Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Online Gaming Boom Outpaces Real-Life Critiques

Cultural attitude toward virtual world reflects antiquated view

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted May 31, 2008 1:14 PM CDT
Email

(Newser) – The dizzying growth of the video game industry continues to alarm cultural Luddites, writes Tom Chatfield for the Prospect, but the critics are trapped in video gaming’s past. They haven't adjusted to the development of social, team-based gaming worlds, treating games “as an odd mix of the slightly menacing and the alien: more like exotic organisms dredged from the deep sea than complex human creations.”

Take, for example, the management and cooperative skills required in a guild raid in World of Warcraft, or Eve Online, where 4,000 players in 22 guilds recently spent the better part of a year building a spaceship. With games increasingly challenging us in creative, “human” ways, a lot of the fears of a population brainwashed by “robotic” entertainment are moot—but will we simply play them too much?

Three 10-story high murals promoting the debut of the computer game GTA Grand Theft Auto IV are seen on the Figueroa Hotel in downtown Los Angeles Thursday, April 24, 2008.
Three 10-story high murals promoting the debut of the computer game GTA Grand Theft Auto IV are seen on the Figueroa Hotel in downtown Los Angeles Thursday, April 24, 2008.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
This image from the new hot game Halo 3, was provided by its publisher, Microsoft.
This image from the new hot game "Halo 3," was provided by its publisher, Microsoft.   (AP Photo/Microsoft)
This photo released by Rockstar Games shows a scene from the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
This photo released by Rockstar Games shows a scene from the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.   (AP Photo/Rockstar Games)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

How do video game reviews affect what gets made?
MTV

Video games play a part in 'Wii-hab'
Orlando Sentinel

 
technology • pop culture • culture • gaming • World of Warcraft • Grand Theft Auto IV • video games

More Newser Stories

Gamers' Brains Have Bigger 'Reward Hub'

Angry Birds Soar Into Reality

How CityVille Sucked In a Hardcore Gamer

New Sega Games Let You Play With Your Pee

Gaming, Not the Military, Today's Technology Driver
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne