Virtual Values Made Real, Video Game Cultural Issues

Fontecha, John Phillip
Game 100
6 May 2012
Cultural Issues Essay

Virtual Values Made Real

    The world of media is headed towards a common convergence points. The old traditions of media is that a film and television and advertising were their own separate entities. As time passes the lines continue to blur and the various types of media from film to games to even print are all integrated and interactive with each other. Single films are not created today, but the idea of franchises are planed from the very inception of an intellectual property. Films or television series of games no longer are single separate types of segregated media but are instead mixed together into a multi-media experience. Games and video games are affecting contemporary mainstream media such as television, film and advertising in that people expect properties to manifest themselves through a game, through film and they expect advertising to be interactive like a game. Game-like mechanics are no longer restricted to pure board games and video games, but game mechanics are even showing-up in stores and even simple life tasks.
    Films are not limited to one market and isolated, but rather one film from Hollywood gets translated into various languages, and different cultures from all over the world see Hollywood films. Films are a transmission of culture and culture is transmitted the other way also and films start to reflect the world’s various cultures. The same interaction of cultures even happens between films and the culture of video games. There is a large cross-over of both movie-goers and video game players, a base that grows larger with each generation. This has led to a culture of fans that expects that there will be an accompanying game with major action movies and summer block-busters. When a major action film comes out in current times, it is an exception rather than a rule that the film does not has some kind of accompanying game. Furthermore; the consumer base expects movie-based video games to release day-and-date to coincide with the release date of the film, if not earlier. In the early days of video games during the time of the Atari 2600, video games came much later than the film. Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 came three years later,1983, from the release of the film, 1980. The E.T. game came months later in December from the film’s release, June. In today’s market the games based on films come out at the same  time as the films, Enter The Matrix and all The different iterations of the Harry Potter stories. Major films are not released today, multimedia experiences are released today.
    With the popularity of video games, it is natural that there is a demand and want for films based on the stories of video games from fans. It is a great dismay that there are very little good films are translated  from video game material. Game elements; however, have found their way into advertising. The old way of Hollywood was to have television commercials and print ads, but because the world is changing due to influences such as video games. The audience moves towards playing games and old advertising techniques have become less effective and efficient. Viral marketing or augmented reality games are a new type of advertising products from films to television shows to pretty-much anything. What makes viral marketing effective is that it is essentially an game. Viral Marketing has interaction, goals, and game mechanics, such as only the next stage of the game will only unlock when a certain amount of people complete a task. It is an interesting concept that viral marketing presents an opportunity for players to feel like they are apart of the film’s world in that they sometimes get to interact with a film’s characters. Examples of successful viral marketing range from The Dark Knight’s  Harvey Dent campaign and Tron’s Save Flynn campaign.  There are even alternate reality games based on television series like Heroes or Lost. Advertising is no longer advertisers dictating copy from Madison avenue, but rather modern advertising a grass-roots interactive game.
    Advertising has changed in other ways due to the influence of video games. The market has changed and company’s have realized that in order to sell products they must go where the market is, in games themselves. There are many instances of real-world products appearing in virtual video games. There is the benefit to the suspension of disbelief in a video game if the names of company's and branding are real. On the other hand there is the detriment of in-game advertising in that it may be distracting and can take you out of the experience if it is not a good fit. An good example of advertising beneficial to both a game and the product is in the use of real cars in a racing game. People do not want to drive fake brands, but many instead delve into the fantasy of driving the super exotics, or even cars they can afford. There are times when advertising may leaning towards the bad side. In the game Dead Space 2, there is advertising for Dr. Pepper; luckily it comes in the form of armor in the Dr. Pepper color scheme. Bad advertising would be if the main character had to open a new Dr. Pepper can every time in order to restore health. Video games are greatly influencing contemporary advertising. The video game market contains a large segment of the overall young consumer population. Video game players are the target market of advertising.
    In contemporary society there is a convergence of media, and video game and video game mechanics are at the forefront of media. Created stories are no longer restricted to one type of media, but rather the idea of creating an interactive experience is the norm. Everything is essentially becoming a video game. Films, television, advertising and video games are not going to diverge, but instead film, television and advertising will come closer and closer to each other and in the future it may be hard to tell the difference.