Original Post
The Future of Video Games
What kinds of impact will video games have on our world? In this thread I'd like to discuss three potential influences:
MUSIC: Video game music is defined by many attributes separate from electronic composition and a certain audio quality (traditionally thought of as 8-bit). It must loop to make a game maintain flow, and it must not emphasize certain sections, or else a game may seem out of sync, with critical hits possible occurring during a slower, more relaxed part of a track and so on.
INTERACTIVITY: Video games have the length and required participation of a book (although a book only makes you imagine certain situations), while having the visual aspect of a movie, but what's most defining of it is how you are directly in control of how your player moves and acts, and what he or she does and when. Subconsciously this could have a huge impact on the way our culture functions. In the past, people have generally been content living how they do, or accepting less-than-desirable circumstances are simply out of their control (whether that be true or not). To further this, people watch films and books present us with entire worlds unfolding before our eyes, with great conquests, triumph and tragedy, yet there is absolutely nothing we can do about any of it. Now, people may demand a more democratic society, influenced by the way entertainment has become interactive. Fanfic is generally a new thing; tributes were not unheard of several hundred years ago, but they were much less common. People want control now more than they have in the past, or rather, they feel that control is attainable. How will this impact society?
COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGES: Computer graphics are always improving. If you showed Final Fantasy XIII to someone from 1987, they wouldn't believe it was possible. What lies in our future once our computer graphics are so advanced that it is completely impossible to tell what is real and what isn't? Texturing and lighting will improve first, and then movements and imperfections of the way we move. It will take a while, but eventually we'll be unable to tell the difference. And once that happens, advances will be made so that computer-generated images will be easier and easier to create. And what then, once anyone can create something looking perfectly real? Evidence in court will be entirely unreliable. What will happen to our judicial system? Will we be forced to resort to lie detectors or the honor system?
Just a few things that have been bouncing around in my head... Can't wait to see what'll happen to the first person who reads this thinking video games are a complete waste of time.
MUSIC: Video game music is defined by many attributes separate from electronic composition and a certain audio quality (traditionally thought of as 8-bit). It must loop to make a game maintain flow, and it must not emphasize certain sections, or else a game may seem out of sync, with critical hits possible occurring during a slower, more relaxed part of a track and so on.
INTERACTIVITY: Video games have the length and required participation of a book (although a book only makes you imagine certain situations), while having the visual aspect of a movie, but what's most defining of it is how you are directly in control of how your player moves and acts, and what he or she does and when. Subconsciously this could have a huge impact on the way our culture functions. In the past, people have generally been content living how they do, or accepting less-than-desirable circumstances are simply out of their control (whether that be true or not). To further this, people watch films and books present us with entire worlds unfolding before our eyes, with great conquests, triumph and tragedy, yet there is absolutely nothing we can do about any of it. Now, people may demand a more democratic society, influenced by the way entertainment has become interactive. Fanfic is generally a new thing; tributes were not unheard of several hundred years ago, but they were much less common. People want control now more than they have in the past, or rather, they feel that control is attainable. How will this impact society?
COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGES: Computer graphics are always improving. If you showed Final Fantasy XIII to someone from 1987, they wouldn't believe it was possible. What lies in our future once our computer graphics are so advanced that it is completely impossible to tell what is real and what isn't? Texturing and lighting will improve first, and then movements and imperfections of the way we move. It will take a while, but eventually we'll be unable to tell the difference. And once that happens, advances will be made so that computer-generated images will be easier and easier to create. And what then, once anyone can create something looking perfectly real? Evidence in court will be entirely unreliable. What will happen to our judicial system? Will we be forced to resort to lie detectors or the honor system?
Just a few things that have been bouncing around in my head... Can't wait to see what'll happen to the first person who reads this thinking video games are a complete waste of time.
We've already made huge leaps forward in the virtual reality department as well as projectable holograms, with an ability to react to touch. Some Japanese company put out a product that's essentially a light switch for hospitals so you don't spread germs, small step but it has to start somewhere.
Moving on from that, it would be marginally more difficult to tell evidence apart in court, but you have to assume that with advances in gaming, you'd have advances in other technology, such as cameras and sensors available to be able to distinguish between real humans and the generated ones.
To focus just on the gaming aspect and how that would change society, I'd mention World of Warcraft. Look at how many hours are spent sitting at the computer screen playing that game; now imagine it's a full-immersion experience, you'd never have to leave your house to have interactions with other people (Think Wall-E). From there you could essentially start your business, as some have already done, and make money off of it, keeping your entire life isolated. This is an extreme case of course, but it's possible.
The other possibility is much more competitive competitions between gamers as the gaming experience gets much more realistic (implement pressure pads for impact control, etc) and the training capabilities for military and countless other fields would be amazing.
I think it'd be a great stride forward if we pumped up the gaming market to push on for more advanced technology.
Moving on from that, it would be marginally more difficult to tell evidence apart in court, but you have to assume that with advances in gaming, you'd have advances in other technology, such as cameras and sensors available to be able to distinguish between real humans and the generated ones.
To focus just on the gaming aspect and how that would change society, I'd mention World of Warcraft. Look at how many hours are spent sitting at the computer screen playing that game; now imagine it's a full-immersion experience, you'd never have to leave your house to have interactions with other people (Think Wall-E). From there you could essentially start your business, as some have already done, and make money off of it, keeping your entire life isolated. This is an extreme case of course, but it's possible.
The other possibility is much more competitive competitions between gamers as the gaming experience gets much more realistic (implement pressure pads for impact control, etc) and the training capabilities for military and countless other fields would be amazing.
I think it'd be a great stride forward if we pumped up the gaming market to push on for more advanced technology.
