Mass Production
Picture the scene. You’re a hardcore gamer (this might not be so hard for some of you), and Long Running Series Volume 23 is waiting for you at the store. You rush to buy it, run home and begin to settle into a fantastically involved session of stats, stories and special effects. Then you find that some corporate publisher has taken over your independent hard-working developers, the manual could fit inside a fortune cookie and your favourite characters are now being voiced by American teens – or aren’t there at all. Just whose mass market are we pandering to? At what point did the target market blur into mass market?
Gaming used to be – and sometimes still is – referred to as being for those with too much money and not enough life. Perhaps they're right - many gamers would proudly agree in fact - but whether or not gaming is a pointless hobby for boys trapped inside men's bodies, gaming was the refuge of the proud and the few. Those brave men who sat in the dark recesses of their own bedrooms and blazed their own path through the new territory of open source code and blocky graphics. Suggesting that gaming might be fun was like suggesting the Earth might be round in the sixteenth century. Actually doing anything related to gaming was like exploring the New World itself - in more than one way. Very soon, gamers had established themselves nicely and were reaping the rewards of their perseverance.
Back then, almost everyone was hardcore. There was no middle ground, because there was so little ground that it was impossible to offer any to people who were undecided. You were either in, or you were out. There was no casual Sims gamer to speak of, and there wasn't much of a mass market either - by definition, if you were a gamer you were the mass market. How do you segregate a market that is already so small?
The masses are very easy to attract though. The joining of the hardcore gamer and the mass market was necessary because, like civilisation itself, it can only truly progress through increased interest. If gaming hadn't grown, it would have been crushed by the rise of other markets . It's only choice was to try and accept and deal with the sugar-sweet musings of bandwagons and pop culture.
At first you had Mario. Then you had Crash Bandicoot. Now Mario is struggling to reinvent himself for the twelfth time whilst we're looking at Tak and the Power of Juju and Inane Platform Character 4 (possibly not a real game). The mass market slowly grew in size and strength until it had power over most of the releases. Take a look at the charts today and you'll see samey sports or driving games, poor attempts at licensing films and only occasionally a true gem somewhere. The mass market has allowed games to be made simply because they'll sell. Who really wants that?
Well the problem is that everyone, really, wants something like that. Mass Market gaming is what keeps us alive. Without the appalling attempts at Disney games or the contrived Sims add-on releases you wouldn't appreciate the true genius of other games. Where would Halo fit in? Where would Half-Life be made? Similar to great civilisations again, balance is the key. Mass Market games are the big things that let the little things happen.
It isn't all doom and gloom. We're bringing together two parties. Hardcore gamers are showing the mass market what an indulgent gaming experience really is, but similarly mass market gamers are teaching others to remember to have fun. For every adrenaline-fuelled Medal of Honour onslaught you've got to chill out on the Eyetoy - and for every wailing and flailing on Singstar you need to hop skip and jump your way through a level or two of Mario Sunshine. It's all about the balance.
People get offended when the Mass Market begins to take over. And not just offended - scared. Edge ran a cover story about the mass market's slow infection of the industry a little under a year ago, but the reality is far from this. The mass market needs to come of age, too. Yes, occasionally you get long running series that have been warped by the desires of bigger things. But similarly you get series like the Sims that try to 'grow up' too fast and alienate some of their followers (see The Sims 2). The two seemingly opposing sides of the gaming world need to come together and combine their aims and abilities to create an industry that is not simply targeting the lowest common denominator, but also interested in fun for all. Perhaps the next-generation is where this opportunity lies.
Gaming used to be – and sometimes still is – referred to as being for those with too much money and not enough life. Perhaps they're right - many gamers would proudly agree in fact - but whether or not gaming is a pointless hobby for boys trapped inside men's bodies, gaming was the refuge of the proud and the few. Those brave men who sat in the dark recesses of their own bedrooms and blazed their own path through the new territory of open source code and blocky graphics. Suggesting that gaming might be fun was like suggesting the Earth might be round in the sixteenth century. Actually doing anything related to gaming was like exploring the New World itself - in more than one way. Very soon, gamers had established themselves nicely and were reaping the rewards of their perseverance.
Back then, almost everyone was hardcore. There was no middle ground, because there was so little ground that it was impossible to offer any to people who were undecided. You were either in, or you were out. There was no casual Sims gamer to speak of, and there wasn't much of a mass market either - by definition, if you were a gamer you were the mass market. How do you segregate a market that is already so small?
The masses are very easy to attract though. The joining of the hardcore gamer and the mass market was necessary because, like civilisation itself, it can only truly progress through increased interest. If gaming hadn't grown, it would have been crushed by the rise of other markets . It's only choice was to try and accept and deal with the sugar-sweet musings of bandwagons and pop culture.
At first you had Mario. Then you had Crash Bandicoot. Now Mario is struggling to reinvent himself for the twelfth time whilst we're looking at Tak and the Power of Juju and Inane Platform Character 4 (possibly not a real game). The mass market slowly grew in size and strength until it had power over most of the releases. Take a look at the charts today and you'll see samey sports or driving games, poor attempts at licensing films and only occasionally a true gem somewhere. The mass market has allowed games to be made simply because they'll sell. Who really wants that?
Well the problem is that everyone, really, wants something like that. Mass Market gaming is what keeps us alive. Without the appalling attempts at Disney games or the contrived Sims add-on releases you wouldn't appreciate the true genius of other games. Where would Halo fit in? Where would Half-Life be made? Similar to great civilisations again, balance is the key. Mass Market games are the big things that let the little things happen.
It isn't all doom and gloom. We're bringing together two parties. Hardcore gamers are showing the mass market what an indulgent gaming experience really is, but similarly mass market gamers are teaching others to remember to have fun. For every adrenaline-fuelled Medal of Honour onslaught you've got to chill out on the Eyetoy - and for every wailing and flailing on Singstar you need to hop skip and jump your way through a level or two of Mario Sunshine. It's all about the balance.
People get offended when the Mass Market begins to take over. And not just offended - scared. Edge ran a cover story about the mass market's slow infection of the industry a little under a year ago, but the reality is far from this. The mass market needs to come of age, too. Yes, occasionally you get long running series that have been warped by the desires of bigger things. But similarly you get series like the Sims that try to 'grow up' too fast and alienate some of their followers (see The Sims 2). The two seemingly opposing sides of the gaming world need to come together and combine their aims and abilities to create an industry that is not simply targeting the lowest common denominator, but also interested in fun for all. Perhaps the next-generation is where this opportunity lies.
posted by FinalSin at 2:23 pm
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