News & Analysis
Comment
nicolas.mokhoff
Even bidding online has become a game. And now hat ebay is introducing bidding ...
dylan.mcgrath
You are right. I really don't feel bad, exactly. It's just that I could be using ...
Is an emphasis on games a sign of decadence?
Peter Clarke
7/24/2012 5:25 AM EDT
Human ingenuity or bread and circuses?
I was used to writing about how DSP chips could be used to find signals buried in noise for military purposes or to enable complex communications algorithms to run, or as the basis of image compression for video transmission. This audio DSP just seemed trivial to me.
I pointed out that while delivering the sound of a movie faithfully was clearly a good thing, altering it on play back seemed pointless and not the sort of thing most people would be interested in. The salesman came back to me that it did not matter whether something was a good idea or not, but only on whether people would buy it. The engineer's job was to put such features into consumer equipment – even if they were pointless – because the features would help the equipment sell.
The salesman explained to me that consumers often buy pointless things if they are sold well. He added that when the basic technology is pretty much the same across competing products, having some additional feature or check box – such as the pre-programmed cathedral reverb – could help make the sale even it was never used subsequently.
Since then of course consumer electronics has continued to rise in significance in the global electronics market. Games consoles and games applications have come and not gone. Smartphones and tablet computers are now judged, partly on their ability to host games and social media with which people can distract themselves.
But is that a good thing?
As I enter the Olympic park it is likely the phrase "bread and circuses" will come to mind.
I was used to writing about how DSP chips could be used to find signals buried in noise for military purposes or to enable complex communications algorithms to run, or as the basis of image compression for video transmission. This audio DSP just seemed trivial to me.
I pointed out that while delivering the sound of a movie faithfully was clearly a good thing, altering it on play back seemed pointless and not the sort of thing most people would be interested in. The salesman came back to me that it did not matter whether something was a good idea or not, but only on whether people would buy it. The engineer's job was to put such features into consumer equipment – even if they were pointless – because the features would help the equipment sell.
The salesman explained to me that consumers often buy pointless things if they are sold well. He added that when the basic technology is pretty much the same across competing products, having some additional feature or check box – such as the pre-programmed cathedral reverb – could help make the sale even it was never used subsequently.
Since then of course consumer electronics has continued to rise in significance in the global electronics market. Games consoles and games applications have come and not gone. Smartphones and tablet computers are now judged, partly on their ability to host games and social media with which people can distract themselves.
But is that a good thing?
As I enter the Olympic park it is likely the phrase "bread and circuses" will come to mind.
|
|
|
|
|
Navigate to related information
nicolas.mokhoff
7/24/2012 7:26 AM EDT
On top of your points I would like to add that the spirit of he Olympic Games has been desecrated when an army of security forces needs to hold it all together: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48298305
Games? Nah, more like War Games. But I'll still root for the American swimmer who is making a comeback after winning five gold (by the way they are 1 percent gold, mostly silver) medals in earlier Games.
Sign in to Reply
iniewski
7/24/2012 9:55 AM EDT
Thought provoaking article Peter...we need games and we need to have fun...but the line has to be grown somewhere, we can't be playing all the time...I think it is a question of balance...Kris
Sign in to Reply
george.leopold
7/24/2012 12:34 PM EDT
Let's distinguish between "games" and "play." Games, especially computer games, are mostly time-wasting diversions (I made the mistake of downloading a free "Scrabble" app and am now addicted to beating opponent "Norm1".) Then there are spectator sports which, in the U.S., have become a form of religion (I am emotionally involved in the fate of the Green Bay Packers.)
Play is different, most notably by getting us off our backsides. Many aging desk jockeys like me struggle to stay in shape by running. But running is boring and bad for your joints. Therefore, I have made up a one-on-none basketball game that involves "running the floor" to sink a predetermined number of left-handed (I'm a righty) layups. I run in this game, but the goal takes my mind and reluctant legs off the boring part of running. One day while gasping for air, I realized what I was doing is the same type of "play" a solitary kid would come up with on a long summer day.
Play seems instinctive (a replacement for hunting and gathering?), games have become an industry. Perhaps a "sign of decadence," too.
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
7/24/2012 2:17 PM EDT
I respectfully disagree, George. I play computer games a lot, and have done ever since I was a small kid, and never found them timewasting. Strategy games like Civilization, Sim City and premiere manager gave me the ability to plan ahead and think through the consequences of certain actions, other games boosted my reflexes and reaction times, still others gave me a social connection and circle of friends I identified with, as opposed to the kids in school who I did not. Maybe it's a generation thing, but I have never found gaming to be a waste of anything.... Most meetings are far more "time wasting" and pointless than an hour or two of good gameplay.
