Putting Social in the Media of Gaming

Before there were home game systems, how do you think we played video games? Playing a counting game to a movie or tv show will not count. Playing a board game in front of the television does not count either (Nice try Mother). We actually had to leave the comfort of our homes and go to the arcade. We also had to bring along quarters. 4 was the average pricing for starting a game. As for continuing:

The arcade game generation actually has a reason to complain about microtransactions. Because they are pretty much quadrupled!













Now, the age of the arcade is far gone. There are the "Dave and Buster" and "Chuck E Cheese" franchises, but most guests only play for tickets in hopes of bringing a prize home. Rail shooters (such as Virtua Cop and Time Crisis) are way less popular, considering the only gratification players get is being able to say they beat a few levels or managed to hit the leaderboard. To this generation, the leaderboard is of no value (except for bragging about being the vip in a Call of Duty round).



In the late 1980s, the game industry started producing home consoles and we only had to pay for a disc or a cartridge. We could stop forming crowds and sit down on the couch, right next to the person whom thought we were playing the game poorly. As time went on, we were given the chance to share the game and not just the couch.

If you snitch on me I'm going to tell Mom we were playing an M-rated game!








Of course, we are being social and using media. We are being social by being in the same room, which my Mom interprets as, "The kids are being social again!". We are using media by playing or observing video games. There is something special about games, but it is hard to narrow it down to a single thing. Sometimes, it is just seeing if a player makes it onto the highscore list/leaderboard and putting down their initials. Other times, it is learning how they play or being shown their place (which is really common when I play as Kirby in Super Smash Bros). Maybe it is just walking by a room and commenting about how bad they play as a joke.

From time to time, I and my little brother play Minecraft together, and one of us will find a cool part of the map (such as a village). He will go trading with the villagers, while I set up the TnT. Why? Because we find it funny to explode a hole in a village, just like I find it funny how I used to play Rollercoaster Tycoon and send the dissatisfied guests to the "Behavior Correctional Pit" (If you played Rollercoaster Tycoon before you should know exactly what I am talking about). As funny as exploding villages is, my brother put me in jail, which I blew up too, also managing to make my little brother blow up, but he eventually let it go as me just being social and playing a joke on him.

You did not even have to use the internet be social when gaming. In this era,  it does account for a large portion of gaming, but internet is not entirely necessary. Back several years ago, gamers probably dismissed online features as unnecessary fillers. For now, I want you to try and hold that perspective in mind. Imagine if Call of Duty and Battlefield were limited to offline modes. I would likely just pass by the gaming racks in Walmart. Those games never told truly satisfying tales. There would be no reason to peek in on a sibling playing one of those games, as there is nothing truly impressive going on once you take away the online features (I meant the actually good features). Just remember that social media does not have to be the internet. All we need is to be social and utilize the media of gaming.


-Game on

Jacob Bacci