Bouncing from Pong to Halo
This really dates me, but it was 1973 when I was first introduced to video games.
I had just moved into a new apartment in Longview, Texas, and I was invited to a neighbor’s for dinner. After burgers and beer, he showed me a contraption he had hooked up to his TV set that produced the image of a white bouncing blip across the black screen with a couple vertical dashes on each end that kept it moving.
The game was called Pong, it was the first game made by Atari, and it would open the door to the cultural phenomenon of video gaming.
AP writer Ron Harris uses the Atari Flashback 2 video game console playing the game Pong in San Francisco. The Atari Flashback 2 recreates the classic home video gaming experience of decades past. Instead of requiring cartridges like the original game, these games are programmed in. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Decades later
We’ve come a long way since then. Whether that means we’ve progressed or regressed depends on how much time you think you’ve wasted in front of a video monitor, lured into the marvelous world of repetition.
As we have transitioned from the television screen to the computer, videogames have followed us. They are firmly entrenched in the Internet universe. They have grown from the simple games of Pong and beyond to the sophisticated, online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Halo 3.
Each of those games boasts tens of thousands of players worldwide at any given time.
The Halo plot
Owned and published by Microsoft Studios, Halo is a trilogy of games that focuses on the interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant.
A far cry from ping pong.
The earlier arcade versions of video games, like Pong, Asteroids, and PacMan gave way to more sophisticated role-playing games online with early IBM and Apple machines in the mid-1980s. Games developed into a genre called multi-user dungeongs, or MUDs, which are video games with multi-player capabilities.
For communication theorists, this was when video games moved from the one-one-one mode into the realm of mass communication.
Advertising means change
A change occurred when advertisers began perceiving video games as a platform to reach large and lucrative audiences. The games became more creative and more complex, appealing especially to younger male audiences.
Tester Danny Hollefreund works on a Halo game at the comapny's headquarters in Kirkland, Wash. Microsoft Corp. has spun off Bungie Studios, creator of the blockbuster Halo video game triology, but still owns a minority stake in it. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
One genre of these online, advertising-supported games is called artificial life games. Players are put in control of a character in make-believe situations. These simulation games are structured around the social interaction of the individual characters controlled by the players.
A popular idea
It is a vicarious experience where the video game player lives the life of a fantasy character. It’s like the old TV series Fantasy Island, only this time the viewer actually steps into the plot on screen as one of the show’s characters.
The same idea that Woody Allen had in his film, The Purple Rose of Cairo. It was also the same concept in the film of Pleasantville. Real life folks moving into a fantasy world and taking on other roles.
The platform, Second Life, is used to support these role-playing games. In them, players select an avatar (alternative identity) and interact with other avatars in the community.
The immense popularity of games like Guitar Hero even allow us to become virtual rock stars.
Good demographics
Since they have amassed such a huge audience, it is only natural that video games have become a target for advertising. Video gamers are an attractive audience for advertisers. The Entertainment Software Association says players average 6.5 hours per week playing these games. And the players include a broad range of people, with about 40 percent earning $50,000 a year or more.
In fact, among entertainment industries, video games have leaped ahead of music in revenue rankings. A recent comparison of entertainment media shows the following relative sales:
- Books: $35.7 billion
- Movies: $32.5 billion (including DVD sales and rentals)
- Video games: $21.3 billion
- Music: $10.0 billion
Whether this fascination with video gaming – and especially the desire of many gamers to live their lives as avatars in fantasy communities – is a permanent or passing trend, remains to be seen. But for now, video games seem here to stay.
Thank you for joining our conversation on A Virtual Unknown. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
Technology is so fascinating because it is ever changing. Each time something new comes about, I always think, “How did they come up with that?” I feel that this is the same concept people used with McLuhan’s predictions on the “electronic age”. How did McLuhan come up with that and how did we make it a reality? McLuhan was way before his time just like video games. We have come a long way from Pong, as we have from using newspapers and radio for mass media. The graphics in video games to day are so realistic.
