What if videogames were invented before books?

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:03 am

Steven Berlin Johnson wrote:"Imagine an alternate world identical to ours save one techno-historical change: videogames were invented and popularized before books. In this parallel universe, kids have been playing games for centuries?and then these page-bound texts come along and suddenly they?re all the rage. What would the teachers, and the parents, and the cultural authorities have to say about this frenzy of reading? I suspect it would sound something like this:

Reading books chronically under-stimulates the senses. Unlike the longstanding tradition of gameplaying?which engages the child in a vivid, three-dimensional world filled with moving images and musical soundscapes, navigated and controlled with complex muscular movements?books are simply a barren string of words on the page. Only a small portion of the brain devoted to processing written language is activated during reading, while games engage the full range of the sensory and motor cortices.

Books are also tragically isolating. While games have for many years engaged the young in complex social relationships with their peers, building and exploring worlds together, books force the child to sequester him or herself in a quiet space, shut off from interaction with other children. These new 'libraries' that have arisen in recent years to facilitate reading activities are a frightening sight: dozens of young children, normally so vivacious and socially interactive, sitting alone in cubicles, reading silently, oblivious to their peers.

Many children enjoy reading books, of course, and no doubt some of the flights of fancy conveyed by reading have their escapist merits. But for a sizable percentage of the population, books are downright discriminatory. The reading craze of recent years cruelly taunts the 10 million Americans who suffer from dyslexia?a condition didn?t even exist as a condition until printed text came along to stigmatize its sufferers.

But perhaps the most dangerous property of these books is the fact that they follow a fixed linear path. You can't control their narratives in any fashion?you simply sit back and have the story dictated to you. For those of us raised on interactive narratives, this property may seem astonishing. Why would anyone want to embark on an adventure utterly choreographed by another person? But today?s generation embarks on such adventures millions of times a day. This risks instilling a general passivity in our children, making them feel as though they?re powerless to change their circumstances. Reading is not an active, participatory process; it?s a submissive one. The book readers of the younger generation are learning to 'follow the plot' instead of learning to lead."

Covar · Post by **Covar** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:10 am

some good points.

mikozero · Post by **mikozero** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:21 am

i liked it

Ominous 0nionfrog · Post by **Ominous 0nionfrog** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:13 pm

It speaks the truth..
But books are good sometimes..
Not as often as videogames though...

Smurph · Post by **Smurph** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:13 pm

Aye. it does.

Smiley · Post by **Smiley** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:25 pm

if videogames were invented prior to books, children would be stupidier than they already are, and more illiterate...

Zealous zerotype · Post by **Zealous zerotype** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:45 pm

I do not read much, but when I do I enjoy it. I do not play games much, but when i do I enjoy it. Everything is moderation.

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:36 pm

Id love to live ina world where tv was invented before books.

Post by **|darc|** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:44 pm

I'll agree that video games can be an art form, but no video game will ever match what a true classic is.

Raijin Z · Post by **Raijin Z** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:17 pm

That's stupid, like asking what if VCRs were invented before television.

Smiley · Post by **Smiley** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:22 pm

If I wasn't playing videogames, I would have more of a social life, and would weight less....not that I am fat....

Sir Savant · Post by **Sir Savant** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:30 pm

Maybe video games would be 3-d?

greay · Post by **greay** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:58 pm

|darc| wrote:I'll agree that video games can be an art form, but no video game will ever match what a true classic is.

True classic... Book? Movie? Play? Painting? Sculpture?

The medium is still very young; it's premature to say that a videogame could never be considered a "true" classic. What about interactive fiction, which has had a bit more time to develop as an artform, like Galatea, or "Curses!"?

AuroEdge · Post by **AuroEdge** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:07 pm

Does High Times count as a book?