Dead Pixels has 41 chronicles

1. Games That Are Not Games, and why we need them
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on May 13 2009

   Dead Pixels,
   By Ryan M. Eft
   5-13-09
   
   The Wii and DS get credit for indirectly giving rise to the phrase “Games that are not games”. For some of us, this is synonymous with shovelware. For others, it’s a way to differentiate shovelware from games that have value, but break with the traditional mold. Because of course, a cursory knowledge of what makes a game reveals that most “games that are not games” are, in fact, games. They’re just concepts new to our particular kind of game, and as a result we haven’t fully accepted them.
   
   Ironic, when they might be what’s keeping our hobby alive.
   
   The first conceit that us old hands commit in applying such labels is in assuming this is a recent phenomenon. In so doing we excise from our memories things like Civilization, Sim City or Pokemon Snap (if you remember that, you might need addiction counseling. I’ll meet you there). And then, of course, we can’t forget the many games aimed at education, or the fact that modern RPGs and adventure games started as text (Hello, Sailor!). Over time, of course, these things either evolved into forms we recognize today, or became accepted as “real” games.
   
   One of the major effect of games that allow you to be a wedding designer or plan your diet, and one of the things we most overlook, is the effect they have on a company’s coffers. They’re cheap to produce, easy to replicate for new formulas, and a guaranteed sell to non-traditional gamers. In film, while it’s always nice to have a mega-epic franchising cow like Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean, the real money (and the funds for that fun stuff) comes from cheaply produced romantic comedies and dramas that require no real effects budgets. The same applies to gaming. All those Imagine games, and all those Petz titles, cause relatively easy money to flow into a company’s coffers. That money gets channeled into things us dedicated gamers like to play.
   
   So the next time you’re kicking back with some Rainbow Six, remember that Imagine: Babysitter made it possible.
   
   But aside from that, it may be about time we realize that gaming isn’t just us. And, moreover, gaming machines can provide more than just traditional molds of entertainment. Perhaps the most instructive way to remember this is to note that we hardcore-type persons play a lot of games-that-are-not-games. Rock Band and Guitar Hero? Spore? These games shatter the conventional wisdom of what makes a game, but have been a hit with both the casual crowd and the more dedicated virtual adventurer.
   
   No, not all games-that-are-not-games are golden. Some, quite a few in fact, are crap. But gaming is only recently growing into this trend. And refusing to take part is only going to have two effects.
   
   One, it will marginalize the traditional gamer further. New types of games ideas are where things are going, and we can either accept it and join it, or be left behind by it. Two, our insistence that only certain types of games are eligible for our playtime is holding a lot of triple-A content back from being what it could be. Simultaneously, we try to block progress, while being left behind by it.
   
   Games-that-are-not-games are here to stay, and I think it’s high time we accepted that. Hell, a lot of them are actually useful. When you’ve got games that can teach you foreign languages, and games that can teach you how to cook and help you lose the weight you gain because of the cooking games, no one can say any longer that games are pointless. Hasn’t that been the goal for years now?

   
   

   ---

   Send To A Friend

Dead Pixels has 1 comment on this chronicle.

1. JackDaniels624
   Posted On May 13 2009

   Very nice! Don't forget that theirs also political games that deal with current events!