Published: Monday, March 2, 2009 in The Whitworthian.

So you’ve played a video game or two in your life. Don’t lie, admit it. Maybe it was “Minesweeper,” maybe it was “Pokemon,” maybe it was “Super Monkey Ball”; maybe it was 10 minutes, maybe it was a weekend-long “World of Warcraft” binge.

The point is, you’ve done some gaming. I know this because I have yet to meet an American of my generation who hasn’t. It’s a rather fascinating phenomenon. Video games have risen in just a few decades from the hobby of under-socialized nerds to a multi-billion dollar industry and are fast becoming the fourth major entertainment venue, alongside literature, music and film.

Video games are now in their adolescent years, much like film was back in the day. When the first movies were released, they were seen as little more than a gimmick. People indulged in them as a pastime, art critics derided them and most people insisted they would never catch on.

History, of course, has proven them all wrong. As the medium of film matured and people learned how to use it, it slowly but surely became the dominant form of entertainment. Games are now at that point. They’ve developed into a serious industry, and are now just starting to see potential as an art medium.

The best thing about all this, and the reason you should care (especially if you’re looking to go into visual communications of any kind), is that games have the ability to absolutely surpass all other forms of entertainment, both in mainstream acceptance and in creative possibilities, and I predict that they will.

Those of you who are scoffing right now probably haven’t played some of the games that have come out in the past few years.  Storytelling is evolving in leaps and bounds in this medium. Whereas most games of several years ago boasted very simple narratives (if they boasted them at all), today’s video games offer experiences that rival the most engrossing Hollywood blockbuster.

“Bioshock,” a game set in a man-made undersea utopia gone wrong, unfolds around a nuanced and powerful story in which issues like utilitarianism, secular humanism, tyranny, human nature, ethics, sanity, morality and even the existence of God and what place he has in our lives are dealt with, either directly or indirectly.  And all this is experienced in first person; the tale unfolds around and is driven by the player. Other games, such as “Half-Life 2,” “Fallout 3” and “Portal” all feature first-rate stories that are all the more powerful and memorable because you are the main character.

This first-person method of storytelling has incredible potential. Even in the best films, you are merely a sideline participant in the story unfolding before you. Some directors are talented enough that they can cause their viewers to become emotionally involved in their stories, empathizing with the characters on screen, but the viewer still has no direct connection.

Games, on the other hand, present a medium where the viewer, or player, is the character on screen. How much more impactful and gut-wrenching would the death of Maximus Decimus Meridius’ family in “Gladiator” have been if you had been Russel Crowe? How much more awe-inspiring would the first encounter with the Death Star have been if you had been Luke Skywalker?

Granted, most games aren’t quite at that level of immersion and suspension of disbelief yet, but anyone who has played “Bioshock” or “Half-Life 2” will know that things are heading in that direction.

Games are also the logical medium for anyone with a message for their audience, once again because of the element of player interaction. If you want to persuade people that drugs are harmful, would the most powerful way to demonstrate this be to make a movie about how drugs have destroyed other peoples’ lives, or to create a game that simulates how drugs destroy the player’s life? Experiencing something first hand will always be more powerful than watching someone else’s experience.

Simulation has long been heralded as the best way to teach people things, outside of real-world experience. That’s why we have higher education; why those who wish to pilot aircraft spend hundreds of hours in simulators; why the military spends millions of dollars on battlefield simulations. Putting someone in a situation is the best way to teach them about what to do in that situation.

The upshot to all this is that video games are growing up. Give them a second look if you’ve been dismissing them all your life. Look into them if you’ve never given them much thought. I guarantee they will open up a whole new world of entertainment for you, and perhaps someday may even be the subject of your Core 150 papers.