After visiting the Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo, I keep asking myself the same question:
Whatās the purpose of it all?
Sure, part of itās just fun. But mostly, it comes down to whether I can actually share something I loveāor not. Let me explain.
Iām just as into music. I listen to vinyl every day with my daughter. Easy to share: put on a record, and people get it.
Same with photography. Snap a picture, share it. Instant enjoyment.
Video games? Not so much. The barrier to entry is just so damn high.
First, you need the hardwareānot just any hardware, but often something specific.
Then you need the software. Sometimes you can stream it, but streaming usually sucks. Iāve triedāmultiple times. Even with 2Gbps at home, the latency ruins it. So youāre left with physical media or downloading everything locally.
And even if youāve got all that, thereās still a dilemma. On consoles, the game might be optimized, but unless itās exclusive, itās rarely the ādefinitiveā experience. On PC, you can get the definitive version, but youāre always tweaking, chasing that ideal.
And what even is ādefinitiveā? Is it keyboard and mouse on a monitor? Gamepad on a TV? Handheld in bed? Everyoneās experience is different, and unless you find someone with the exact same setup, yours is unique. As a PC gamer, finding that overlap is rare.
Iād love for gaming to be more social, but because of who I am, I mostly play solo campaignsāexcept with family, whoāve been good sports about it.
Iāve tried dragging friends into gaming. Iāve even gifted games and hardware. Never works. I get it.
Online, I talk about games I love, review hidden gems, try to explain why certain things matter to me. But my taste has veered so far from the mainstreamānot because Iām a contrarian. Iāve never played StarCraft, WoW, or Dota. Not because I think they suck. Iāll probably love them when I do get around to it. Like how I finally tried Oblivion this year and loved it, despite hating the older Elder Scrolls games.
But I have a whole library of games I wish got more attentionānot because I want them canonized, but just because I want to talk about what makes me happy.
And honestly, the sad thing is, if something never enters the ācanon,ā itāll probably die in obscurity.
Which brings me to something sort of related: the older I get, the more things I love disappear. The diner I used to visit? Gone. My elementary school? Demolished.
As a kid, I loved those candy cigarettes that puffed out powdered āsmoke.ā They donāt exist anymoreānobody wants to encourage kids to smoke, and thatās fine, but I remember them. They were a core part of my childhood.
All these thingsāI canāt share them anymore.
But I can still talk about old video games. I canāt play arcade games in a convenience store with Slurpee cups and magazines everywhere. I donāt own a 386 with a ball mouse. But I can still play those games, talk about them, and build new memoriesāones Iāll remember with my grandkids someday.
Eventually, all of it will go away. Thatās life. Itās impermanent.
But thereās still purpose in all of it. Weāre social by nature. And thereās something magical about transmitting meaning from one person to another.
Even if itās just about a damn video game.
You must log in or # to comment.
You covered a lot of ground lol. I actually donāt like talking about video games in general. I love a good review/video but those are fully developed thoughts on it. For single player games, thatās what I want. For multiplayer/co-op games, I just want to know if you play and like it. Then maybe I want to set up a time to play together.
Now if someone wanted to talk about game design, then I could talk all day.
This post hits hard. Thereās a lot to respond to but i want to focus on the part about ādefinitiveā experience because its actually one of the best parts of video games as an art medium.
In music you may want to chase the most authentic sound possible on vinyl but video games are far more than the graphics quality. Video games are not a single experience that can be packaged up and replicated across people. Every person comes away with a unique experience and this is great for discussion.
We may play the same game but in two completely different ways. When Iām sharing a video game with someone im not sharing in hopes they will have the same experience I had, Iām sharing because im interested in the experience they had.
As a (relatively) new father, I feel this deeply. Iād love to eventually bring my son to the important places from my youth, but they are gone or changed. That arcades arenāt the same. PAX isnāt the same. I canāt crack open 90s Era packs of Magic with him. But stuff like this helps keep some of that old Magic alive. Good luck and Godspeed.
