Several million years of evolution has not prepared birds to cope with plate glass windows. Likewise, I wonder if we are similarly unprotected from compelling interactive entertainment.
There have been various treatments of this, including the Monty Python sketch about “The Killer Joke” and more serious stuff like Ian MacDonald’s Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone, but my favorite tongue-in-cheek variation is David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest, which is, amongst many other things, about the nature of addiction, and a certain Entertainment that is fatal to the viewer. We’re not there yet, at least not in the sense that a broad spectrum of the population is in danger of starving themselves to get just one . . . more . . . Xbox 360 achievement. I’m not truly worried. But I wonder if the Drake equation needs another term, something like “Number of civilizations that don’t crawl up their own belly buttons and never get outside the house.”
My wife suggested we rent King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters a little while ago. (Aside: This was the first time we used Amazon Unbox on our Tivo. It was pretty quick and painless; we ordered the movie around noon and it was downloaded while were out running errands).
The movie documents a rivalry between two Donkey Kong players. One fellow is a cool, suave, crafty (and slightly slimy, or at least, unblushingly strategic) expert game player. The other is a guy who, upon being layed-off from his high-tech job, just starts playing DK a lot in his garage. Peripheral folks in the film include an official video game referee who spends a lot of time defending the legitimacy of what he does (he talks eloquently about how everybody spends time gaming), experts at other video games (including a great old-ish lady who was very, very good at Q*Bert), and the layoff-ee’s wife and kids.
Some of the controversy in the film is about the garage-playing DKer claiming a high score on a machine that could have been tampered with (frankly not difficult to anyone with embedded systems skills). There’s a catfight involving the purveyance of the contender’s machine (which came from an “enemy” of the existing record holder), and frankly the film degenerates for a while into somewhat embarrassing and paranoid bad-mouthing. The solution is for the contender to travel to the “Mecca” of video game competition in Ottumwa, Iowa, for several days of play on a sanctioned machine. The childish hair pulling continues: The incumbent never shows up to say “Hi” to his opponent, there are sealed envelopes containing more tapes of potentially record-breaking games that hang Damoclese-like over the proceedings, and no adult supervision.
* * *
There’s a scene where the contending DK player is going for a record in his garage, and he has a video camera mounted on the wall recording the session from over his shoulder. At around 600,000 points his young son comes into the garage and pleads with him to stop playing.
“Dad, please stop playing. Please stop.”
This goes on for a little while. He doesn’t stop. As a dad of a 3 1/2 year old, this is pretty poignant to me.
The incumbent seems machiavellian and slimy, the contender seems adrift and a little dissociated, the other people appear unhinged to one degree or another, and they’re all interesting to hear about. Plus I learned stuff about DK that I never knew before. It’s a good film.
* * *
I was reminded time after time of chess addicts who hang out in parks, playing speed chess for cash. I don’t have any direct experience of this (having simply read Searching for Bobby Fischer and seen the movie; plus, I suck at chess). For some people, games can be bad. Some people are wired to be addicts. Something reaches inside the brain, twists, and suddenly life is all about beating the game, or other players, to the detriment of most everything else.
On the other hand, if playing World of Warcraft ten hours a day is fun to you, then by all means, go do that. I’m simply wondering about the nature of Entertainment when it stops being fun, but you continue to do it anyway. Arcade games existed to suck quarters, MMOs exist to suck subscriptions, and it’s all about making something as compelling as possible.
We have a trip to Disneyland soon. This should be interesting.
is it weird to watch something like that when you are/were intimately involved with the subject matter? I know it’s about the arcade version, but you know those people probably put tons of hours on the Atari version in the past. I imagine it’s somewhat surreal…
Yeah. The contender doesn’t live too far from me (I know someone who lives on his street).
I’m not tempted to like go over to his house and have him try it out. He’d probably savage it: “You didn’t get the sandpile motion right, this sucks,” that kind of thing. And he’d be right. :-)
I think that the important thing is to Have Fun. And when that stops, don’t try to convince yourself that you’re still having fun, or that it will be a ton of fun later (unless that’s true), but go do something else. Nearly all games have plateaus, and it’s important to distinguish these from Not Having Fun, but getting stuck is not a good idea. My opinion.
Jason Scott, who has made a documentary on BBS’s and is working on another about text adventures does much care for King of Kong (I haven’t seen it and have no opinion). If you want to be a little sad wrt the movie though you should read http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/000574.html.
[edit; I should at least get the title of the movie right]
Jason Scott is a bitter filmmaker.
I saw King Of Kong a month or so ago, and I must say, it was a compelling story. What struck me was the characters- so genuine in their passion for something that seems so… well not trivial, more possibly misguided. You’re right about just Having Fun- I think that there is a point where having a passion for something is not acceptable if you’re ignoring your children (or other important interpersonal relationships/etc) because of it.
Can I just say at this point that I love your blog, your material is fascinating, and as a developer myself, I can relate to many of the stories. One more subscriber here!
Passion is a funny thing and since it’s an intense experience it will not always go in the positive direction. Jealousy to lovers I guess. But what genuinely suprise me time and time again is the range of passion thats out there. The things people dedicate their lives to, and deeple feel for is jaw dropping. Ofcourse it can go wrong sometimes but I think the freedom we have to do what we feel like, is the most fantastic thing this planet has ever seen. I had almost forgot about this movie but I’m seeing it as soon as possible. Because like ‘Airguitar nation’ and ‘north western: the making of an movie’ I respect anyone who has found their passion, no matter what it is. Because accidents bring us forward, and who knows what a passion for something can bring. More that one example of one activity has discovered something that was completely unrelated.
Saw this first now.
“Several million years of evolution has not prepared birds to cope with plate glass windows.”
Evolution does not prepare for anything. Evolution is always a response. Sure you know but I just had to say it. :)
“Jason Scott is a bitter filmmaker.”
Jason Scott is a gifted filmmaker and an opinionated person, for sure, but he is the antithesis of “bitter.”
I just watched it, on your recommendation. Man, that’s one crazy movie. I especially liked the part where the daughter says that some people ruin their lives trying to get a world record. Sounds like someone doesn’t like daddy spending all his time with Mario!
This makes me feel like less of a crappy dad to my 2 year old though :)