Computer Gaming
John Borland and Brad King
Authors, "Dungeons & Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Gaming Culture From Geek to Chic"
Friday, January 30, 2004; 11:00 a.m. ET
Combined sales for computer and video games exceeded $7 billion in 2003, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) which represents computer and video software publishers. Computer gamers most often purchased strategy games, children's entertainment games and shooter games followed by family entertainment titles, role-playing games, sports titles, racing, adventure and simulation games.
The gaming culture is in a boom.
John Borland and Brad King, authors of "Dungeons & Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Gaming Culture From Geek to Chic," were online Friday, Jan. 30 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the people who inhabit the computer game world and what the next generation of online gaming will be.
Borland is a journalist with CNETNews.com and Brad King (King Site) is new media professor at the University
of Texas.
A transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
washingtonpost.com:
John Borland and Brad King, thanks for being with us today on washingtonpost.com. So based on Dungeons & Dreamers, how has the culture of computer games gone from geek to chic?
John Borland and Brad King:
JB: In the early days, computer games were played by a small group of people who were mostly programmers themselves, and who were as thrilled to write games as they were to play them. There was a certain wizard's cool to that too. It was a thrill, people told us, to create something and make this new medium work under your control, and even more create something that was fun. But now games are incredibly sophisticated, beautifully artistic, and a huge business. Rock stars are eager to be associated with games, and have their music in games. There's still a heavy geeky component to it, particularly among the hard-core culture of game creators, and the people who take existing games and modify them, but gaming has taken on some of the "chic-ness" of the Internet culture too.
BK: The most obvious answer is that it's no longer relegated to a group of hackers holed away at M.I.T., smashing together code so they could play SpaceWar against each other. This week at the SuperBowl, Electronic Arts held their eighth annual John Madden Football tournament, features one player each from the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots. Hundreds of people showed up. It was covered as a major news story on ESPN (and, it was brought up, that the winner of the last seven games went on to win the actual SuperBowl.)
The Entertainment Software Association recently put out game statistics for 2003, and John Madden football topped the list.
Now, I don't want to hold up football as the ultimate sign that games have crossed over into the mainstream, but it is telling that these types of games have become so popular. It shows that the gaming population has started to spread out to people with a variety of backgrounds and interests.
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Harrisburg, Pa.:
A screenwriter teacher, Terry Borst, has suggested that screenwriters should study writing scripts for video games. Many games have elaborate plots and storylines, and they need screenwriters. Do you agree that there is a market opening up for screenwriters in video games?
John Borland and Brad King: JB: There is certainly room for writers in gaming today, but it's not exactly the same thing as screenwriting. There is increasing similarities between movies and games, and indeed most games now have long cinematic scenes that advance the plot with pre-scripted dramatic moments. But a game is interactive, which means writers have to think about plot development in a very different way. The player has the ability to choose their actions as they work their way through a world, and that means that a writer has be able to develop dramatic tension – or at least interest – while juggling a huge set of possibilities at any given moment. That effect is even stronger in multiplayer games, where the actions of many different people can change the potential storyline.
I personally think people are just getting their minds around this kind of creation, even now. Storylines in games are usually pretty simple, and many of the best ones are still very linear, ultimately giving players very little real freedom of action. By contrast, the online worlds where there is the most freedom of action don't have tightly developed stories. It's hard to write in a non-linear way, but think people are getting better at it.
BK: There is definitely a market for writing screenplays for games, but it's not as simple as sitting down and banging out a linear story. The idea behind the modern game is interactivity, which means you have to write a script that can be delivered in a variety of ways, depending on the players actions. It also helps to know a little programming code so you can talk with the people who will be bringing your game to life.
Game companies have hired science fiction and fantasy writers to flesh out plots, but many have struggled because they don't grasp the intricacies of interactivity. There is a great blog on this topic: Grand Text Auto. If you've got some time, you should check it out. It's an academic blog with news about the latest in interactive fiction.
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Washington, D.C.:
I was hoping that you might lend some perspective on gamers' attitudes towards video game "replay value." While developers want to create good, fully realized games, there's an economic disincentive to making games expansive and long-lasting. If gamers don't tire of the games or beat them, they would not buy more games. Obviously this doesn't apply as much to multiplayer online games. Your thoughts?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: On the surface, there is certainly no incentive to creative long, complex games that really suck players into the virtual world. That's capitalism for you. Of course, Lord of the Rings just came out - about ten hours worth of movies - and that still made a boatload of money despite the long running times. Why? The movies were awesome (in this order: great, good, awesome). Games are the same way. A great game will sell a ton of copies, even if it takes a long time to play.
