7 ms·
Yeah, anyone shocked by this is confused by the nature of both humans and linear time. This is why it's impossible for me to take seriously anyone who claims t
by msla 4y ago
Yeah, anyone shocked by this is confused by the nature of both humans and linear time.
This is why it's impossible for me to take seriously anyone who claims that a given medium is only for kids. Kids grow up, and adults who love a medium move it forwards into something adults can take seriously, thereby proving that anxiety over whether a medium is "too young" for you is fundamentally adolescent, and rooted in anxiety over your own maturity. Certain works can be too immature to satisfy an adult, but a given medium is infinitely malleable and can tell stories at any level.
Of course, this relates to the similarly pointless diatribes that refuse to distinguish between a medium, a genre, and a level of quality, and therefore insist that a given medium is only for works in a given genre with a given (assumed low) level of quality. I don't have time for a single second of that nonsense.
- ElevenLathe 4y agoI think there really was a time when gaming seemed like a fundamentally limited medium that was really mostly for children. Non-bankswitched 2600 games, for example, are not really a medium that can be used for very much interesting storytelling, just not-very-repeatable (unless you're 8 years old) "flashing colors" experiences. I agree that it wasn't long after the 2600 era that this changed dramatically though. In the US, it realistically was the success of the Commodore 64 that changed this. 64k of memory and much more capable video hardware completely changed the game. Similar machines led this revolution in Europe. Actually, even before the 2600 there were complex mainframe and Unix games (for the very limited audiences that had access to these machines), but my point is that I can't really blame somebody in, say, 1978 seeing an Atari cartridge game and thinking it would never be something adults were interested in.
- ido 4y agoBTW, do you know the 1983 book "Pilgrim in the Microworld"[0]? It's a truly insightful and deep critique of Breakout and playing video-games in general, from the era (and machine!) you're speaking of. I can only recommend it! [0] modren reprint: https://bossfightbooks.com/products/breakout https://bossfightbooks.com/products/breakout
- ElevenLathe 4y agoI've never seen this but I loved "Racing the Beam" which is also about the 2600. Will definitely check this one out.
- ido 4y agoVery different books, but both are good!