I’ve been watching “The Guild” this past week and I must say, as a newer gamer, I appreciate so much about it. I grew up in a house with zero video games, and was of the belief that people who played them were just losers. You know the stereotype....

I’ve been watching “The Guild” this past week and I must say, as a newer gamer, I appreciate so much about it. 

I grew up in a house with zero video games, and was of the belief that people who played them were just losers. You know the stereotype. Now that I have started gaming, I’ve been impressed by how much more there is to this type of entertainment. 

Sure, there are some truly nasty people who game, just as there are nasty people who knit, or dance, or wrestle, or play poker. Yes, the community is flawed and still has some serious growing up to do. 

But just watch this video of Todd Howard’s keynote speech at DICE 2012. (No seriously, watch it.) The amount of thought and analysis that he and his studio put into storytelling, structure, and experience is no different than if they were making a movie or writing a novel. 

World of Warcraft is a pretty astonishing creation. The game has been around for almost a decade and the art still looks amazing. It has millions of players of all levels of skill and obsession. It knows exactly how to tease you with carrots. It reinvents itself. It’s funny. It’s fun. 

I like that “The Guild” is willing to acknowledge the good and bad about gamers. It’s an honest (and hilarious) portrait. 

  1. annawashenko posted this