The Video Game Culture's Future

[FutureVenturer]

It's true that there are certain people, which play games everday. These people are known as hardcore gamers, who may also spend a few hours on their games and currently may own more than one type of console. As for the other kinds of people, they may not always play games, and these people are called casual gamers. It is a very big challenge for video games to appeal to many audiences across the world than just it being children or young adults (somewhere in their early 20s) since older people are more fed up with work and don't have as much time for something like this. When will games go mainstream like movies? This is the question we must ask ourselves? One of the ways to make this possible to present more with self-expression, meaning that developers will need to think better in terms of innovating and attracting large audiences. Somehow, they've got to attract more than just people who are waiting to play these games (hardcore gamers). And while most developers will consist of those who are not very talented as well as those talented, yet not so innovative, someone will need to stand up to making this industry go as large in being a culture for everyone as movies.

When people buy TVs, they generally want to watch something. It is very likely that games won't surpass movies or cinema (TV shows, videos, documentaries, etc.) since cinema has already expanded in some many ways. Maybe games will need to expand further. Of course we've been having arcade machines, home gaming consoles, and platforms. Not only this, but the PC is a good gaming platform as well. It seems that video games will expand through downloads even further, as this is a big business, particularly on the PC. In the near future, it seems very possible that CDs will become more left out, in order for developers and other game companies to continually find money being cashed in for their own products. The problem is that the internet connection is expected to become slower by 2010, when YouTube will be very filled with lots of videos, which only will contribute to making slower connections. It may seem that we'll be paying each time we're downloading something even, due to the amount of content being downloaded, constantly, through the internet.

Another big problem for games to face are that they must prove themselves more capable than just following the trend as movies and books. If people only expect video games to follow movies and books, thinking that it's a small industry, which it is, at this point, then the culture will not be able to grow so vast that everyone will become part of it. Books already are parts of childrens' & adults' lives, as are movies, but video games are too highly concentrated and kept in the hands of children and young adults. Mainly men are the ones attracted as an audience to this medium, which poses another problem. Why can't there be games that stretch much further away from the likes of being appealing to men? And no, I'm not saying to give women any video games which are about playing barbie dolls or anything else you can think of as "girly." Romance definitely could be something that women can really become interested in and spend their time around, whenever it is seen within a video game. It can help mature them more greatly.

Unless developers & other game industry workers can find the right strategies/plans to get the problems resolved, games will never be appealing to everyone.

[InsaneDriver06]

It's like anything in life. I doubt video games will ever appeal to most senior citizens in their 90's, unless it's a game of Wheel of Fortune, and nothing wrong with that.

Video Games are an escape/entertainment, much like watching TV sports every Sunday. You think of little else while being submerged in the game world.

The industry is making more than the movie industry, currently. Something that couldn't be said back in the 90's.

[kalle90]

Games are already bigger than movies or music, right? Music and books are 1000s of years old, games 20.

What could really be done? Gore, fiction and action have always been subjects of theather and movies. How to make real drama and appealing game without gore? If we are talking about interactionable movie, guess what, Halo Chronicles is supposed to be like one. The first one.

Games are a lot faster increasing culture than the others. Actually music and literature don't really grow anymore. Every year there's lot of different games from Sims, Guitar Hero, Singstar, Train brain, Buzz and different party and sports games. Everyone born after us have seen games in their childhood. So there won't be suspicions when everyone have played as a child. I can imagine myself playing as 80 year old.

We'll see how much is happening in few years.

[FutureVenturer]

Yes, I do know that the video game industry is starting to make more money and audiences, but how can we be sure that sometime soon, in 5 years or a little more, adults will come right into the picture, and not only children or mature gamers (17-21)? It took approximately around 30 years or a little more, but under than 40 years, for movies to become a big culture of everyone's life. However, with video games, they're now going to reach 40 years, and still haven't been able to gain enough of that, so it may take much longer than we could've imagined from the movies industry. This means that games will go on for having a lot of criticism from those who are not great supporters of video games and that self-expression (gaining a better understanding of a game) won't happen anytime soon either. We'll likely need some kind of a developer that thinks much like Jean Renoir to make this possible, as it was for the movie industry. After all, the video game industry is following the same path as the movie industry and yet it still hasn't gotten to the second stage, which not only includes narrative, but also self-expression and is a part of many people's culture (games currently focus mostly on narrative, and rarely ever on helping video games be noticed as art).

[kalle90]

I don't think there's a movie with less story than Guitar Hero. Overall I see lot more diversion in games than movies.

How many seniors watch movies of current teen action flood? They watch Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and other older people. Most seniors can't stand the current way and they watch the good old movies. In similiar way I could see myself playing Medievil as games have spread everywhere.

A growing part of games are getting M stamp so kids are quite ignored. I remember I played Spyro, Mario and Crash as child but now kids play Halo, GTA, Devil May Cry. Basic problem is how to get mature without gore or action, interactionable movies are coming, but they aren't real people from movies.


Stories could appeal to wider range of people if there wasn't gore and action. However they are currently basic part of games, how to progress without it. Max Payne would be great story even with cutted out all action, but what's the point then?

Still I see games progressing a lot faster than the old medias. Commodore was pretty much for experimenters. Nes for simple one way action where Mario and Contra have little difference. Snes bringing sport games on table. PSX bringing Resident Evil and actually different stories and games. Xbox brought wide multiplayer games and communities. PS3 brought real epical settings and Wii brought casuality. In addition all those generations have improved everything.

Can music, cinema and literature actually increase or improve? Games can, a lot. Big thing in front of games are suscpisions, all medias from literature to paintings have faced them but more or less lost them.
After everyone has played games atleast once, as child if nothing else, the walls are broken. There's still some old people who can't stand electricity or plumbing, what after they have died? Exactly.

[InsaneDriver06]

Originally posted by FutureVenturer:
Yes, I do know that the video game industry is starting to make more money and audiences, but how can we be sure that sometime soon, in 5 years or a little more, adults will come right into the picture, and not only children or mature gamers (17-21)? It took approximately around 30 years or a little more, but under than 40 years, for movies to become a big culture of everyone's life. However, with video games, they're now going to reach 40 years, and still haven't been able to gain enough of that, so it may take much longer than we could've imagined from the movies industry. This means that games will go on for having a lot of criticism from those who are not great supporters of video games and that self-expression (gaining a better understanding of a game) won't happen anytime soon either. We'll likely need some kind of a developer that thinks much like Jean Renoir to make this possible, as it was for the movie industry. After all, the video game industry is following the same path as the movie industry and yet it still hasn't gotten to the second stage, which not only includes narrative, but also self-expression and is a part of many people's culture (games currently focus mostly on narrative, and rarely ever on helping video games be noticed as art).

The other day I saw a couple gamers in the 40's easily, buying games. And every time I hear of target gamer statistics, it's males, ages 25 to 35, the people that grew up with Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. Driving the industry by spending the big bucks when kids can only afford one game once in awhile at the prices they are.

I don't think the industry is in any trouble, but it's a valid subject, since few expected the big video game crash of 1983 or so. Then Nintendo emerged with the 8 bit NES...