Sign in to Reply
iniewski
7/24/2012 12:41 PM EDT
George: sure, "play" is very diffent than "game"..."play" when you do it is healthy, no arguments here...but what if you just watch it? I spent most of June watching Euro soccer cup and found it very entertaining, many intersting cultural and social apsects when I was watching the games in Poland...but for most people reading this column it was probably be a collosal waste of time...regarding "play" I draw the line between the compter play and human play...when I play bridge with a computer that is a purely mechanical exercise of my brain muscles, when I play with other people in person it is a fully human experience which I enjoy tremendously...Kris
Sign in to Reply
george.leopold
7/24/2012 8:18 PM EDT
The bridge example is a good one, iniewski. There are few diversions more entertaining than watching the cards fall all evening in a game of low-stakes poker.
Sign in to Reply
dylan.mcgrath
7/24/2012 12:53 PM EDT
I often feel guilty that, when reading a newspaper, I almost always go to the sports page first. I know I should start with the news or business sections. That's the stuff that at the end of the day really matters. But I like sports even though I have no affiliation other than being a spectator. Sports and games are an escape of sorts, temporarily taking us away from the hard realities of the world. I am not sure there is anything wrong with that. The escape is good for the soul.
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
7/24/2012 2:22 PM EDT
why should you, Dylan? I don't understand why you would feel guilty for being interested in sports. The world is mostly a very troubling, sad, stressful place, but luckily we don't HAVE to deal with it all the time. we can chose to be interested in other things, and that doesn't make us less intelligent people, it just makes us happier. Sport, and games, and time with family.... it's all stuff that makes us happier as people, and I for one would never feel sorry for enjoying that more than 'serious grown up stuff'
Sign in to Reply
SylvieBarak
7/24/2012 2:25 PM EDT
why should you feel bad, Dylan? I don't understand why you would feel guilty for being interested in sports. You're right, it's an escape, and so what!? The world is mostly a very troubling, sad, stressful place, but luckily we don't HAVE to deal with it all the time. we can chose to be interested in other things, and that doesn't make us less intelligent people, it just makes us happier. Sport, and games, and time with family.... it's all stuff that makes us happier as people, and I for one would never feel sorry for enjoying that more than 'serious grown up stuff'
Sign in to Reply
dylan.mcgrath
7/25/2012 12:28 PM EDT
You are right. I really don't feel bad, exactly. It's just that I could be using my time more "usefully." But I'll never give up an interest in sports and games and other "distractions" which are, in the end, therapy for the soul.
Sign in to Reply
any1
7/24/2012 2:46 PM EDT
I do think video games are having some adverse affects on American culture. I think adolescent boys in particular spend too much time on games to the exclusion of other more important activities - such as school work. I believe it tends to make them more isolated and less likely to engage in general society. And it's a factor in why girls are now outperforming boys academically.
Sign in to Reply
iniewski
7/24/2012 6:12 PM EDT
Watching young people in action I tend to agree with @any1...many of them spent several hours a day playing games, this can't be healthy no matter how you look at that...most end up having diffuclty copying with real life...Kris
Sign in to Reply
Duane Benson
7/24/2012 6:15 PM EDT
"The salesman explained to me that consumers often buy pointless things if they are sold well."
I like to say "There are features you can sell and there are features you can use." The internet capability on pre-smart phone phones was well hyped but pretty much unusable. It did help sell phones though. Cameras tend to have loads of features that get little actual customer use, but still help to sell the devices. I don't agree that this is a good condition, but it is pretty much accurate as far as I can see.
Sign in to Reply
GoGoGeek
7/24/2012 7:32 PM EDT
A strategy known also by the Romans: give them bread and games!
Sign in to Reply
iniewski
7/24/2012 11:35 PM EDT
In that sense movies and tv belong to that category too
Sign in to Reply
KB3001
7/24/2012 8:00 PM EDT
Games are fun, computer games however are in many ways a sign of decadence. I could never understand grown-up people who spend hours and hours a day playing games on a computer or a console. What a waste of human energy...
Sign in to Reply
nicolas.mokhoff
7/26/2012 1:01 PM EDT
Even bidding online has become a game. And now hat ebay is introducing bidding options for kids where do you think they will be at 3 am; probably home outbidding each other on the screens. We have finally made computer games fun for girls: http://www.benzinga.com/news/12/07/2777881/ebay-to-tap-into-the-kids-market
Sign in to Reply