The [Video Game] is the most complex toy that has been built and is much more receptive than any other toy that has been invented. Compare it, for example, to your contemporary, the cathy talking doll, which has about a dozen different sentences to answer when you pull the string. Cathy does not take into account the variety of your answers; the computer does it. Cathy has a dozen answers; the computer has millions.
-Briann Sutton-Smith, the toy as a culture
I start this note in this way, because it is interesting to think about the complexity of the video game beyond what could only be a source of entertainment, tell me, you never thanked that cell phone game that helped you survive what seemed like a wait infinite in the market? Or did you feel the king when no family member or friend could win you in Mortal Kombat? the truth is that all at some time in our lives we have had contact with video games, we all had a birthday party with a famous character from a saga, we have disguised as our favorite champion and even that moment came when we hummed the song of that Super Mario (do not say no).
Based on so many experiences I think that many of us have asked ourselves:
What about that person who not only burns minutes in a long queue playing Candy Crush? That subject that devotes hours and hours to the computer or console, making a strategy, passing levels of great difficulty, and customizing his character? Those groups that are mentally prepared to defeat that final Boss so difficult, to compete against another team or to talk about how to design a base? What happens to those millions that we adore e-sports, that we even enjoy more seeing how someone plays in front of a screen, than watching television?
To find an answer to all that, we have to know one thing you probably know, it all started with the legendary ** Pong ** ... and I do not talk about this pong:
Im talking about this pong:
Everything really took a turn when our friend Nolan decided in 1972, that it was time to start with a company to produce a game somewhat different from the experimental projects of previous years (See OXO), and began the big changes in the video game scene.
Well, we already know that everything started thanks to pong, but where do I want to go, telling you all this story?
Recently I read a book that I liked a lot entitled "Rules Of Plays, Game Design Fundamentals" and although that title sounds a bit abstract, it is a book that invites you to know what a video game is and how it works starting from the root, explaining why o How everything related to it works. At the beginning, in the preface we can read the following:
Nolan Bushnell, Creator of Pong
People love Pong. They do it but why?
Really. What is love? There is not much for the game:a pair of paddles move two blunt white lines on either sides of black screen, a blocky excuse for a ball bounces between them, and if you miss the ball, your opponent scores a point. The first player to score fifteen points win. Big Deal. Yet despite its almost primitive simplicity, pong creates a meaningful play
-Rules Of Play,Game Design Fundamentals
Later the book continues explaining a bit of history of the pong, something its characteristics and asks us again the question: * Why? Why do people love pong? *
Continuing with the reading I find the answer divided into several specific objectives (such as how easy it is to play pong, the only thing, fun and social, etc.), All of them are correct in every way, however, the question does not answer fully , the answer could be found if we join all the points that we find in the text, Then why we play both the video games Answer: Because we love competitiveness.
The desire to win and the possibility of being rewarded for our effort is what makes us so competitive and love videogames so much, not only talking about the multiplayer environment, I am talking about the base of the videogame in general.
Years ago we suffered to defeat bowser, and he always found a way to take our princess😐
Who does not spend a lot of days trying to pass a whole level? And when you did it, did not you feel the greatest relief of your life? The reward that videogames offer us is what makes us hook up so much to them, whether offline, online, multiplayer, single or coop.
Tell me you did not suffer with this place😓
My first experience with videogames goes back perhaps to when I was 6 years old, my cousin played Pokemon Emerald in a Gameboy, since that day, my life would not be the same again. I remember seeing myself sitting asking my parents to have the Gameboy with the Pokemon, when that happened, I began to devour all kinds of games, from the best rpg, to the most entertaining platforms, when I reached a more mature age of me, I began to Realizing the complexity of the videogame and how much I enjoyed feeling rewarded by these, I decided to study more thoroughly how they worked, and the story behind them. Although I know that I still have many years to live, I am grateful to have been born in a time of changes and breakthroughs in videogames, the VR, the AAA consoles, and the coming of the Indie scene makes this adventure a crossing more than interesting.
Anyway, I know I'm not someone to define the essence of the game, or why we play them, what I do know is one thing: We love to play. Either because we like to feel rewarded, because it helps us burn time or because we just like to sit down for a while to play fifa, video games are part of our culture and are, in my opinion, a combination of many types of art that finds in a way that we interact and get involved with it, that's why I look forward to the future of this great company, and I enjoy every year that they give us so many surprises.
Each era has its own way of telling stories, and the video game is a big part of our culture. You can ignore video games or accept them and immerse yourself in their great artistic quality. Some people are enthralled with video games in the same way that other people love movies or theater.Andy Serkis