Transformation of Modernity in the Video Games A Term Paper By Arda Deniz Aksular Submitted to Hasan Ünal Nalbantoğlu In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course SOC 524 Cultures of Modernity METU June 2009 Transformation of Modernity in the Video Games 1. Introduction 2. Brief History of Video Games 3. Modern Dynamics of the Video Games 3.1 Two Ways of Modernism: Production and Consumption 3.1.1 Production 3.1.2 Consumption 4. Transformation of Modern Gaming Dynamics 4.1 Flexible Mode of Video Game Production 4.1.1 Virtual Life: The Limits of Flexible Mode of Production 4.2 Hardly Changing Consumer: Still Modern Player 4.2.1 Modding 4.3 Additional Outputs of Flexible Age 4.3.1 Imitation & Kitsch Production 4.3.2 Emulation 5. Conclusion 1 Transformation of Modernity in the Video Games 1. Introduction The video games are one important component of the leisure industry and a wide profit market today. In addition being a huge economic and entertainment phenomenon, videogames have complex social and cultural impacts. Researchers suggest video games are becoming a social location in which new social relations, community networks, and new life- styles are formed (Humphreys, 2005) Furthermore, as a new and popular medium, video games have significant ideological and cultural influences on young people. The video games also function as an art form and a new venue for critical expression (Jenkins and Squire, 2002). According to Raven, 3D game engines can theoretically produce experiences that film, audio and the written word combined still fall short of; the interactive element is the key, producing a sense of emotional engagement that a “static” work cannot replicate (Raven,2009). In this study, we identify video games, shortly games, as the personal computer (PC) games, console games, any type of online software games (network games and browser games) and arcade (including internet cafe) games. As being the consequence of the technological advances, the video games have a comparatively short history. However, they experienced a transformation process in this short life. By the born of first video game in 1970s, they had a chance of expansion in 1980s. By this expansion period, the games reached a “maturity”. In this period, there were certain trends for the game production. This period also created the modern game consumer. However, by the middle of 1990s, the multimedia revolution changed the philosophy of the video games. Connected with the changes of the global economic atmosphere, the video game production entered a different type of life. When considered with the unbelievable emerge of internet, the games gained extraordinary functions. This was the flexible age of games. And it was opened by the change of production ideas. Besides, this age affected the modern player. The player was still modern as a consumer. But s/he has an ability to change his individuality in this period. 2. Brief History of Video Games The games are big business today. However, they were invented by the cold war computer programmers of the research centers such as MIT. Thus, the games were actually “stylish 2 hacks (Himanen, 2001; Levy, 1984; Wark, 2004). And they were spin-offs of military- corporate objectives. In 1962, the first video game emerged in the name of Spacewar!. It was allowing players to control a spacecraft across an oscilloscope and fire torpedoes to each other. According to the Stewart Brand (1972) Spacewar was “heresy, uninvited and unwelcome” that transformed computers from Cold War machines to play devices. By the time, the creations of hacker culture started to attract people. The operation systems came with some basic games installed such as the UNIX “Find the Wumpus”. In the university campuses, games started to be circulated as freeware.1 Same process shaped digital games when Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, the first commercial game company, adapted them first for arcades and then for consoles connected to television. In 1971, Nolan Bushnell together with Ted Dabney, created the first arcade game based on the earlier game of Spacewar!. The arcade game Pong was created a year later in 1972. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney started Atari Computers in the same year. In 1975, Atari re-released Pong as a home video game (Bellis, 2009). After 1984’s market crash Atari was destroyed and the US gaming sector was saved by two Japanese game companies, Nintendo and Sega (Coleman, Dyer- Witheford, 2007). The 8-BIT 2 game consoles of Sega and Nintendo marked the 1990s. The Nintendo NES and Sega Master System were successful machines which attracted huge mass of consumer. The legend characters of the games of Super Mario and Sonic were fashioned in this period. However, these firms could not achieve same success with the next generation 16-BIT gaming consoles. In the same period, an arcade culture spread to all over the western world. Street Fighter and Final Fight were the classics of this age’s beat’em up 3 games. Until the middle of 1990s, the PC games were following a similar line with the console and arcade game technology. With limited graphic and sound support, some of these games could gain popularity such as Prince of Persia and Wolfenstein. In the middle of 1990s, the multimedia revolution provided a launch for PC games. In ends of 1990s, a new player, Sony, came into the struggle with a next generation 32-BIT console: Playstation (PS). PS was the first multimedia based game console and it became the leader of the market by erasing Sega. However, the successful games of 32-BIT platforms were still imitating their 1 Freeware is a type of software which can be distributed in copies without any fee and license agreement. 2 A bit is a binary digit, taking a logical value of either "1" or "0". 8-BIT was the graphical capability of third generation game consoles. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-BIT processors, it was at the end of this generation that home consoles were first labeled by their "bits". 3 Beat 'em up (also known as brawler) is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and large numbers of antagonists. 3 brothers of 1990s. Final Fantasy, Tomb Rider and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater were better in terms of sound and graphics but they had not brought a new wave for the industry. By the 2000s, Microsoft entered the game console market with XBOX. XBOX and the incoming series of Playstation were the internet/network supported models. At the same time, PC games gained the standard of multiplayer gaming abilities. This process also changed the arcade salons to internet-network supported internet cafes. The game production had a rapid change by the multimedia revolution and internet support. Today the market is controlled by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and game producer software firms. 3. Modern Dynamics of the Video Games In the 1980s the world met with a new phenomena: Video games. They were actually the toy of western world. Video games were new markets for profit making. They were a new industry for consumption. Video games were already modern products. They were promising a different life which is far from the streets, gardens and sports centers. In this respect, they were artificial and unnatural. However, they appealed to modern individual which was already constructed as artificial. By the mostly known video game system Atari slogan declared the transfer of “aura of the streets” to the “halo of the screens” in 1980. The slogan was “Atari, now the streets are empty.” Video games were already modern products. They appealed the people’s individualism and competition. They included individuality other than solidarity. Few of them contain mutual playing. Most of the games appealed the people’s primitive ego and barbarism. Most of them idealized the combat. There was always a serious threat of violence. Some corporations such as Nintendo tried to avoid the violence but even Nintendo could not escape from this. 4 Video games were already modern products. The most popular comment on computer games is to say that they are non-linear / multicursal, meaning that they differ from narratives because they can be different sequences (Juul, 1998). However, the games were extremely linear, in the beginning. They cared the binary logic of mathematics. Most of them 4 Nintendo removed bloody scenes from the violent game of Mortal Kombat. However, it was finally a fighting game. 4 were the pure form of a binary arithmetical system.5 Some of them were YES/NO games. Mathematical language was dominating everything. In these games, building skills need time but they were generally controllable. There were no certain scenario and a constructed end. Most of these games used a ranking system based on pointing and time attack, they were actually never reach ending, they were just getting harder and harder.6 The binary system was not only about the programming but the idea was based on binary oppositions as well: The box of 1984’s Neoclyps game says: “You are the good guy. Your mission is to destroy the bad guys” (Juul, 1998). The incoming generation was the era of “mature of modernity” for games. The years from 1985s to 1995s were the creator of modern games. These games were based on certain scenarios. In these products, the player had to live a scenario which is constructed by the producer. There is a clear reality of goal and the aim is to achieve the end through the scenario. All the acts of a player were considered as calculable by the programmer. Many times, these scenarios were crystallized by a visualized map.