A long time ago, in a state far, far away (Vermont) I was sitting in my parent’s basement playing Madden Football 2005 on a Playstation 2. My mom came down into the basement and asked, “Are you playing Playstation or is that a real game?” Naturally, I laughed at her, but as I look back now video games have been getting progressively “realer”. If i had grown up watching video games evolve from Atari, then I’m sure I would have easily been able to confuse Madden 2005 with a real NFL game. And if not Madden 2005, then certainly the 2010 version.
While reading Manovich’s Illusions chapter this week my mind kept drifting off and focusing on video games. And by that, of course, I mean my reading was being consistently interrupted by me putting down my book and playing video games. I primarily play sports themed video games and as I think about it that’s probably because I’ve always been interested in the X’s and O’s of sports and games like Madden allow the player to choose their own plays (much like a coach in real life). Manovich says, “Although the industry’s obsession with illusionism is not the sole factor responsible for making new media look the way they do, it is definitely one of the key factors” (178). When it pertains to video games it certainly seems that illusionism is the driving force behind their development. Every year a different copy of Madden comes out. The graphics have been getting progressively better and new operations and game modes are added almost every year. However, the biggest change every season are player rankings and team rosters. As the NFL rosters change, so do the Madden rosters. In order to create the illusion of playing with a certain team or a certain player the game has to be able to provide the user with players and teams coexisting with their real world inspirations.
While the line between video games and computers is shrinking (X-Box online and such), it is still there. Therefore, I would agree with Manovich when he says that illusionism is a key factor and not the key factor is why new media looks the way it does. The obsession we have with computers seems to still be operations based and not illusion based. Manovich says, “And even armed with special software, the designer still has to spend significant time manually recreating the look of photography or film. In other words software does not produce such images by default” (180). When I want to feel like I’m playing or coaching a sports team I’ll turn on my X-Box, not my computer. However, if I want to know how my favorite sports team did on a given night, I’m not turing on my X-Box, I’m getting my computer. The operations on a video game are useless without the illusion that the game is supposed to present. Otherwise it’s just a person sitting in a room pressing buttons. Computers on the other hand can exist just fine with just their operations. I mean yes there still has to be a picture, but I could still get the same information on my old POS Dell as I do on my MacBook. It doesn’t really matter that the picture on the MacBook is better (though it is pretty sweet).
Still, as new media shift’s to the computer’s interface illusionism is going to become a bigger and bigger force in the ever evolving world of new media. A couple weeks ago in class we were talking about how while we have the ability to view films and even concerts online many people preferred to actually go to those events instead of watching them on the computer. I’m willing to bet 20 bucks that changes within the next 20 years. As the computer continues to evolve it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that some day computers will be able to play films and concerts and give the illusion that the user is actually at the event or that the cinematic quality of the home computer will rival the movie theatre. Think I’m crazy? My friend Gavin is an electrical engineer. In his room he has a 60 something inch flat screen TV. He rewired the inside of the screen so that now it is both a TV and a computer. Watching a movie on something that unnecessary gives the illusion being in a movie theatre. Watching someone update their Facebook on that same screen is... is... it’s a trip, man.
Above all else I think people are inherently lazy. Some day there will be a computer that can harness all aspects of media on one interface. People will buy it. People will love being able to watch Avatar-esque films at home. Illusions will play a key role in this super lazy, super computer. Even if it’s just the illusion this is in some way productive (What’d you do last night? I went to the London Symphony Orchestra... in my bathrobe).
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