For instance, the term 'work': In so many words, a 'work' is something fake presented as real. The people behind the scenes know it's fake, and they understand that there's reality, then a scripted reality for the television (called "kayfabe"). Their job is to entertain, and while it's not necessarily "fake" (the physicality is as real as the 300+ day a year work schedule), it's predetermined. You can't bet on a wrestling event in Vegas gambling halls, as somebody somewhere knows the outcome ahead of time. Pro wrestlers go out, play their roles, win or lose matches depending on the storyline of the week, and get their paycheck. Backstage, everyone's buddy-buddy, sharing war stories, and (usually) have no ill-will towards one another. The 'good guy vs. bad guy' stuff is fake, but the act of going out there and performing in-character is real. The business is a work.
There's also terms for people who believe these storylines and feuds transpiring in the ring are real: They're known as "marks", which was actually an old carnival term used by performers and magicians as a way to scope out the "suckers", or people that could lose out on money easily. In old carnival days, these patrons would be unknowingly "marked" by the ticket office cashier with chalk (or something similarly hard-to-spot) so the rest of the performers would know who the easy targets were. Marks fall for anything they see, are easy to mislead, and are a major crux of the carnival business.
Essentially, video game awards shows are a work. They are all a work, made for marks, who are duped into believing the awards have merit. Don't be a mark.
After this year's Game Awards, my Twitter was blowing up with people either satisfied or furious with games that won or lost categories. Either the awards were a wash because the "right games" didn't win the "right awards", or the show was fantastic because the proper games got their due. The night's on-air proceedings were set to overly scripted attempts at humor, by-the-numbers musical acts, and a certain sense of apathetic "why am I here" presenter demeanor. Instead of an award show, The Game Awards felt like an impersonation of an award show. Nothing held weight, and it all felt hollow.
The universe is the limit. Congrats to this year’s Most Anticipated Game: @NoMansSky. #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/llFCB5KLfg
— YouTube Gaming (@YouTubeGaming) December 4, 2015
The entire show was one big advertisement. In fact, every major gaming device had day-long sales selling "nominees" at discounted prices. While that's well and good, doesn't it feel slightly disingenuous? It reminds me of the "Best of E3" award badges you'd see on game boxes 5 years ago: It's a fake award only used to move product, with a sponsor's nice little logo on the bottom of the ribbon to drive web traffic to their site. Let's be real: What good is a "Most Anticipated" award? There is none, and that's the problem: It's a work.
Which brings me to an elephant in the room I've been meaning to tackle for a few years now: Why does the gaming industry feel like they need an awards show? In my opinion, the industry as a whole doesn't have enough going for it to warrant such an affair. The whole idea seems pasted together as a "me too" afterthought: "Games are art! Games have merit! Just like these other things like film, music, and television, and THEY have award shows, so why don't we??" It's very reactionary, and I feel that the industry's overall immaturity is part of the cognitive dissonance. A vast majority of games are about conflict resolution through violence. What truly makes Uncharted different from Call of Duty different from Starcraft 2 different from Mario? We'll need to dig deep and really come up with an engaging answer if we want the mainstream media to take a gaming awards show as anything more than the lead-in show to COPS re-runs on Spike.
 |
| These are all Game Award nominees, so they must be important! |
Don't let this article make you think I don't want you to enjoy games, or being passionate about them - quite the opposite, actually. Like what you like, play what you play, and make up your own mind. You don't need a gaming award show to tell you that the best open-world game was this, or the most anticipated game is that: You know your tastes, you know your preferences, and you know what your interests are. If your opinions and thoughts can be swayed by DeadMau5 songs, Geoff Kieghleys, slick Doritos ads for triple XP gun unlocks, and slamming Dew, you may be a pretty easy target.
Oh, that chalk on your back? I'm sure it's nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment