 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
Wolf Man
Member
| Joined: | Wed Apr 27th, 2005 |
| Location: | Sector Obscurus, Maryland USA |
| Posts: | 3057 |
| 40k Armies played: | Space Wolves - all other armies are for support |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: |    |
|
Posted: Thu Feb 4th, 2010 07:29 pm |
|
I was recently reminded as to when gaming first got its claws into me.
1982.
I had an older, teenaged brother who had started playing D&D with the other teenage kids in the neighborhood.
Mazes and Monsters, the made for TV anti-gaming propaganda film had first appeared on television.
I watched the movie E.T. in a theater with my family and still remember the scene in the kitchen where the teenage kids are playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Tron - a movie entirely born from the video gaming world had just come out.
Video arcades sprouted up EVERYWHERE. I even remember watching television game shows that pitted contestants against each other in various video games for prizes.
The gaming culture seemed fully integrated into mainstream society.
Of course, in 1982 I was 8 years old. So maybe I'm not old enough to remember it correctly. But it seems as though the early to mid-eighties might possibly have been gaming's heyday - the one moment in time when gaming and mainstream culture were comfortably intertwined with each other.
Or is that heyday actually TODAY? With all the major conventions (think E3, ComicCon, Gen Con), the domination of video games in the entertainment industry, a cable tv station devoted to nothing but video gaming (G4), the rise of LARPers and card gamers and the movies produced around ideas sprouting solely from the fantasy/sci-fi/gamer realm, is mainstream society even MORE saturated with games and their players? There are GW stores in the malls of suburbs all over the nation!
Or is gaming's heyday yet to come? Aren't we all still too embarassed to admit to a new girl we're dating that we build, paint, and play with little army men? When attempting to explain 40k to a drinking buddy from work, don't we still start with the caveat that it is NOT dungeons and dragons???? Is there a time somewhere in the future where gamers won't be associated with labels like "geeks" and "dweebs" and sports bars will feature the Madden 2030 video game tournament championship on large screen TVs next to screens showing coverage of Superbowl LXIV?
____________________
With these paws, I thee type, for Russ.
|
LordBoroth
Member
| Joined: | Sun Feb 26th, 2006 |
| Location: | Medrengard, Eye Of Terror |
| Posts: | 656 |
| 40k Armies played: | 12K+ Iron Warriors, 3K+ Traitor Guard, 4K+ Orks |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Thu Feb 4th, 2010 09:34 pm |
|
other things from my youth would be The Last Starfighter, The Wizard, Captain Power, I remember that video game game show Wolfman, it was on Nickelodeon.
The thing is video games were still just video games, nowadays with the advent of the Wii, everyone is playing, including yer grandpa. Today there is a geek chic thing going on where everyone plays video games and being a geek is cool.
I was a bit amazed this week in my French class at UWM when these young girls who weren't older than 19 and were definately good looking were talking about video games, blew me away.
____________________
"Horus was weak, Horus was a fool" - Abaddon The Despoiler
http://apostlesofcontagion.blogspot.com/
|
twaimn
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Mon Apr 4th, 2005 |
| Location: | Milwaukee, USA |
| Posts: | 543 |
| 40k Armies played: | it's easier to ask what I don't play |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Thu Feb 4th, 2010 10:33 pm |
|
and they do have madden tourneys at bars.. not all of em, but they're around.
perhaps then, we're moving into a gaming renaissance. but I think that, at least in the near future, cultural acceptability will be restricted to video games.
of course, I have no problems telling girls I play with little toy soldiers. I'm just that damn sexy
____________________
Hank: Brock, if pirates really exist, I mean, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy could even be real, right? It's like all bets are off!
Brock: Hank nobody ever said pirates don't exist.
Hank: So you agree with me that this is impossible.
|
Irontusk
Member
| Joined: | Wed Nov 25th, 2009 |
| Location: | Eau Claire, Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 114 |
| 40k Armies played: | Orksies and Nurgle Marines, |
| Status: |
Offline
|
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Thu Feb 4th, 2010 11:37 pm |
|
Video games have just become so immersive that I think they garner more attention than they use to. I think that games like Guitar Hero and Rockband really helped the industry attract the non-traditional consumer by making the games less dorky (albeit strumming a plastic guitar and beating on plastic drums is still pretty pathetic in the eyes of real musicians) but being a rockstar is just so appealing to the average person no matter the platform. (especially when your plowed)
I know in my own case I was literally blown away by the progress that games had made when I bought my 360 a year ago...I mean the Call of Duty franchise is fucking amazing! World at War and Modern Warfare 2 are like pixelated crack! When you combine todays tech with the kind of experience those games provide it's no wonder the video game industry is so massively appealing.
I can remember though the first time Dale brought me to a store that sold WH40k figs (I don't remember where that was, it wasn't Nappy's, somewhere on the northwest suburb of milw.) anyway, I held up that blister with Abbadon in it and I was instantly transplanted to 1982 in the Thunderbird mall at some D & D store looking with amazement at a mounted skeleton warrior blister. I never got to buy anything when I was a kid cause I didn't know anyone who played but I always remembered how badly I wanted to paint them and play the game. It was absolutely amazing how satisfying it was when I was able to buy figs and start painting them although hard on the wallet, it's something I'm glad that I've been able to return to.
____________________
May the red pox blister your groin!
|
Current time is 03:51 am | |
|
|
|
|
