21 Years of Imaginary History

It's difficult to really imagine a large portion of my life without gaming involved. As both an artistic medium and a form of political expression I've been lucky enough to have been raised in the greatest generation of expression. I didn't much care for a detailed storyline, or extensive look into society when I first started. Games ranging from Pong to Mario have all served the universal purpose of entertainment but much like every other art form that humanity has ever been exposed to over time it has evolved into something much more. Like painting, fashion, and film before it games have been subject to all sorts of censorship that people will find anywhere from absurd to appropriate. And just like those other forms of expression (whom also started quite simply as a venue for personal amusement or indulgence) it has had its radical changes on the way society has become built. The easiest example of this can be the Wii, who has not only interjected itself into almost every household across the world but also capture an entire generation of people previously disconnected by technological gaps (the elderly) but there are many other radical examples within the genre that continue to raise the bar, and raise some questions, as to what exactly qualifies as a game.

Twenty one years ago, before I was even able to comprehend most of my surroundings a game called Metal Gear was created. Its highlight was a tactical gameplay, a different take on gaming back in the day which was just beginning to branch out into various other mediums. Followed by two other games, Snakes Revenge and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was one of the first set of 'series' games that would follow a far more serious trend then other producers at the time would be considering. A game deep rooted in reality the Metal Gear franchise would take off as an iconic piece of gaming history with the release of Metal Gear Solid, a PlayStation release that would show a very different aspect of the gaming world. A very important chronological history was taking place within this imaginary world, one that crossed over into current events and mingled ourselves into what can be safely call a conspiracy theory. One that has only just recently, twenty one years after the release of the first game, has come to an end in Metal Gear Solid 4.

The importance of the series to me is obvious, but a lot of people don't share the same viewpoint. In order to explain some of this, a bit of background is necessary. Set to follow the story of an ex-infiltration expert codenamed Solid Snake the story covers a group of militarily deep rooted individuals who set out the make the world a better place. Moving both forward and backwards through time as each game progresses we learn of a group called the Patriots, a devoted organizations of men and women who seek to control the flow of the worlds information in order to promote peace. Some means violent, others more subtle we move with Snake and every character he meets as the plot unfolds to reveal unusual allies and enemies that come up along the way. Dealing with more heavy handed issues such as cloning and nuclear weapons development while at the same time addressing the possible issues of the Internet, information control, gene manipulation and the battleground shifts constantly between Southern Africa, Central Asia, Alaska, Manhattan, to the Middle East all the while making each location dated by real world conflicts occurring at that time.

But the driving force behind the series isn't the political views that are interjected but rather how the whole package is presented. Shattering the concept of a game being simply something to pushed through Hideo Kojima (the director of the Metal Gear series) the heavily detailed storyline isn't simply delivered in text, but acted and preformed much like a movie would be. As technology has improved over time, so has the games delivery of its plot ranging from cut scenes involving highly choreographed fight sequences to interactive segments that allow the player themselves to feel as if they're making a large portion of the decisions to influence the game. Avoiding the term 'reaction time' for gaming (this term would be much better suited to games such as God of War or the more recent games in the Resident Evil series) the final installment in the game goes so far as to show you sequences of your allied struggles while you're attempting to keep them safe. This idea of dragging an emotional value out of the player is something that will become paramount to the future of gaming, something that goes far past the realm of brand loyalty. Much like Star Wars was able to become such a successful series because of the natural pull we felt towards its characters games today have begun to rely on a much more storyline fueled gaming experience rather then more simple touch-and-go gameplay promoted by franchises such as Super Mario Bros. Even games that project a large majority of their sales to come from multiplayer (or sandbox) sales have begun to set a more serious set of standards, Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto 4 would be most notable examples.

It's this new set of standards that continues to push forward a genre known for mindless amusement into something far more sophisticated then could of ever been imagined even only ten years ago. Now this is not to be said that storyline has always been absent from gaming, certainly RPGs have built their foundation upon heavy storyline combined with intuitive gameplay...however to see this trend push (and push hard) into other genres is refreshing and something that my hobbyist generation should keep a very close eye on.