Now that our blissful ignorance has been broken on the topic of video games, we can now look at games, and even some of our readings and films, with a different outlook. For instance, in "Indie Game: The Movie," Tommy (designer of Super Meat Boy-the skinny white guy without the beard) makes a comment about how he despises mainstream video games and large game developers. At the time I just thought it was funny and didn't think much of it, but with our recent reading of Ian Bogost's article, I can now understand his view on the issue. Most blockbuster video games are nothing more than an entertainment piece, and venture into that grey area between video games and films. The point being, there is nothing for the player to discover/learn. Everything is given to the player and their only purpose is to get from point A to point B (the next cut scene). Maybe one could make an argument that a game like Call of Duty informs in the art of warfare or society's unhealthy obsession with action and military aggression, but I think it ventures more into what is more appealing one's wallet.
In a sense, the video game industry is much like the film industry. The blockbuster movies are more profitable, and rarely put out a movie that really has a purpose or makes a difference. It is usually the smaller films, who don't have the budgets to provide entertainment value, that instead put their time and effort into a good story line with a desired purpose.
Transitioning back to video games, many of the ones we have discussed in class have had an intended goal/purpose. Animal Crossing addresses gender roles and places constraints upon the player that they must learn from. It teaches economics in a sense, designed simple enough for even Bogost's child to learn from. We discussed a lot of this in class so I won't go into more detail on this game, but even a relatively simple game like Flow offers quite a bit for a rhetorical analysis. There are no instructions to the game, just a explore and learn type of gameplay, that allows for a variety of different strategies depending on who is playing the game. The ultimate goal is to reach the final level and unlock the new avatar, but there are a lot of options along the way that the player may explore. Even different strategies/challenges along the way. In the end, each of these games allows the player to develop and learn how progress in the game. And learning should be paramount in the video game industry, regardless of a desired profit margin.