Ben-DutkaI just gotta say…it's so great to have those names for both motion sensing technologies this year. It opens the door for so many potential editorial titles.
Anyway, as I often bemoan the advent of communication via machines at the expense of once-common human traits like charm and charisma, I'm often tempted to remind my fellow gamers that there is no replacement for reality. Of course, we all want escapes from reality, and with such mind-boggling advancements in the interactive entertainment realm, it's difficult not to be excited. I am indeed excited for what things like 3D, Move and Kinect can do for the industry. But at the same time, the world continues to value the artificial over the real; the perceived necessity of gadgets over irreplaceable – and critical – inherent human traits. Granted, with multiplayer and online gaming, along with motion sensing (which often lends itself well to social gatherings), gaming is more of a social hobby than ever before.
That much is true. But as gaming gets better and more realistic, it's gets easier and easier to replace the real with the artificial. We can almost fool our brains into thinking we don't need one when the other is so very similar… Let's face it- PlayStation Move and Microsoft's Kinect are only the start of something new and special; there's no knowing where we'll be in another decade. Things happen very quickly these days. But we have less and less incentive to "move" and "connect" with that which lies outside our doors, and it's noticeable in the way people communicate in the real world. Gamers have often been criticized for being "outside the loop" and although it's fair to say we've broken free of that stereotype (for the most part), it'd be all too easy to backslide.
The weather will get worse soon and there will be yet another reason to stay inside. But if you don't take care of yourself, and you ignore other aspects of life that can't be found within a video screen, you'll actually begin to get less pleasure from your favorite hobby. Somewhere deep down, you know you're not as happy as you could be; you don't feel too great, and you find yourself wanting in other categories. When those categories are empty, it's extremely difficult to really lose yourself in any form of entertainment…as realistic and engaging as it may be. So please, just remember that both Move and Kinect – as accurate as they are – are poor substitutions for the real-world counterparts of those words.
Be diverse. Read. Hike. Meet people. Whatever. Just be…human.
There's a reason a series is a "sure-thing" you know. This isn't like Suikoden IV, where they were really trying to do something better but it didn't work out, they deliberately got FPS twitch-dummy syndrome in a good series which is now and forever tainted and probably ruined.
Wonderful article, short, sweet and so very true. This is an important reminder to all of us. If you're on this site you probably love gaming, and that's cool, just don't forget there is a beautiful and terrible world out there waiting to be explored, for real.
All I'm wait for is that Big Boss Workout plan.
Life is a sandbox game with too many limitations.
Yea like not being able to grind on power lines and hurl electro grenades.
Sucks to be us. ha
Exactly, as evinced by my failed attempt to grind a railing with rocket skates.
Great article Ben (and great comments from most of you, discussions of Afghani women of the night notwithstanding :P) 🙂
Nice message. I wish I could listen to it, but unfortunately it's drowned out by the headphones blaring at full volume while I play a six hour session of GTAIV, followed by an eight hour session of WoW. 😛
I kid, I kid. But then, I do quite often find myself diconnecting from reality. It probably has something to do with the fact that I am, and always have been, severely anti-social and possibly insane. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love to read and write, go bushwalking and other such activities, but it is almost always alone.
I think the best way to describe my feelings about this topic is a quote by Bajo from Good Game – "I'll go outside when outside is as good as games." Gaming is not a good substitute for reality, but when used as an augmentation to it, then it can be a good thing, providing is doesn't become an addiction. Gaming can be as bad as drugs. Don't try to deny it.
Oh well, I'll be heading out in a couple of hours. A good mate is leaving town for Sydney, so we're having a pi**-up party for him. REALITY!
Peace.
Lawless,
Hey I used to go bushwalking over here in the US too.
But after a while……
….. she got on my last nerve & I 86'ed her right out the front door.
thats whats wrong with games these days, there so cooped up trying to be "realistic" they stop being fun.
prime example GTAIV, i mean the whole point of that game is to do stuff you would not do in real life.
so why can i not steal a car, drive like i stole it, bash it up, go flying off jumps and have some fun?
oh noooooo thats far too unrealistic, if you crash you go flying out the windshield instead of bouncing off and continuing.
o, BTW, what happened to seat belts?
that is why just cause 2 was such a great game, because it let you let your hair down, let the boys out and just go crazy!
that is the whole point of video games, to have fun!
not be confined to this "realistic" world.
Maybe the most senseful thing you've ever said. "that is the whole point of video games, to have fun!"
I understand what you mean. But also as a kid, growing up playin vids, I wanted games to be more realistic. So I vote for both sides of that coin.
____________,
What???
You want seat belts in video game now?????
OK then…….GT5
games cant be both, there either realistic or fun.
shooters for example, if you get shot in the leg your not going to be able to walk to well now are ya?
so do you want every shooter from now on if you get shot in the leg you walk very slowly?
i sure dont!
or driving games, crash at any speed and your car is totaled.
or platforming games, if they were realistic you could not do allot of things you do in games.
like prototype, no growing crazy limbs, no leaping 10 feet into the air, no hanging on ledges for extended periods of time your arms would go dead and you would fall.
either A or B, games are either realistic or there fun they cant be both.
Most people are weird – they're into one thing or another, probably more than they should be and to the minor annoyance of those around them. I think gamers are about as "in the loop" as anybody. Perhaps a bit moreso.
There are some people who live fairly well balanced lives, but I don't think it has anything to do with what hobbies or interests they do or do not enjoy. And only a small subset of those folks are really the type I'd set up as an example to anybody – there are millions of people who are doing it all the way it should be done, but they're still boring or obnoxious or just plain screwy.
if your lookin for some exercise, take a job as a laborer on a construction site. its rough, but the pay is twice as good as youll get rockin a cash register, however you probably won't want to use much of anything after the fact, much less Move or Kinect….