I got into a conversation with my neighbor the other day about art and media, and being a gaming fan games naturally came up. We were talking about understanding the language of another medium and the prior knowledge usually required to get a basic grasp on what makes something new or exciting. He then asked me to show him some video games cause all he ever sees his son play are violent shooters and he remembers games more like Pac Man which he found more entertaining. I assured him there was more than just online shooters out there.
So my question to everybody is, how would you go about informing somebody with little knowledge about games as a medium? I'd probably do more showing than having him play. I have a few ideas already of what I'd want to show and how to go about it, but the reality is that video games as a medium is incredibly varied. I own hundreds of games and over a dozen systems but I know for a fact that even if I showed him everything I had there'd be posters here proclaiming that I'm missing out on so much - and I would almost certainly say the same to them.
For simplicity, I figure I'd start with Mario as an anchor. Start with Donkey Kong, then Mario, Mario 3, maybe Mario World, 64, Galaxy, maaaybe NSMBU, 3D World and finally Odyssey. Perhaps throw in Kart for SNES and Switch.
I was also thinking of showing some Yu Suzuki games like Outrun, Hang On, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and finally Shenmue.
Somewhere in the middle I'd throw in NiGHTS just to confuse the shit out of him - but also to answer his question of what game led me to view the medium in a completely new light.
There are just too many options. Stick with a genre and show it evolving? Stick with a system and show the variety? Stick with a director/producer or developer and show how they've grown? What would you do?
So my question to everybody is, how would you go about informing somebody with little knowledge about games as a medium? I'd probably do more showing than having him play. I have a few ideas already of what I'd want to show and how to go about it, but the reality is that video games as a medium is incredibly varied. I own hundreds of games and over a dozen systems but I know for a fact that even if I showed him everything I had there'd be posters here proclaiming that I'm missing out on so much - and I would almost certainly say the same to them.
For simplicity, I figure I'd start with Mario as an anchor. Start with Donkey Kong, then Mario, Mario 3, maybe Mario World, 64, Galaxy, maaaybe NSMBU, 3D World and finally Odyssey. Perhaps throw in Kart for SNES and Switch.
I was also thinking of showing some Yu Suzuki games like Outrun, Hang On, Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter and finally Shenmue.
Somewhere in the middle I'd throw in NiGHTS just to confuse the shit out of him - but also to answer his question of what game led me to view the medium in a completely new light.
There are just too many options. Stick with a genre and show it evolving? Stick with a system and show the variety? Stick with a director/producer or developer and show how they've grown? What would you do?
