Video Games

It seems like I go out of my way to bring trouble on myself. People ask me what I have been doing lately and I say "I've been spending a huge amount of time playing video games." This makes it sound like I am lazy, or loosing my mind, or having a second childhood among many other possibilities, none of which are good. But video games are a serious business.

The video game industry is threatening, if it hasn't already surpassed, other pillars of the entertainment industry such as film and television. People often refer to video games as 'interactive entertainment' to distinguish them from non-interactive entertainment such as television where you just sit there like a slug and do not participate. In a video game you participate in the outcome. This is an emerging phenomenon and is likely to grow in a lot of different directions.

Academics who traditionally study novels and films have begun to study the values, symbolism and messages conveyed by video games. This suggests that those people, at least, see video games as an important emerging cultural phenomenon.

Some researchers are looking at ways in which video game technology can be applied to education. The call it edutainment. Others are looking at how video games can used to persuade people. They call this 'persuasive games'. In fact, the whole area of using video game technology for some thing other than games is called 'serious games' and is a rapidly growing area within the field.

In areas of interest to the Business School specifically, people are looking at video games technology for advertizing, virtual team building, and learning any number of business skills from inventory management to group dynamics.

I have taken on a deeper philosophical analysis of games and the role they play in our lives. If philosophy does not give you a nose bleed you may want to look at my other blog - Perspectives On Video Games. Ask yourself, first, what is a game? Can you come up with a definition that includes all games? Why is it that we play games because we want to while everything else we do because we have to. The simple answer is - because they are fun. But, why are they fun? Wouldn't it be great if both school and work could be as much fun as a video game? They can be and they should be.

At the same time, video games are very diverse. Free Cell, a simple card game, is vastly different from World of Warcraft which includes sophisticated social interactions and an in world economy. Next week I will look at the variety of video game genres and try to sort this all out.

Stealing the Clay

When I was considerably younger and fretting over what it might take to be professionally successful, I used to have a recurring dream. In this dream, I was a famous world class sculptor. I would make statues and busts out of clay. My fans, in the dream, marveled over the quality of my artistic creations. I was well known, well liked, and well respected. But, there was a secret. In order to make my artistic creations, I had to 'steal' the clay. I couldn't just buy it and nobody could supply it for me. I had to steal it. Not only did I have to steal the clay, but everyone knew it. Nobody would openly endorse or even condone such an activity, even though everyone knew it and was willing to look the other way. The responsibility for this transgression was entirely mine and it was the cost of success.

The point of this dream, I believe, is that you cannot succeed by just doing what you are told or by just doing what you are 'supposed' to be doing. At some point you have to take risks and take responsibility for those risks. To be successful, you have to be good at something and in order to be good at something you have to figure out what you do well and pursue it. This process of individuation makes you better at the things you are good at while differentiating you from those around you. Aristotle would have called this developing your virtues.

But, as we develop our virtues and differentiate ourselves from others we often feel that we are on a lonely path and maybe the wrong path. So, in the twisted logic of a dream, my risks became transgressions.

This summer, I have spent an enormous amount of time playing World of Warcraft. It is the summer of 2009 version of stealing the clay. I think video games are going to become a major force in all aspects of entertainment, education and commerce. But, if I wait until that is obvious to everyone else, it will be way too late. So I have invested my time in learning about this important phenomenon and feeling a little guilty in the process. But, what the heck. I would rather live with the guilt than sit back and wonder how the world managed to pass me by.