I am not an avid video gamer myself, but I can understand why people play as much as they do. It is a way to escape from reality for a time being. I know a lot of people that take part in the artificial life games. The social interaction with the game is similar to that of the social learning theory.
When it comes to technology, seriously, what will they come up with next?
I personally have never been a huge video game person or fan of the invention. I think that technology took the form of “games” into entertaining games and placing you in a virtual mindset. I have several guy friends who will be glued to their TV or computer because of the intense video games they will be playing. Instead of video games being something that’s fun or engaging with other people, it isolates and separates the one playing the games from the people who are really surrounding them. I have also seen within some marriages or dating relationships, video games being a big issue of how the boyfriend or husband is spending his time or relaxation. I can see how video games can be so intriguing but I don’t agree with how addicting they can become.
After reading your bit about the idea of role playing a fantasy character through a video game, it got me thinking to some others that you had missed or failed to mention. The popular “Call of Duty” series has oft taken real battles and historic situations and taken a character through these moments that have changed our nation as a whole.
In the sports realm, the recent game “NBA 2K11″ took Michael Jordan’s career as a Chicago Bull and allowed users to play some of his career highlight games and moments, ranging from his first championship to the career defining NBA Finals shot against the Utah Jazz in 1998.
It will be interesting in the coming years to see how video game companies might use video games in sly educational opportunities to teach history or, who knows, even someday rocket science.
Personally, my husband and I will never allow video games to enter our home. We know that our son will be exposed to them at some point but we hope to keep him from the “addiction” of playing video games that most young boys have. Video games are by no means healthy for a young mind. There is fighting, killing, shooting and much more that young innocent children should not be exposed to. There has been great amounts of research done proving that children who play video games have more more violent behaviors. I was very happy to see that “Books” were at the top of the list of sales and that movies were second. These are both family oriented ways of entertainment. Sadly, I would not be surprised if video games surpass books and movies in sales in the near future.
I personally love video games. I feel like they are movies and books but highly immersive. Sometimes they require lots of reading and intellectual skills, other times you run and gun to get things done. All in all, there are so many different stories and worlds that can be created. I also feel that video games are not as isolating as other things can be. Someone can go rock climbing all the time and totally isolate themselves from people doing what they love to do. Video games can bring people together. I’ve spent late nights playing community games with friends. Games like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Call of Duty, or Soul Caliber come to mind. We enjoy each other’s company and fellowship together no different from any other activity. Just because it’s not outside doesn’t mean that you aren’t developing relationships.
I love video games and I am huge fan about it. I have to say that video games are like movie and music and some of the video games is like books to me. Every time I play video games, I really feel like watching the movie or reading the book because it has story inside it. However, it is much better because it gives people chance to get involve with it, so you can feel like you are one of the characters inside the story. I also learn a lot of history from the games. For example, Dynasty Warriors, or Samurai Warriors, I have learned the history from the game. The story inside the game is base from the history of China or Japan. Maybe not every part of the game is right, but majority of the game story is right. It also gives me interesting to start study the history. Who said the video games couldn’t teach people, I learn a lot of things from them. Also it is the good way to connect with other people. Video games are the connection between me and my roommates and most of my friends. We will sit together and play the games together. Discuss about the characters or story and try different thing and discover the different thing from the games. It is a really good way of connection to develop the relationship with others.
I think that it is insane how quickly technology can transform. I agree that the leap from Pong to Halo was extremely drastic for such a short amount of time. There are many video games, Halo included, that present themes that I believe can be inappropriate for growing children. I do not think topics such as guns and war should be introduced at such an early age. At times I think it would be a much more healthy and calm world if technology was not as extensive and we went back to simple pleasures such as Pong. However, that is an unrealistic desire. Most likely, video games and other technology will only continue to grow exponentially in the coming years as past trends predict.