Bear with me. It’s rather late, or early if you prefer to look at it that way.
As I read Bogost’s How to do Things with Videogames, I was impressed. I shared similar viewpoints with Koster, and I clashed with McGonigal, but Bogost captured my feelings toward games as a whole. Like him, I recognize worth in the details of video games–texture, environment, and immersion–rather than the broad value of “save the world” provided by McGonigal. Bogost is much more pragmatic.
I have nights where I just want to relax and play simple games. Relaxation.
I recognize the value of video games and how they can be used not only recreationally, but for marketing and promotional material.
I go to parties where I just want to play games without having to read an instruction manual. I don’t want Kings, I’d rather play beer pong. Throwaways.
In life, I focus on the journey rather than the destination. Transit. Sure, the Eiffel Tower is beautiful, but did you take the time to appreciate and reflect on the plane ride–a marvel of technology–that brought you from Point A to Point B. Did you note the clouds outside the cabin, and realize the process that goes into making them? Did you think about the people around you, your friends and family, that make the trip worthwhile? Did you see each blade of grass in a field, each brick in a wall, each animal in the pasture?
I don’t see video games as a way to cure world hunger and famine, I see them as an art with millions of little details that separate each game from the next, each with a specific purpose. I see how gamers identify with certain games, and what that says about that gamer.
via Bogost 2.