Of course, there is also the issue of mods. Half-Life was cool; Counter-Strike was cooler. Game companies can license their engines and turn over development tools to other people, and continue to make money. It's not like they have to make just one game to make money. There are a variety of revenue streams for them once the engine is finished.
The biggest threat to creativity is the cost for making games, which are reaching towards ten million. That means companies are trying to defer costs by using license works and sequels.
JB: It really depends on the kind of game. A lot of games are built around exploring a world, or telling a story. It's tough to build actual replay value into these. Once you've figured out the surprises of a world, it's not as fun afterwards.
But there are also a lot of games built around the thrill of motion or speed, or sports. It's easy to play a car racing game many times, until you've mastered it completely. It's easy to keep playing Madden Football forever.
Ultimately I agree with Brad. People buy amazing games, even if they finish them. Gamers, just like anybody, like great art and great products. That's the incentive to make expensive and groundbreaking games. Still, it will always be easier to make copies of other successful products.
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Arlington, Va.:
Brad, you've written for Wired and now you teach at Texas. John is also a journalist. How has the relationship between gamers and the press evolved? And what do gamers think about video games as a topic of study in humanities departments of universities?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Ugh. Gamers and the press. What a disaster. Here is the main issue. Journalists have a host of pre-conceived notions about what computer games are, and they are unwilling to do the real legwork needed to uncover the stories out there. Games That Teach programs are transforming Welfare to Work in Texas. Simulation training is transforming HASMAT response teams.
It's funny. John and I wrote about a gaming café in our book. It's a fun little place. Well lit. Lots of computers. The New York Times wrote a piece about this place and made it sound like a crack house. "Its darkened windows" kind of thing. (By the way, the windows are tinted to keep a glare of the computer screens. You could say the same thing about cars here in Texas. Tinted windows to keep the heat off. I suppose that looks ominous. Unless you're from here. WTF.)
As for teaching in college, I'm working on a class dealing with virtual communities and virtual communication. I know there are about a dozen other schools working on similar types of programs. Georgia Tech. Madison-Wisconsin. M.I.T.
JB: There are still two kinds of press, with not much in between: The games press, which is generally too close to the subject to be really critical, and the mainstream press, which is usually too far away to understand the culture.
Gaming issues get handled badly a lot. Unless you've played, unless you've spent some time with the people playing, it looks a little weird to see a lot of people staring into screens, seemingly alone. But people aren't alone, they're often playing with other people online, or deeply engaged with what is ultimately a creative work on some level. Lots of press people don't get that.
I think there is a development of a middle ground now, where people are taking games and gamers seriously and giving the issue thought. That's true in academia and in the press. I think gamers like that in general (although there will always be the skepticism of a culture seeing outsiders come in to study it).
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Somewhere, USA:
Are there any good online games that can be played without a lot of time committment? I don't want to have to check these things every 10 minutes.
John Borland and Brad King: JB: Different kinds of games will always have different time commitments. The role-playing games like Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies will necessarily take a long time, because the idea is to live in the world and build up a character over time. You can play for just moments, but you won't be getting the most out of the game.
But there are plenty of games that don't take much time to learn or play online. Counter-Strike, the team anti-terrorism game based on Half-Life, is extraordinarily popular. Brad and I have dipped into that for just a few minutes at a time. Granted, we usually are wiped off the map by other players very quickly, but it doesn't take long to get to the point where it's fun.
There are also semi-games such as There.com or Second Life, where the play is not as heavily focused on competition. You can hang out, chat, build a house, or do other more everyday virtual life activities, without having to worry about constantly keeping up with the other dragonslayers.
BK: Solitare and poker.
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Bowie, Md.:
How real is the threat that a player will become so immersed in games that they lose touch with reality?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Now we're getting to the big questions. The threat is the exact same is it is for getting sucked into watching too much television, reading to much, working too much, or drinking too much. It really depends on a variety of factors: upbringing, genetics, surroundings, ect. There is absolutely no medical science that has linked technology to fits of obsession. (You'll hear people talk about that as if it's happened, but when you ask them to produce any study that has been reviewed by other scientists, you find there is nothing supporting that claim.)
