Holy moly my brain is fried from all the reading I've done this week. Luckily the subject for discussion hits on the very intriguing influences that literature of the early 20th century has had on the video game industry of today. This is great because I enjoy learning about anyway books create the ground work for today's advancements. As a youth of the modern age I'm completely impressed with the fact that so many of our top rated games are based off of novels by authors such as; J. R. R. Tolkien, Ayn Rand, H. P. Lovecraft, C. S. Lewis, and the world renoun J. K. Rowling. Saddly, many of these writers came from an era where their novels were shunned or unpopular due to their so-called unrealistic application to life, with their heads in the clouds so-to-speak. Present day their accomplishments are being fully recognized. Thankfully, Americans developed a keener sense of imagination sprinkled with a greater amount of acceptance and began identifying themselves with a story's "beast" or "talking tree" because of the nature of its personality rather than their unrealistic appearance. The movie industry makes its claim to fame thru the same facet as new age video games, (novels, novellas, plays, etc.) but also the influence of culture with its folklore, mythology, and history. War games are, I would guess, some of the more popular games to play for people of every age. When designing a game in the war genre you only need to reflect on our very own battles that have come to pass in our world's history; the Civil War, the Seven Years War, WWI and WWII, Trojan War, the War of 1812...you get my point. There have been a myriad of conflicts and rivalries...but... you take the strategy, defenses, offenses, armor, weaponry, skills of rank, and put all that into a game design and you have World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Halo, etc. Why can't history repeat itself on our terms? Well that is just what today's video games are allowing us to do minus the apparent death and destruction associated with raiding a village or storming the reigning ruler's home. As for the classic written pieces that set the foundation for the games we see today they will forever reign above any game that may be produced for the simple fact that without the literary mortar the gaming bricks would have fallen out of interest years ago. For the remainder of the gaming popularity the magic of books will forever thrive and inspire new wonderful worlds that will allow an all access pass to our imaginations and virtual destinies.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Are video games out-doing the literature they are based off of? Week 1
Holy moly my brain is fried from all the reading I've done this week. Luckily the subject for discussion hits on the very intriguing influences that literature of the early 20th century has had on the video game industry of today. This is great because I enjoy learning about anyway books create the ground work for today's advancements. As a youth of the modern age I'm completely impressed with the fact that so many of our top rated games are based off of novels by authors such as; J. R. R. Tolkien, Ayn Rand, H. P. Lovecraft, C. S. Lewis, and the world renoun J. K. Rowling. Saddly, many of these writers came from an era where their novels were shunned or unpopular due to their so-called unrealistic application to life, with their heads in the clouds so-to-speak. Present day their accomplishments are being fully recognized. Thankfully, Americans developed a keener sense of imagination sprinkled with a greater amount of acceptance and began identifying themselves with a story's "beast" or "talking tree" because of the nature of its personality rather than their unrealistic appearance. The movie industry makes its claim to fame thru the same facet as new age video games, (novels, novellas, plays, etc.) but also the influence of culture with its folklore, mythology, and history. War games are, I would guess, some of the more popular games to play for people of every age. When designing a game in the war genre you only need to reflect on our very own battles that have come to pass in our world's history; the Civil War, the Seven Years War, WWI and WWII, Trojan War, the War of 1812...you get my point. There have been a myriad of conflicts and rivalries...but... you take the strategy, defenses, offenses, armor, weaponry, skills of rank, and put all that into a game design and you have World of Warcraft, Warhammer, Halo, etc. Why can't history repeat itself on our terms? Well that is just what today's video games are allowing us to do minus the apparent death and destruction associated with raiding a village or storming the reigning ruler's home. As for the classic written pieces that set the foundation for the games we see today they will forever reign above any game that may be produced for the simple fact that without the literary mortar the gaming bricks would have fallen out of interest years ago. For the remainder of the gaming popularity the magic of books will forever thrive and inspire new wonderful worlds that will allow an all access pass to our imaginations and virtual destinies.
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Yes, I would have to agree with you that my brain is fried too. I really loved your last sentence that talks about the magic books and how they will always be an access to our imaginations and virtual destinies.I can really relate as reading those types of books when I was young. They are great for kids, especially when they don't need to be in front of the t.v. all day.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you! It's just so unfortunate that kids today don't take interest in reading. Strange as it is, video games are a distraction to kids/students of every age and instead of picking up a book (you know the foundation of VG) and using the imagination system that came preinstalled within us, rather we rely on another person's interpretation of how the scene should play out. What a lazy generation we have become.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything you wrote about yet. I just wanted to let you know that my feet are swollen and I hate airplanes. How is my Moon cat? Tell her if she doesn't behave I will send her to Animal Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteYour cat is running around with Tang actin' up as always. I haven't read yours and who knows maybe I won't just cause you won't read mine! Have fun with the kids!!! HAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteYou touch on some important issues here, especially the ability to re-do history in a more intellectual way -- something we obviously don't do so well in practice outside of VGs.
ReplyDeleteI am a little concerned with the "we" stuff that distracts from you and your thoughts. Don't generalize or push the analysis onto the reader. I'm only interested in your thoughts.
From this, I'm not sure I get a sense that you actually read. Sure, you say it's hard reading but that doesn't show an exploration of what you read.
You can also run spell check before you post via the Blogger Dashboard. Think of these as mini-essays...they need to be professional and polished. I like that you have infused this with some voice, but voice should not trump content.
I also don't see how these items fit together...with 2 posts for this week, I don't see the connection so I am having to make it for you. That's never a good sign...