The Cusp of Gaming

The moment the United States dropped the nuclear bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima marked the moment that nuclear physics took over the face of contemporary science. For the first time in history, people questioned the ethical integrity of new technology, and therefore began seeing technological advancements as an opportunity to engage people mentally in an entirely different way.

Higinbotham, the head of Brookhaven Lab's Instrumentation Division and creator of Tennis for Two, the precedent of the video game Pong, realised how static and non-interactive most science exhibits were in post-war America. Thinking to himself how developing an interactive game "would convey the message that scientific endeavours have relevance for society," he sought out to create what some consider the first video game ever.

The first video game endeavours generated an interest in both the interactive and processing capabilities of new computing devices. For instance, the Nimrod computer, which was first displayed at the Festival of Britain's Exhibition of Science, was built to play the century-old game of logic and strategy called 'Nim'. Unlike Tennis for Two, it was specifically designed to demonstrate the processing power of the new computing device.

Thus, the two main components that led to the widespread creation of video games and their establishment as a societal and technological phenomenon were speed and engagement. In other words, the two main issues that early video game developers faced were the following: how fast can a computer process your player's moves, and how well can it keep the player engaged? We can still see how these questions are relevant in today's video game culture (the latter perhaps more than the former).

Thus, what these early video games have in common with the video games today is mainly the question of amusement and entertainment. Since the multi-core processors of today greatly facilitate the gaming experience by substantially reducing the time it takes for a particular task to complete (e.g. loading a game, connecting with players around the world, etc), it is now a question of how to best engage a player.

However, this doesn't necessarily imply that we have transitioned into an age in which all games constitute higher conceptual complexity. For instance, Rocket League, one of the most prominent games in actuality, is nothing more than a "fancified" version of 'Pong': one side simply tries to score on the other. While one must understand the different game dynamics and particularities, the concept remains the same; it's simply the style in which we play which has evolved.

One way of promoting this engagement with video games was by fostering competition. In this sense, video games have also remained consistent; they began as a way to test people's skills against those of others, and we can still clearly see that in the world rankings for console video games, as well as  for mini-games one could find on a phone's app store. This gives people a unique opportunity to demonstrate agility and finesse, and to thereby obtain recognition.

Thus, although video games have become more visually captivating and thereby have the ability to engage a player better, they still serve as virtual arenas on which to test the skill of a player against that of others.