We need to monitor our activities, because too much of anything is bad. I'm an alcoholic, which means I've got to make sure that I hit my meetings and don't drink. It's very simple. Now, I'm still allowed to drink. I'm 31. Nobody can stop me. However, the consequences are a bit too dire for me, so I don't.
JB: In the 1950s, a lot of people worried that comic books were teaching kids to be delinquents, essentially losing touch with reality. In the 1970s, people worried that kids were becoming Dungeons and Dragons fanatics, losing touch with reality. In fact, most people are pretty good at telling what's real and what's not. Art is art, life is life. It'll be a long time before a computer is good enough to exactly simulate life.
That doesn't mean that people can't get obsessed, and lose balance in their life. But that's true of almost anything – eating, movies, reading. In some respects, our culture encourages obsession. As with everything, people need to turn games off once in a while, go outside and take a walk or something. But games aren't unique in this respect.
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Arlington, Va.:
Can you compare the level of violence in today's games, such as Grand Theft Auto, to earlier games and its mpact on players?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Graphically, the worlds are far more realistic. Of course, HDTV and digital film have made television and movies look more realistic too. I'm not sure that looking better actually has much impact on people, although it clearly offers a different set of inputs for people to deal with.
In answer to your question, I don't think games are more violent today. When I was younger, we used to play a game called "Kill The Man With The Ball." It was a simple game. A bunch of neighborhood kids would take a football, and someone would throw it in the air. Whoever caught the ball then took off, trying not to get smashed by the dozen kids chasing him.
That was violent. Grand Theft Auto is not.
My buddy Scott Jones and I used to box, but we only had one pair of gloves. So you punched with one hand and blocked with the other. One day, he caught me with a left hook and knocked me clean out (and we were at the top of the stairs, so when I fell, I fell down the stairs.)
That was violent. Grand Theft Auto is not
We've lost some perspective on what actual violence is. Kids, particularly when you talk with them, have gotten very media savvy. They understand that games are just games.
JB: In Space Invaders, the game was all about killing too. Surgeon General Koop complained about violence in games back in the early 1980s. Yes, the graphic nature of the killing in the games today is much more explicit – but what does that really mean?
Much of the criticism of violence in games rests on the idea that they are teaching kids to kill. That doesn't seem to be true. They are teaching kids to play violent video games. Outside the realm of media studies, psychology has found that people are pretty good at distinguishing between real people and fictional representations of real people. Games are games, and kids largely know that.
If you look at crime statistics, juvenile violence is way down compared to the early 1990s. I have a hard time believing that the Mario games of the mid-1980s were far more destructive to kids' sense of decency than what we're seeing today.
That's not to say we shouldn't worry about it, and talk about it. Cultural awareness of what's happening in art and media is very important. These are the stories that we're telling about ourselves, and that's not necessarily a flattering self-portrait (if I can mix my metaphors a little). But we should be realistic about what's actually happening.
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Alexandria, Va.:
What's the impact of the multi-player online games like the new Star Wars? Is the player base growing or will companies fight over the same customers?
John Borland and Brad King:
BK: Online gaming will continue to grow and expand because there are more games coming out across a variety of genres. When Sony and Microsoft launched their online console services, they did that with football games and sports networks. Clearly, the people playing Galaxies are different than the people playing Madden.
That said, there will always be a finite number of players, and you hope the most evolved games win. The good news: companies can't just cram games down your throat. These games depend on hundreds of thousands of people enjoying their experience. Electronic Arts completely tanked The Sims Online, and my
wiredbeat2000: and my guess is that it will be shuttered before the end of the year. Meanwhile, Galaxies had a bumpy start but managed to recover enough to make a real run at sustainability.
JB: Genre is always important. Star Wars probably brought in a lot of new online gamers that weren't interested in Everquest. But there are also a limited number of people interested in deeply complicated online games at all.
I think as the technology grows, as more people have broadband connections and fast computers, more people will play online games. Games will naturally have an online component, and the term "online game" itself might be redundant.
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Greenbelt, Md.:
Are there any good books, studies, articles, etc., out there about the 'virtual communities' that spring up out of online gaming?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Uh...that's why we're here. Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture from Geek to Chic. The whole book is about communities that have sprung
JB: Right! Our book! But there are lots of good things online too. Check out the game sites like Gamespy. David Kushner's book about id Software, Masters of Doom, also has some good stuff in it.
