"It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all outta gum."
If you don't know where this came from, you probably kinda missed one of the best video games of the 90s. I'm talking about Duke Nukem, of course. And while it is true that it was full of what I now know to be female harassment at a massive scale and the portrayal of women in horrible ways (usually as some weird sort of sex slaves for aliens!), and it was all based around the image of the all-powerful macho-white-blond-male (who looks remarkably like Arnold Schwarzenegger, come to think of it), I still think this was one hell of a game.
Others that share the hall of fame for me include Quake, Star Craft, Warcraft, Age of Empires. Doom. Earth Worm Jim. Mortal Combat. But those are new.
Before that, where I'm from, that is, Eastern Europe, there were those horrible illegal Russian CDs with thousands of video games on them ranging from Pacman to Breakthrough, and later on to the Disney games, such as Alladin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and so on. And growing up, I loved every single one of them.
You know what they all had in common? Well, let me remind you how you took days upon days trying to pass this one Boss, or this one dense spot in 9th level. Remember what happened if you exhausted all your available "lives"? You went all the way back to level 1. And not a few of us had gone around kicking things because of this simple fact.
My dad was my partner in crime in all of the above and many more, and I remember him playing "The Prince of Persia" some years ago (which were not in the 90s anymore). When he got killed, he just went back to the last "safe spot" he saved. Which was usually not that far off from where he got killed. That's when I realised something had changed.
People don't like losing. To imaginary villains or troublesome walls or anyone, for that matter.
And video games makers, after their golden age of abiding by the rules in the early 90s (you fuck up, you lose, plain and simple), got to the conclusion that it pays better to keep customers happy. So the "going all the way back to the beginning and starting over" rule was eradicated. It was "safe spots" now.
Or even better, it was "safe spots" then. Because, now, as in, today, not only you never really die and go back to zero, you're actually encouraged to *PAY* your way through the game. This is especially true about online games such as Candy Crush Saga and the like, but also for serious PVPs such as Guild Wars or WOW. You can skip mining for certain items that make up your quest by purchasing said items with real money.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is like THE truest and most amazing feat of gaming companies - they managed to make consumers pay real money in order to progress in an imaginary environment that brings along nothing more that the pleasure of it all and a massive waste of real time.
But apart from that, it also shows an alarming trend of our society - once upon a time, the rules were clear. You don't do well enough, you fail and start over, and hope to do better next time. You learn from your mistakes. Now you know that if you step on THAT stone it falls from under your feet, or if you jump quite THAT high you hit your head and fall. So you remember, and you don't do it next time. If you do it again, you start over, and that repeats as many times as necessary.
Nowadays? You can simply pay your way through. Such a great message for young people and all.
If you don't know where this came from, you probably kinda missed one of the best video games of the 90s. I'm talking about Duke Nukem, of course. And while it is true that it was full of what I now know to be female harassment at a massive scale and the portrayal of women in horrible ways (usually as some weird sort of sex slaves for aliens!), and it was all based around the image of the all-powerful macho-white-blond-male (who looks remarkably like Arnold Schwarzenegger, come to think of it), I still think this was one hell of a game.
Others that share the hall of fame for me include Quake, Star Craft, Warcraft, Age of Empires. Doom. Earth Worm Jim. Mortal Combat. But those are new.
Before that, where I'm from, that is, Eastern Europe, there were those horrible illegal Russian CDs with thousands of video games on them ranging from Pacman to Breakthrough, and later on to the Disney games, such as Alladin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and so on. And growing up, I loved every single one of them.
You know what they all had in common? Well, let me remind you how you took days upon days trying to pass this one Boss, or this one dense spot in 9th level. Remember what happened if you exhausted all your available "lives"? You went all the way back to level 1. And not a few of us had gone around kicking things because of this simple fact.
My dad was my partner in crime in all of the above and many more, and I remember him playing "The Prince of Persia" some years ago (which were not in the 90s anymore). When he got killed, he just went back to the last "safe spot" he saved. Which was usually not that far off from where he got killed. That's when I realised something had changed.
People don't like losing. To imaginary villains or troublesome walls or anyone, for that matter.
And video games makers, after their golden age of abiding by the rules in the early 90s (you fuck up, you lose, plain and simple), got to the conclusion that it pays better to keep customers happy. So the "going all the way back to the beginning and starting over" rule was eradicated. It was "safe spots" now.
Or even better, it was "safe spots" then. Because, now, as in, today, not only you never really die and go back to zero, you're actually encouraged to *PAY* your way through the game. This is especially true about online games such as Candy Crush Saga and the like, but also for serious PVPs such as Guild Wars or WOW. You can skip mining for certain items that make up your quest by purchasing said items with real money.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is like THE truest and most amazing feat of gaming companies - they managed to make consumers pay real money in order to progress in an imaginary environment that brings along nothing more that the pleasure of it all and a massive waste of real time.
But apart from that, it also shows an alarming trend of our society - once upon a time, the rules were clear. You don't do well enough, you fail and start over, and hope to do better next time. You learn from your mistakes. Now you know that if you step on THAT stone it falls from under your feet, or if you jump quite THAT high you hit your head and fall. So you remember, and you don't do it next time. If you do it again, you start over, and that repeats as many times as necessary.
Nowadays? You can simply pay your way through. Such a great message for young people and all.