Eventually we moved on to talking about the finer things - video games. We reminisced about the classics, like Metal Gear Solid and Knights of the Old Republic, Morrowind and Mass Effect. We observed the trend lately in video games to move toward hyper-realism and immersion in intricately detailed worlds with myriad potentialities and outcomes based on a given character action. Lost are the days of jumping mercilessly onto the head of a goomba, stomping their brown little mushroom-like head-bodies into mush against the asphalt, while screaming, "bite the curb!"
Thinking an original thought had been bestowed upon me, I suggested that in the future games would be so immersive that it will be difficult to draw the line between where reality begins and the game ends - that as technology enables games to approach an accurate simulacrum of our world, the game will become the world. Once a game exists where infinite realities and limitless potentialities are possible, the ultimate game has been created. Game-developers will no longer need to create new games. Entire economies can be generated from within the game via in-game purchases and new-and-exclusive downloadable content. The world can continuously be expanded upon without ever having to create a new game.
Though, this type of entertainment would certainly pose a threat to big businesses that require young adult males to leave their homes and consume. Corporations like Anheuser-Busch need those men drinking beer god-damn-it! Anything else would be un-American and almost treasonous. So why not have the ability to take a break from your game and go earn points by grabbing a beer at the bar, where you can scan a code on the bottle with your smartphone and unlock new achievements and gain more points. While we're at it, support a whole new gamut of possibilities as the player crosses that geo-fence set around the bar. And if they're wearing their Google-glass type ocular technology (that of course syncs with their gaming console at home), that allows for other unlockables via augmented reality; the possibilities begin to increase exponentially. And what about encountering another player while in the bar - a player that can easily be spotted by the HUD afforded by the ocular-tech that wirelessly communicates with the other ocular-tech in the room - they can challenge one another to a Bud-Light-Lime Time-Chug-Challenge, or a good old fashioned arm-wrestle. Maybe incite a bar-room-brawl?
For all you non-drinkers out there, how about a trip to Starbucks for a quick pick me up; make it a grande and get double the Reward-Bucks! While you're there, pick up the new CD from Metallica and you'll be able to adorn your character with a leather jacket sporting a new Metallica patch! And it will also automatically enter you in a contest to gain access to the exclusive-live-in-game-only Metallica concert playing tomorrow night at 8pm Eastern!
This level of rampant advertising and consumption fueled by the completely perfected - perfectly immersive and addictive - video game, offers a more thorough form of escapism than even alcoholism. You wouldn't know if you were really going to Starbucks because you actually wanted a coffee, or because you needed those 10 extra points - which are automatically added to your account with the purchase of any venti caramel frappuccino - to buy that new upgraded machine-gun to kill the relentless hordes of zombies.
After allowing me to pontificate for far too long, my brother mentioned ARG's:
Alternate Reality Gaming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game)
I had never heard of this type of gaming before, and it is fucking fascinating. It makes Dungeons and Dragons look like a perforated blow-up-doll bandaged up with worn pieces of duct-tape. He told me he knew a guy who got involved in an ARG called Slenderman, a game that became so invasive he had to stop playing for fear of losing his mind. The game revolves around trying to discover the identity of, or stop, the Slenderman; while trying to perhaps save or prevent the harming or kidnapping of his victims. My brother's friend relayed stories of receiving strange phone calls and text messages late at night from strangers who were also alleged to be players of the game, requesting he meet them at odd locations at even more inopportune times. They would tell him that they had found Slender, that they needed his help to finally stop him. He even began receiving strange packages in the mail, containing ransom notes and pleas for help from Slender's victims, and perhaps most disturbing, receiving photos of himself in public places with images of Slender photoshopped into the background, just watching him; truly creepy stuff.
Are you playing the game or is the game playing you?
But then I realized that this has all been alluded to by Philip K Dick, and popularized in Total Recall.
So as far as my originality goes, it is as poor as the totality of my recall.
No comments:
Post a Comment