Kotaku
Going Off the Deep End: Has Gaming Grown Up?
We talk about innovation in a number of ways in the game industry, some of which are very far off in the grand scheme of things: erudite discussions of game play, biomechanics, tailoring an experience to each individual. We have the less esoteric, more realistic discussions of what can be done with games now, and that sort of 'innovation,' I think, is really more a discussion of games 'growing up' and heading into more mature territory. Perhaps some of these debates are being cast in the wrong terms, or at least, there are multiple avenues of discussion to be explored.
What defines 'maturity'? I think the entertainment industry is somewhat hampered by defining works that include sex or violence or rough language as having 'mature themes': clearly there is an age component ('Should 10 year olds be watching this stuff?'), but it's overly simplistic at best. In my media collections, I have works I consider thematically "mature" in the ratings game sort of way, and the works that are mature in a different way. The ones that play with preconceived notions of the way things are or should be; the ones that deconstruct the traditional, reconstitute it as something new; most importantly, the ones that can be read on a number of levels.
11:00 AM on Thu Apr 24 2008
By Maggie Greene
12,303 views,
162 comments
Latest by man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.: I find it very amusing that games with "HAY LOOK BOOBS" are considered mature...but sadly, I don't think gaming has really grown up. Look at Soul Calibur 4. Namco, I love you, and I'll still probably get your game, but more »
