GamePro presents March Sadness!
- March 07, 2008 21:24 PM PST
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Bracket 4: Culture and News
1- The Death of E3
During the summer of '06, in what some have termed the Day the Game Died, the ESA announced massive changes to the Electronic Entertainment Expo. To be brief, basically a decision was made to dramatically reduce the size and scope of gaming's biggest convention, ultimately killing off this once important event.
2- Nerd Stigma
With a large segment of the population now gaming, it's unfortunate that the old stigma of video game players being social outcasts and dweebs still persists. Yet, as more women begin to develop an appreciation for video games, us nerds can still hold out hope that one day dominant male gamers will attract women like rock-and-roll musicians do.
3- The Video Game Awards
Since mainstream culture's acceptance of gaming has grown (but certainly isn't absolute), the industry decided that it needed to parade its achievements around in the hopes that a brighter spotlight could draw more attention. This meant putting on an extremely clichd awards show, where games come second to B-list celebrities and the results question credibility. Basically, the VGAs are an embarrassment.
4- Company Buyouts
When smaller independent game developers get bought out by massive gaming conglomerates they often lose what made them appealing in the first place: their original and independent ideas. Recently, however, these large corporations have begun promising that their acquisitions will in no way effect the originality of these esteemed developers. Time will tell.
5- ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board)
The ESRB is a group made up of non-gamers who rate and dictate what games will be played by what age groups, often without even playing the titles themselves. On several occasions, games have been blocked for release due to what the ESRB determined to be unsuitable content, often giving little or no reasons for their decisions.
6- The Commercialization of Gaming
As gaming becomes more popular, businesses are presented with many more opportunities to cash in on this growing trade. And one technique that has recently seen significant growth is using games as a means of advertising. Whether this be through Avergames, or a massive increase in in-game ads, gamers are now more than ever being inundated with commercial propaganda.
7- Gaming Related Deaths
It's a simple connection to make: when someone dies as a result of playing video games uninterrupted, gaming is to blame. But no one blames a murder on a gun, and in actuality a microscope should probably be placed on the individuals who are subjecting themselves to these extremes, and not the games. Really, the foremost question to be asked should regard their mental health.
8- The Blame Game (using gaming as a scapegoat)
It's become too familiar to see video games blamed for crimes committed by youth, with pundits often pointing out that these lawbreakers have at one time or another all played video games. But really in this day and age what kid hasn't? Instead of making wild speculations regarding unfounded theories, maybe closer inspection should be paid to tangible proof.
9- Competitive Gaming in the U.S.
If competitive gaming was as big here as it was in other parts of the world (notably Korea), many of us gamers would see a level of celebrity comparable to a Burt Reynolds, or Bam Margera. Unfortunately it isn't, and as a result, we are unfairly impelled to toil in the dark confines or our parents' basements. Hopefully that will all change as gaming's demographics grow. .
10- Gaming Promotes Laziness
One of the many inaccurate assumptions made about gamers is that we can't pick ourselves up off the couch once the video game is turned off. But to be realistic, in most cases gaming is simply a hobby, like watching a movie or listening to music. It's something people do to relax or escape. How often do you hear someone blaming a book reader or movie critic for being lazy? It's completely unfounded.
11- Bad Movies About Gaming
We've already bagged on Uwe Boll's bad movies based on videogame premises, but the subject of gaming itself is woefully underutilized in the movies. Besides the enjoyable King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, there's not many good movies where the focal point is gaming or gamers. The medium's been around for thirty years and we've got The Wizard and Grandma's Boy? Pathetic.
12- Critical and Commercial Success Differing
There have been a number of great games that found significant critical success but failed to find any commercial success. Conversely there have been a number of panned games that have gone on to sell quite well. Ultimately, trends like these tell the industry that there are ways besides quality to ensure that your titles sell, and in the end this hurts the consumer the most.
13- Crappy Mainstream Coverage
With the industry around for as long as it has been, it's still rare to see gaming get the same sort of coverage on TV and in culture magazines and newspapers. Besides the obligatory gaming-related crime story (see above), what else makes the news? Stupid holiday and E3 "lookit all these games" stories. The industry runs year-round, and it's time the mainstream media noticed that.
14- Sweaty Controllers
For too long, we gamers have had to unfairly suffer every time our hands get a bit moist. Control is compromised, games become more difficult than intended, and grime tends to build up faster on our expensive controllers. If there's one issue that is truly holding gaming back from reaching the world stage, it's this extremity dankness caused by controllers.
15- Shows Using Old Sound Effects
Does the mass consciousness still only recognize video games when they sound and appear like they did back in the early 80's? For whatever reason when TV or Film needs a quick reference to gaming, they almost always hit up an old Pac-Man machine and play the sound effects and music ad nauseam. This is even the case when the viewer can clearly see a Playstation controller in the gamer's hand.
16- Ugly Gaming T-Shirts
For years, gaming had been thought of as the past time of nerds and losers, and so by advertising that hobby on your T-shirt, you were essentially advertising your geekiness. To make matters worse, gaming T-shirts are often very ugly by nature (you can't look cool in a shirt saying, "You had me at Halo"), so wearing such clothing provides further confirmation that you are a dolt.
