InsaneBear

Feature: Could another video game crash be a good thing?

I somehow doubt our power-house of an industry will ever face another crash quite like the fateful 1983 one, but stalling Wii sales and countless developers claiming bankruptcy clearly indicate that video games are not recession-proof. My question is, “Could a crash actually be good for the health of our industry?”

Now mind you, I’m no economist. I don’t really have any facts or fancy graphs to back up my theories here. I’m just logically speculating based on the history of not only our own industry, but of other entertainment mediums as well. Specifically, this idea popped into my head while I was watching an interview with legendary comic book creator Frank Miller (of Sin City fame). He was discussing the economic state of of the comic industry in the 1980′s, which wasn’t exactly booming. Miller then said something along the lines of, “So the publishers figured, ‘What’s the worse that could happen?’ and handed the keys over to the inmates (inmates being the actual artists) to see what they could do.” As some of you know, comic books began to drastically diversify and mature during the 80′s. No longer was everything a cliched Superman rip-off. Comics began to cater to different demographics, deal with different subjects, and (gasp!) not confine themselves exclusively to the realm of super-heroes.

Compare this to the current state of video games. Seemingly every shooter that comes out these days looks exactly like Call of Duty 4. Nearly every MMO aims to copy World of Warcraft. Most WRPGs cling desperately to game mechanics established way back in 2003 with Knights of the Old Republic, while JRPGs really haven’t changed since Final Fantasy VII. More genres are morphing into the mainstream-friendly shooter. And games that have no business in the realm of competitive multiplayer are essentially required to tack the feature on now days just so the publisher can put another tick on the back of the box. And for every daring Braid or Flower there are a thousand run-of-the-mill shooters.

Maybe I’m being a little overly dramatic here; plenty of variety can be found within genres and there are innovative titles out there, but my point is that 90% of developers are copying each other and almost of all our genres fall under the heading of “action/shooter”. Where’s the comedy? Where’s the romance? Where’s the mystery? Where’s the drama? Every other entertainment medium has a wide breadth of genres that deal with different subject matter, but we seem to be stuck on the same old thing, much like comics were in the days of the paragon super-hero.

It is my opinion, and one that seems to be supported by history, that as long as a publisher is making money with the same safe process, then there is no reason for them to risk everything with something new. Activision keeps pumping out three Guitar Hero games a year because people are still buying them. More developers are molding their games into shooters because the simple concept of point and shoot sells better with the mainstream than complicated stealth tactics or RPG stats. Companies are going to do what makes money and the unfortunate truth, proven by every other medium, is that the vast majority of media preferred by the mainstream is of little artistic value.

But what happens when games stop being run by dollars and cents and start being run by the artists behind their creation? Well, if we look back to the great video game crash of 1983, it only took a few years for the Nintendo Entertainment System to rise from the ashes. The innovative system forever changed the way home video game consoles were experienced and single-handedly saved the industry from oblivion. In 1987 a little company known as Square was on the verge of bankruptcy and threw up one final Hail-Mary pass in the hopes of saving themselves. That game was appropriately titled Final Fantasy. And after the unfortunate lack of success the GameCube experienced, many began to question how much longer Nintendo would be around. They answered with the biggest cultural phenomenon in years, the Nintendo Wii. History has shown that with their backs against the wall, a developer’s will to survive breeds innovation beyond our wildest imaginations. And sure, for every Nintendo there’s a Sega or Atari that simply can’t adapt to the new environment. But if it means shaking up the stagnant and complacent industry, I’d be willing to see the less innovative die off.

I suppose the best way I can relate this is through the classical hero cycle, of which I’ve been reading about in my Mythology class. The first step in a hero’s adventure is the “Call to Adventure”. But not every hero accepts his destiny; some refuse the call. This never leads to anything positive for them. In fact, refusing the call can often bring about the hero’s demise. In this scenario, major publishers that are more concerned with profits than advancing the medium play the role of the reluctant hero. However, the reluctant hero has every opportunity to change his mind and begin the quest. What lies ahead is the unknown–the primal fear which represents the fears and guilt of all societies. The hero must confront this plague of the human psyche and slay it. But along the way, at several intervals, the hero experiences a symbolic death and rebirth. Eventually, by defeating the unconscious manifestations of his fears, he transcends the mortal realm and gains a profound spiritual knowledge that must be shared with his fellow man. In the case of video games, a developer would have to conquer their fears of untested markets and genres to transcend the blissfully ignorant realm of shooting aliens and playing for high scores. Only then could games truly present the consumer with an artistic statement.

Now I suppose all of that probably sounds pretty idealistic and high-brow, and maybe it is. But I’m not trying to kill off Halo or Gears of War here; I think they’re great games. What I am trying to say is that we need more than that. The warm and familiar surroundings of black and white shooters are what Carl Jung would refer to as our “infintile bliss”. If we ever want to mature into adults and attain a more profound and worth-while experience, we need to combine that simplistic world of conscious desires with the sometimes scary but ultimately rewarding world of unconscious truth. Only after we’ve expanded our horizons and confronted what we fear as the gaming culture can we say we’ve truly experienced everything interactive entertainment has to offer. I would hope developers would continue the cycle of death and re-birth of their own free will, but history shows that a market crash might need to force their hands.

Author: Cody

Tags: activision, diversity in games, feature, games as art, insanebear, nintendo, video game crash of 1983