Gaming

The genesis of the video game and the concept of gaming spans many years and encompasses a wide range of characters, genres and technology. A new fascination with interactive media is having a profound effect on our culture. Video games have increased a lot over the years and this has had a large impact on popular culture. Over the last 25 years the games have risen in popularity. Originally they were aimed at younger adults and some youth.

During the nineties games began to appear in all walks of life, specifically for children. There are a number of explanations for this, including the economic viability held by any industry in aiming their products at children. As time has gone, the older generations have shown more and more interest in gaming. This could be because of internet culture that has created a new world of online gaming.

Online gaming itself has had a huge effect on gaming culture. It originated on bulletin board systems in the 1970s and 1980s and grew so that now internet games from the world over can play games with each other at ease. A title that is considered groundbreaking in the world of online gaming is Quake. This game allowed players to play against 15 other players, which increased with time to 32 players being in any map at any one time. However, it is not just online gaming which is on the rise. The recent Halo 3 on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 managed to generate 300 million dollars in its first week of release, selling 8.1 million copies. Amongst its titles is the accolade of being the highest grossing entertainment product within its first 24 hours of release. As a result we can see the amount of demand there currently is for games and we can see how the size of the gaming community is increasing as time goes on.

We can also consider the effect gaming has had elsewhere in life, including on other media. In 1971 the game Computer Space appeared, still far away from the high concept designs of today, but its influence was far reaching as it was adapted into 1973’s Soylent Green. Today it is common practice for computer games to be adapted into movies, with the hope of attracting the same gaming audience into a movie theatre.