't 100% factual and you could find a way of calling it immature. It's not even that hard.
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Comment by Joong on September 29, 2010 at 1:31pm -
I consider video games to be the perfect form of entertainment. You take part in them, they immerse you, they have unbelivable graphics nowadays, story, sound, etc; it all comes down to a perfect creation. It's a shame fucking people can't take them seriously, I really hate the fact that people are so close minded and say things like 'OH DURR I CANT BELIEVE YOU WOULD CRY OVER A VIDEO GAME HURRR'. Why the fuck not? They can show just as much emotion as any other form of entertainment.
As for your comment on thoughts about the MW level. It did not shock me and altough I think it might of seemed 'mature' to put it in, to give a better perspective from the bad guys, I still think the developers true intentions were to create a ruckus in the media, and thus creating a lot of buzz and free advertising for their game (as if they didn't had enough sells D:)
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Comment by Thomas Pearce on September 29, 2010 at 4:41am -
Its not that you think you are immature its just the media and society that looks into the concept of video games and always has this image. We know that we're not some Gollam but the media just can't shake the image away. Why? Because they know that video games are an easy target for scapegoats.
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Comment by Steve-Ø on September 28, 2010 at 9:02pm -
Excuse me, but I'm some stereotypical nerdy teenager in his room with no lights like some sort of Golam creature, but I don't think that that is necessairly a bad thing. Not that I want gamers to be REPRESENTED that way, but still. That doesn't make me immature in any way.
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Comment by Thomas Pearce on September 27, 2010 at 9:41am
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Oh God the Desert Bus- I only know that from the childsplay charity that the LoadingReadyRun team. Bless them for sacrificing their sanity for helping others.
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Comment by Watcherprime on September 27, 2010 at 9:22am
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With regards to the 'No Russians' level: I played it and found it to nothing more than a gimmick to play out a fantasy, like the atomic bomb going off in the middle of CoD: MW. They both have the intent of explaining the world in which MW was in, but I found it highly immature in both games.
IMO, Call of Duty should stick to Nazi Zombies and multi-player.
Heavy Rain was about as stupid as a SAW film. It was scripted to a real fault, despite of the fact that an entire game can be played if you screw up and characters die. It was a puzzle, to be sure, but it came off like an adventure game: beat it once and you can fly through it.
At least MMORPG's are not like the infamous Desert Bus. If you don't know what that is, well... It must be seen to understand.
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Comment by Hero on September 27, 2010 at 8:56am
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Saying a video game that's all about shooting shit is immature is like saying Transformers or any one of those dumb Summer Blockbusters are immature, yes we all know they're childish... that doesn't change the fact that we enjoy them.
I think a lot of Video games out there are mature and I don't need to list them off, It's the same thing with Movies, only difference is that Movies have been a widely accepted form of entertainment for long time whereas Video game has just started being accepted in the mainstream and that's why questions like "Are video games art" keep being dropped around.
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Comment by Thomas Pearce on September 27, 2010 at 8:10am
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Sorry if I made some problems with my writing but in the end nobody's perfect. Cas Bastiaanse don't worry about that you weren't the only one to cry when it came to the formention moment as everybody I know had cried at that moment. Thats very good as it shows video games can create emotions just as other media can. Travis Pickle I think it is true Heavy Rain had both a compelling story but also the interactions were very much like a puzzle game as you to memorise the icons on the pad so its both hand and eye co-ordination and also memory tests. They do say that video games are very good for mental memory and also excellent persception as well. Dexter thank you for helping Angry Movie Dork with his punctuation but again nobody is perfect we all make mistakes from time to time. i want to bring C.H. Gorogs comments on the subject of No Russian level so for everybody did it shock you? and do you think it was mature to put it in? It would be good to know your thoughts on this matter.
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Comment by Dexter on September 26, 2010 at 4:51pm -
@ angry movie dork: You may not know this, but there is a "k" in know, and a period at the end of this sentence.
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