I have to say I was pretty excited to jump into this book. I come from a group of friends whose primary hobbies include being wired into games like Call of Duty and Skyrim. Personally I’ve always been more of a Mario or Pac Man kind of girl, but I did own my very own Super Nintendo at one point, and I’ve been known to tear up Guitar Hero from time to time. And, I will say...I absolutely LOVE Halo. So, I guess as far as most girls go, I’m as close to a “gamer” as it gets.
In his book “How to do Things with Videogames,” Ian Bogost explores the different ways computer and video games are used today, and he argues that the diverse applications today’s games have make gaming as a medium “broader, richer, and more relevant.” The book looks at how gaming has explored everything from music, art, and travel to branding, politics, and promotions. The aim is to show us how videogames change and influence our daily lives in really profound ways. We all play games, whether we recognize them as forms of leisure or entertainment or they’re used for work or political purposes.
Bogost initially discusses videogames’ ability to “create worlds in which players take on roles constrained by rules” and how it “offers excellent opportunities for new kinds of learning” (p.5). Video and computer games have created an infinite number of possibilities by creating their own simulated realities. I couldn’t help thinking about the movie “Gamer” starring Gerard Butler as a convict who’s controlled in a real life video game of sorts by a teenage gamer. His freedom depends on the kid’s ability to win “battles” in combat. How crazy is it that the character played by Michael C. Hall could develop a technology that actually replaced brain cells and allowed another person to control your actions online? Or is it really that crazy? This movie gave me such an eerie feeling. Could this really be what video games could turn into in the next 30 or 40 years?
Or what about the movie “Surrogates?” Before long, will we just be operating humanoid robots from the safety and comfort of our own homes? It really doesn’t seem that inconceivable. With the rate at which processing speeds on computers increase, before long you may be able to create real 3D environments for long periods of time. But when we get to the point where our technology can recreate or simulate ANYTHING we can dream of and can do anything for us, what happens next? I know Bogost's goal was to show us the variety of things that video games can currently do, but the implications for the future are what I find most fascinating, and I wish he could have spent more time delving into.
Gaming, in its own way, serves as a mirror to show where we stand culturally at a particular moment in time. As Bogost touches on in the introduction, I also don’t believe that technology necessarily saves or condemns us. As he says, it influences us, “changing how we perceive, conceive of, and interact with our world” (p. 2). He references McLuhan’s “medium as the message” approach saying the medium is an extension of people because it helps structure and inform, altering our understanding and behavior. What he thought McLuhan was getting at is totally right: seeing items like video games as a medium, you learn that what they can do to and for a culture are often going to be more important than the content they convey. I believe that technology and gaming will continue to develop and change in ways we can hardly imagine now. As gaming technology changes ,the way we perceive and interact with our world will also continue to develop and change as well.
I think it will be interesting to see where computer and video games take us in the future. As the idea of being a “gamer” becomes outdated, and as games become more ordinary and familiar, will we all essentially be gaming, as Bogost suggests? Will we exist in a Sims like universe? Could we live like Bruce Willis in “Surrogates?” Or will we be controlled like Gerard Butler was in “Gamer”? It’s honestly a little terrifying and also a little exciting to imagine. I believe video games have a wide range of applications and that it’s admirable that there are a number of games created for the purpose of helping us get in a better workout (like Zumba for the Wii). Others make us look at social and political issues (like Darfur is Dying). But only time will tell where we, and our video games, go from here.
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