Being Told to Hold the Controller

Orginally written on October 15, 2011.

Part two of a three part weekly series. Before working on the neurotic character essay, I was assigned to write a 3 page argument on a subject of my choice and I couldn't resist tackling the controversial issue about video games and whether or not they've dumbed down society. As a gamer, I understand both the positive and the negative aspects of gaming, how it could isolate you from the real world if you play for a long time(24 hours is my limit) but how it could also be a way to experience a brand new world and interact directly with the environment. That sounds a bit outlandish but I can promise you that the essay is very clear. To be honest, this paper was something I could only dream of writing in high school and I can't find any problems with it although there are probably a few. One more negative thing about gaming: it is one of the few things that can set me off more quickly than annoying jerkasses. Like always, let me know what you think/how the argument could've been improved in the comments. 

Video games have faced numerous controversies and accusations of being a wasted form of entertainment. Many people believe that video games have caused us to become more spastic, less able to focus on tasks, and diminished our capability to think. Video games simplify our impulses into objectives that range from getting from point A to point B to killing as many people as we can in a time limit, but as with any genre that we don’t really understand, we tend to generalize video games of still being this simple. In the year 2011, video games have advanced far beyond anyone’s expectations, and while enjoying the game is significant to its quality, so are the story and characters. Video games are capable of giving us enough control that they stimulate our behavior other than radically weakening it.

Video games have evolved from the basic arcade games, as they promote critical thinking as an incentive to completing the game. One of the most famous video games released in the modern era is Portal. The game begins with a simple premise: you are a lab rat in a science experiment, testing out a device called the portal gun, supervised by an artificial intelligence computer system called GlaDOS. Once the player absorbs those details, the game begins. Video games usually have time limits that increase tension and can make someone unnecessarily anxious when playing. Portal has no such time limit, and gives the player all the time in the world to complete each puzzle. The only distraction is GlaDOS who encourages you, the test subject, to complete each “impossible” puzzle, as well as quitting in order to get cake… that you will never get.  The game also doesn’t pressure you into completing every single object at once; in fact, your impatience grows from either having a compulsory need to complete every single puzzle quickly, or from making brash decisions that only impede your progress. Portal’s many puzzles encourage you to slow down and make rational decisions in order to solve each puzzle, like solving a Rubik’s cube.

Portal is an innovative game not in only in gameplay, but also in story development that makes the experience more thought-provoking than others want to give it credit for. Portal plays normally up until a certain point where the game tests out your survival skills against gun turrets. You see a cube that can be used as a shield or a weapon, but it’s been precariously placed in between a malfunctioning wall panel. By removing the cube, you see a hallowed, rusted room that is the exact opposite of the testing labs; the game doesn’t force the player to see the room. It is only the player’s own curiosity that makes them cross into the hallowed shadows of the Aperture Science Testing Facilities where the player discovers some disturbing “holes” in the testing labs. Unlike most video games that force your attention, this is a moment you can choose to encounter or ignore.

The game makes a witting remark on how most people view gamers as mindless drones who only complete objectives, but this humanizing moment demonstrates how conscious gamers, or everybody else, can and have always been. A pivotal moment in Portal is when GlaDOS suddenly gives you a companion cube to use as a part of the experiment. The cube, despite being a lifeless object, becomes essential in completing the puzzle and you begin to grow attached to the object or accept it as just another tool at your disposal: it depends entirely on the player’s reaction. You arrive to the end, and hope to bring your cube along with you, but GlaDOS asks that you take your “new” friend to the incinerator for proper disposal. If you are the mindless drone GlaDOS expects you to be, you’ll destroy the cube and move on to the next portion of the game, but if you had any attachment to the cube whatsoever, you will hesitate, only be pressed on further by GlaDOS to destroy the cube. Evidently, the cube’s destruction is the only way to progress. Your attachment to the cube is spurred further when you discover some unusual wall markings that praise the cube, almost sanctifying as a holy object. Either way, Portal demonstrates that mental thought and understanding can be relevant in video games, as well as being a vehicle for advancing the story.

Now why does it matter? As I mentioned before, video games are currently a misunderstood medium. At one point, every medium we relate to today was lambasted by the majority for being useless and over stimulating until enough people made it acceptable in our culture. What these people don’t realize is that a sophisticated medium has existed for 40 years, and is much more engaging than a currently respected medium like film, for example. Usually, it takes a small group of craftsman who truly understand their craft to create glorious works of art much like the geniuses at Valve Corporation did in making Portal, but video games have always been an integral part of our culture, even if it has only been a small portion of it. As the medium continues to advance into new unexplored territories, people’s perception of games as an important medium will continue to grow, but even games like Portal shouldn’t be singled out as the only major advance in video games. Even goal-oriented games like Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog, made in 1985 and 1991, respectively, were innovative in their time for being bright, colorful games that also valued the player’s attention and mastery of the games’ diversifying locations much like Portal. Video games have always been relevant and in time, it will be as respected as the one of the most treasured literary devices of our time.

Works Cited:
Portal Version 1. October 9, 2007. Bellevue: Valve Corporation. October 14, 2011.

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