The Japanese have always been light years ahead of American trends in gaming with the advent of Konami’s “Bemania” line of games I believe first introduced in 1997. I remember the thrill of first playing DrumMania in Japan when I first took an exchange trip over the summer of 2001. It was usually linked to a GuitarFreaks game, and the main draw of this union was that you could play both simulataneously using the same song! Both games consisted nearly of all J-Rock and J-Pop songs with a few American cover songs here and there – but nonetheless it was great fun nearly almost a good decade before anybody had heard of Guitar Hero or Rock Band. The concept is not at all new, and really it is not as if Konami had not attempted to market these games to American audiences – the marketing was simply so poor (and the lack of American songs) that nobody wanted to play it! Still, before Rock Band ever came out I would occasionally once in a blue moon take a trip to Milpitas Golfland and take a crack at their import DrumMania machine.
As much as I enjoy occasionally playing these games, I believe ultimately someday Guitar Hero and Rock Band will end civilization as we know it. Take this video, we’ll call it “Exhibit A” for now.
Disgusting, isn’t it?
I’m not going to at all downplay the sheer prodigy of a 9-year old scoring 95% on Guitar Hero III’s “Through The Fire And Flames” by Dragonforce. But can we take a step back here for a second and come to grips with the sheer ridiculousness of it all?
Even with a God given gift of being ownage at Guitar Hero, nobody can doubt that being that fluent in any song takes a great deal of time… A great deal of time that can perhaps have gone to actually playing “Through The Fire And Flames” maybe on a real guitar? Consider the sheer amount of time sitting in front of that Xbox 360 to master that song versus perhaps reading? playing a musical instrument? socializing? Being a typical 9-year old? Experts are clamoring about finding the real root of childhood obesity, dropping grades, attention-deficit disorder, and a general “lack of imagination our youth possesses”. I’m going to take it a step further and predict that games like these that replace ACTUAL activity with VIRTUAL activity will be the future downfall of civilization as we know it as the technology gets more and more sophisticated. Can you say Wii Sex? It would be the end of all reproductive activities for nerds forever!
If you’ve never seen the movie Idiocracy starring Luke Wilson, definitely give it a look. It is written by Mike Judge (Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, Office Space) who I definitely think is one of the most underrated and versitile comedy talents out there, especially in writing. Once you’ve seen the movie, you probably would gain some perspective toward my view.
Some of you might be thinking I’m taking a simple pleasure such as Guitar Hero to an extreme. I mean after all how can fake playing the guitar be the end of civilization? It’s not so much the actual game of Guitar Hero but the CONCEPT it stands for.
Back in the days when you wanted to play a song on the guitar – you sat there and practiced for a hour or more a day until you finally mastered. Now, all you have to do is put your video game disc in your console and BAM, nearly instant gratification! It’s like a complete talent simulation, except it really requires not much talent at all. Unlike other things you can practice at such as musical instruments, sports, or more literary hobbies – almost nil of your Guitar Hero efforts translate into the real world. Compound this fact with the increasing childhood obesity epedemic, reports that the “imagination” of children are reaching an all time low, and the gradual desocialization of people from actually GATHERING in places to socialize to resorting to the
internet to talk to people… you will see where I’m getting at. I’ve had complete conversations with people via text messages versus ACTUALLY talking on the phone. Things are simply getting worse in my opinion for mankind. We are more disconnected from reality than ever before.
Can you see the connect between this instant gratification and the lack of working on real world skills. This is why “Wii Sex” is probably the scariest concept I’ve ever come up with. Once a computer can simulate the basest of human desires, it’s pretty much over for mankind. If you’ve ever watched the anime Chobits, and yes I have – it’s a frightening concept in my opinion. It will stagnate human reproduction to levels that will no longer sustain a positive or equilibrium growth rate.
That is.. if we don’t already achieve as a society to be predominately a group of obese simpletons whose imagination and creativity cannot exit the box of a video game console.
Remember a time when kids used to play pretend and invent their own games? Talk to your younger siblings, relatives, or even strike up a conversation with a 9-year old. If you’re part of my generation… the generation that predates the internet, the proliferation of the computer, the pager before the cellphone, you will totally notice the lack of imagination and creativity in kids these days. Generation Y (those born 1980-1994 roughly) will look upon Generation Z (1990-2001 roughly) with disdain. Believe it.
Do you know who wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee every year? It’s not American kids. It’s always an Indian. What a joke. I bet those kids have never played Rock Band</a. before….
