My entire life I've avoided playing a musical instrument. I can speculate on a lot of reasons why, despite loving listening to my sister play both the guitar and piano. Well, 2 days ago that all changed with Guitar Hero III. I've played the game filled with a bunch of classic rock songs and it's tough. You grip it like a real guitar, strum it like a real guitar, play the whammy bar and use buttons that simulate chords; it's as realistic as a non-guitar player could imagine. So what's interesting about this you ask?
Video games are entertaining but they often leave us feeling void and depressed. Even when I beat a game I don't really have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Whatever sense of accomplishment I get from imagining how I'm improving my hand eye coordination quickly diminishes when I realize I'm just living in someone else's puzzle world. It's like talking on the phone only to realize the other voice is just a recorded message.
Second Life was the first time I entered the world of gaming and felt like I had the ability to be creative and impact the environment in which I "existed." It was cool, I built some useless structures, talked to some Italian programmers and flew around a bunch, but my interested faded relatively quickly.
Tonight I got the feeling that we're heading toward an evolution in gaming, a place where we can be part of an environment that will let you engage in meaningful and creative activities. Video games are reaching a point where they are becoming a tool instead of the cage. With that in mind, why doesn't Guitar Hero III have a freestyle jam feature so players can leave the game side to play the guitar freestyle and create their own music?
I'm awful at the game but the fact is it inspired me to start playing an instrument; something I hadn't had interest in for 28 years. Now I want more. The interface got me started, why not help me grow and facilitate an opportunity to create my own music?
2 comments:
Gaming has become so much more than just passing time and getting to punch your initials into the high score page. The ability to interact in an environment where the consequences are little, if not, any provides a perfect place to develop confidence and creativity. I'm all for it (as long as it's accessible to all -- no need to widen the education /social gap any futher), but I wonder in what ways this will affect our daily interactions. I want to look past the predicted "robotic" society of 1980s when computers were all the craze, but I have to wonder what's really in store.
And what instrument did you pick up? Maybe we can start a family band!
I rented Guitar Hero over Thanksgiving weekend and took it home to my parents' place. It provided Wii-like entertainment for everyone from my 5 year old niece to my 67 year old father. Incredible fun!
I have been out of gaming for a while, and I can't tell if GHIII is a radical departure or not. Seems like like an emerging trend that game publishers are going away from designing for the Maxim-demographic and trying to make more "family board game night" games featuring quizes etc.
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