Chulip
I found this Interview with Yoshirou Kimura, the developer of Chulip, to be informative. I especially like what he said about fighting games and game violence, which generally reflect my personal feelings on the matter:
I'm not criticizing fighting games. I myself love to play fighting games, so. But when I see so many violent games out there, I ( Read more... )
Anyway...
The last time I was in Albuquerque --maybe two weeks ago-- I drove past either a Chuck E Cheeses or a Pistol Pete's Pizza. The sign said "Where the Pizza is as Good as the Fun!" but the U had fallen out of the word 'Fun' so it actually said "Where the Pizza is as Good as the F'n!". This is pretty hilarious.
I would make the case that many sports games, especially the Madden series, are violent.
When talking about violence in video games, there are two categories that need to be discussed. I'm not really talking about the whole Mortal Kombat fatality kind of jive specifically, and I hazard to guess from the interview that neither is Kimura-san. I'm talking about the more basic kind of violence where killing for a reward is the de facto state.
Things have gotten a lot more diverse since I was a hard-core gamer (thank God), but it seems like most of the games I remember from the day rewarded violence in experience points, score, or the expedient (negative consequence-free) removal of a threat. I don't think there is anything wrong with this mechanic, but it's not the only mechanic there is, not by a long-shot.
Anyway, there is ample evidence that there is indeed a causal relationship, in the short-term, between exposure to video game violence and real life violence, but my understanding is that this link is fairly weak in anything but young children. I suppose that this justifies the fact that a large share of non-violent video games are aimed at children. The other major category of NVVGs are puzzle titles and card-board-word-game titles, which I feel comfortable lumping together for now.
Having said that, I still do not personally object to violence in video games for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that I sometimes enjoy them, and have throughout my formative years, and I'm not a violent person by most standards. Also, most children's titles are such crass, consumerist pieces of garbage that I can't really consider them any better.
It's interesting that you mention competition. Why is that a requirement for a video-game? I have been playing many, many hours of SimCity 4 lately, and that game has no competitive element, at least not that I've discovered yet. I think the confusion is in the difference between competition and conflict. It is possible to have a game, a multi-player game even, that has difficulties, goals, resolution, and victory all without pitting one player's success in opposition to the other's.
Don't get me wrong, beating down on you friends is fun. I'm not saying that should go away, but for all the piece of crap fighting games out there, wouldn't it be refreshing to see another Katamari Damacy, or M.U.L.E., or Dance Dance Revolution? Y'know, something that is not just escapist power fantasy, but might also be mistaken for fun?
Reply
Mr. McCloud looks like he'll be interesting. It appears that it starts at 7:00, and I've only been in Albuquerque twice- once in official capacity, to visit the zoo, and again, when I got lost trying to find something here in Rio Rancho.
I'll probably end up calling you and saying, "I'm at a red light near a blue house with two blue cars parked in front of it. Do you know where I am???"
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment