culture posts

The gaming industry has been around now for over 35 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Those of us who are old enough to have been there right from the beginning remember when games like Pong, crude as they were at the time, seemed sophisticated and high-tech. Decades later, we maintain a delicate balance between heartfelt nostalgia for the great games of our youth, and eager anticipation for the new, shiny titles of the future.

Many who were virtually reared on video games have grown up to become developers themselves, infusing their passions and predilections for the medium into the games they create. Others have entered the industry another way, becoming game journalists, keeping tabs on what's new with an eye toward a continuously growing history. With all this behind us, then, is it safe to ask if we, as gamers, have matured? What would it mean to be a mature gamer? Does it matter if the art and science of gaming evolves?

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

The indie crowd in any group of artists is usually very fickle. Oftentimes they operate on a whole different level, making constant inside jokes, speaking in meme references, and speaking in an overly critical way regarding outsiders entering their dark, sunless realm. This makes entering into such a social group daunting. This is as true of indie gaming as it is of indie art or indie music. Thankfully, though, the people in any social clique are just that: people. And they are willing to explain things to you to gain another comrade in arms. However, there are a few great ways to begin to network with indies, both of the gamer and developer variety, beyond just walking up to them and saying hi.

For those folks looking for an excuse to make games with the best of them, here's your chance! TIGSource and Flashbang Studios (the guys behind the incredibly fun Raptor Safari) have teamed up for a fusion of indie development and community down in Phoenix, Arizona. Dubbed the TIGJam, it's a game jam for you to work on your latest game in development, either alone or with someone else. With food, drink, and one of the best communities around, it's going to be a huge blast for all involved! Sleep is entirely optional.

The idea that video games could be classified as art is a fairly recent one, emerging right around the time that we began to include narrative as a game element. All too often, the subject is brought up by detractors of the form as a way to look down upon a medium to which they feel no attraction. The underlying conceit is ridiculous of course -- if video games aren't art, then they have no lasting cultural value, and may therefore be dismissed as mere juvenilia. Yet video games are, nevertheless, quite a large part of our culture, and the lingering perception that they are made only to be entertainment for adolescents does the entire industry a disservice.

However, merely positing the possibility that video games might be art isn't enough to ensure that they are art. Part of the problem lies in our definition of what art is, and what it isn't. Once we've defined that to our satisfaction, we have to endure the much more difficult task of judging whether it applies to video games. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to ask ourselves the question "Does it matter?"