Gave over, man! Game over!

Video games are one of today’s hottest media. They allow players to immerse themselves in another world and to experience things that would be impossible for someone working 9-to-5 in an office cubicle. But now that video games are considered mainstream, one must think back to how things were thirty to forty years ago. Video games weren’t really considered mainstream. Arcades were popular, but only for teenagers; adults did not typically play video games at the time. So what’s changed?

First of all, video games have become more accessible to different age groups. Especially with Nintendo’s release of the Wii® console, families are being brought together by playing video games with one another. Even more than ten years ago, I can remember watching my dad play the original Sid Meier’s Pirates! game on his computer. I remember watching and playing the Wheel of Fortune video game. My dad claims to this day that I learned how to read and spell from that game.

Secondly, games are easier. Anyone who has ever played Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985) can tell you that games were entirely different back then. Controls were less-responsive, games were more likely to glitch, and graphics didn’t represent what was happening in the game very well. Nowadays, almost all games include tutorials, some lasting several hours, that introduce the player to not only the controls, but the storyline as well.

Thirdly, storylines are represented in games through dialogue more than action. While this isn’t true for all games today, it is a huge pet peeve for some. The original Metroid game featured very little dialogue, if any at all, and yet players could understand the storyline and consequences of actions very easily. Compare that with games like the recent iterations of the Final Fantasy series, where storylines are explained through twenty minute-long exchanges of dialogue, and it’s an entirely different creature. This may actually have little to do with the change in video games to mainstream media, but it is a huge shift in direction from what many remember.