Videogames: The medium that makes you proud.

 I saw a video on youtube in which a comedian mocked the point that no medium other than videogames denies a part of itself to you if you aren’t good enough at it. I have two responses.

First, most media do deny a part of themselves to you if you aren’t good at comprehending them. This works on two levels: For one thing, you have to actually pay attention to what’s going on. People who try to multitask or lose interest in, say, a film are the ones asking me ¾ of the way through “What’s going on? Why did that character do/not do that thing?” For another thing, if you fail to think critically about the movie, you miss larger messages and ideas and themes the movie has. This goes for other entertainment media as well: my 11^th and 12^th grade English classes demonstrated to me how much depth there could be in a book, and how devices from syntax to imagery can add substance to the book not explicitly stated on the pages. If you aren’t good at reading, watching, or listening, the medium denies you its full meaning and significance.

Second, Todd Howard (in last year’s D.I.C.E. keynote) pointed out that video games allow players to feel pride. People are rarely “proud” after reading a book (unless it was excessively long or written in a way difficult to get through), or watching a movie or listening to an album. Everyone feels good after beating a hard level or solving a puzzle or overcoming a challenge. Bad videogames “deny” themselves to you if you “aren’t good enough.” Good videogames help you and motivate you to use the tools you have to overcome a challenge and be rewarded with what you seek (great story, more killing, new puzzles, etc.) If videogames did not offer a challenge, there would be no potential for pride.

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