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Detroit, Mich.:
How much is the development of faster home computers spurring the development of more sophisticated games or the development of sophisticated games helping push the development of faster computers? It seems more to me the latter. A computer of ten years ago still does better in terms of word processing, spreadsheet, etc. than what I need or what most people I know need. However, the current games could never work on older computers.
John Borland and Brad King: BK: I don't know about your word processing needs, but mine were never really served by computers in 1994. Clearly the small software applications don't require an infinite amount of memory, since they all run on Palm i705.
Hardware companies work very closely with game companies for this reason: they need a product to show off what they can do. They pour a lot of money into game tournaments and leagues because they want to give people a good idea of what the latest graphics look like.
Of course, the HP Media Center that I use at my house was conceived as a way to bring networks and media together, not games. I have digital cable running through my system (which comes with a TiVo-like device). I have about 10 inputs for memory. I've got editing equipment here. I would say this computer was driven less by games, and more by networked media (of which games are a part).
JB: The two industries very much affect each other. John Carmack from id Software is enormously influential in hardware circles, because his games always push the limits.
But even as games start looking more and more amazing, the fundamental game design has little to do with the graphics engines. It takes a lot more than a powerful computer and a lovely landscape to make a fun game.
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Alexandria, Va.:
I am a life-long computer gaming fan and would like to make a mid-career jump to the gaming industry. What is the best way to go about this? I am primarily interested in the creative side of the equation.
Second question. What impact will the console gaming industry have on PC games? Right now, the best games seem to get ported between the two mediums but, at some point, won't a financially significant portion of new gamers just opt for the cheaper console route? What new features/benefits are being cooked up by PC game creators to keep that segment desirable?
Thanks.
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Get involved with customer service and game testing. It's an entry-level position, but it's where most people start. That way, you can learn about the company you are working with, and get an idea of how games work.
The second question: well, I believe console games will become the dominant platform, eclipsing PCs although. The consoles are getting so powerful that they will soon play the PC games as well.
JB: Another thing you can do is take some programming classes, and then get involved in the modding community online. These are people who take existing games and make new ones from the basic code. A lot of the top young developers today came out of these communities.
I'm not totally sure I agree with Brad about consoles taking over forever – but I think there will be less and less distinction. Already an Xbox is basically a PC. In ten years, why will there need to be any difference at all? Every house will have incredibly fast machines (ok, maybe 20 years), and fast net connections. Why have separate boxes for everything?
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Washington, D.C.:
Today's games are too complicated, and rely more on flash than on good game play. My first game when I was a kid was Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
John Borland and Brad King: JB: Games are complicated. But not all of them. There are still plenty of simple, old-style games out there. It's just that the flashy ones get lots of money poured into them, from a development and marketing perspective.
Look for small development houses, or even flash games. You might find things more up your alley.
You can also find versions of old games that have been ported to the modern PC platform. We played a lot of Ultima and Mame and the first Quake while writing book. Good stuff!
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Washington, D.C.:
Game Boys are the most popular dedicated game devices in the world. Is there anything particularly important about mobile gaming?
John Borland and Brad King: Mobile gaming is very important in the sense that lots of people do it. It has its own idiosyncrasies. Games have to be easily interrupted. You can't be totally immersed on a bus. So it makes people think about games in different ways, and spurs people to different creative processes.
I have mixed feelings about them, frankly. I like playing games on my phone, but as a writer, I want to make sure that people keep reading, too. I'm always happy to see someone with a book on the subway instead of playing a Game Boy.
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Herndon, Va.:
What are the really good free sites for online gaming, especially the role-playing variety?
John Borland and Brad King: BK: Check out some of the smaller Multi-User Dungeon games. Skotos gives you a 30-day free trial.
JB: There are lots of free MUDS online, even a few graphical ones. But it does take a lot of money to create a really modern-looking game. There will always be tradeoffs if you're looking for free.
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John Borland and Brad King: Thanks to everyone for your questions. This was fun. If anybody has more questions, or wants to follow the day-to-day issues in the gaming world, come by and visit us at www.dungeonsanddreamers.com.
Thanks much to the Washington Post for having us!
-John and Brad
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