Entertainment/art can come in many forms thanks to electronic technology, even as older formats like physical books persist. Of all the various mediums for art, when utilized properly, gaming is by far the one that transcends the others. Whatever other formats have, it has too. Text, images, video, music, non-musical audio, storytelling, characterization, extended replayability, emotional stimulation, and explicit philosophical exploration are all part of gaming or could be incorporated easily to a greater extent with the right resources and intentionality. Nothing that other mediums feature, including the capacity to stimulate imagination that is so commonly associated with literature specifically, is beyond gaming, but video games can have far more depth due to extreme duration and direct interactivity.
They belong to the superior medium in this sense. Still, despite being useful for both philosophical enjoyment--everything is philosophical, so I mean on the level of focused reflection, not that entertainment is necessary to prompt a great deal of discovery and thought--and casual relaxation at the same time, entertainment costs money far more often than not, and gaming can be among the most expensive of these pastimes. New releases might be sold at anywhere from $50-$70 or more, depending on whether one buys special or limited editions of games. The devices that run the games themselves incur and additional cost, and compared to individual books, films, or television seasons, a game can have a higher monetary price per unit.
A $60 game that only lasts 10 hours, though many take longer than this just to complete the main story, offers fewer hours per dollar than a $10 movie that runs for two hours. The difference here is $6 per hour rather than $5. The former might be far more immersive by nature of being a game (this is a major part of what makes the best of gaming's potential superior to all other art forms), yet the latter is on a strictly economic level providing more entertainment for its cost. Nevertheless, with any of the games that cost less than $60 and/or have more than 10 hours worth of content, the $5/hour ratio is matched or improved upon. A 20+ hour game with high replayability and a price of $25 will always bring a better economic value in this sense than a $10+ cinema ticket or Blu Ray with no special features.
This is why paying for a $60 game around its launch, or years later if it is a first-party Switch game for whatever fucking reason (Nintendo generally locks the prices of its own games out of sheer greed), can still be of far greater economic benefit than expenditure on most individual releases in other formats such as books or movies. For each dollar spent, given that the game takes more than 6-10 hours to complete (which is already longer than many films and books require) there is higher likelihood of a far, far greater amount of usage for each monetary unit. With certain platforms, companies, and franchises, the prices debut at or eventually diminish to well under the $60 that some games are introduced with, financially weighing this further in favor of gaming.
While gaming can have a large initial financial hurdle to pass, with handheld or standard consoles costing hundreds of dollars up front, as a financial investment, gaming can be vastly more economically sustainable under the right circumstances. Literature and television do not have side quests, "endgame" content, or alternate modes. Films seldom last more than 90 minutes to 3 hours. Books and non-gaming electronic mediums like cinema do not have collectibles, exploration, or the ability to directly interact with dialogue, combat, and movement. Only gaming does. Even with its financial value, the medium has far more to offer than others when correctly realized. There is also no other art form with more potential for usage per monetary unit spent.
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