The Game Awards (known as TGA for short) is an annual live awards show streamed over the Internet focusing on highlighting video games from the past year that excel in various categories. Similarly to other award shows like the Oscars, the companies being nominated typically take the show very seriously by investing a large amount of money into advertising at the event. However, unlike most award shows, the majority of the audience is not actually watching the show to see which games win rewards. Instead, most viewers care far more about exclusive trailers and reveals for upcoming games that are showcased for the first time.
Overall, the general consensus surrounding TGA 2019 (which was on Thursday, December 13) was that the show was disappointing for its lack of compelling new information about upcoming games. The award winners themselves did not cause significant controversy, but the fanbase still viewed the event as a failure purely because they did not get as many previews at the next blockbuster games. Ultimately, this outlook is dangerous for video games as an art form because it puts advertising for upcoming games above enjoying and appreciating those that are already out. One would not go to an art gallery just to see a small piece of a painting that would be fully unveiled there in a few years. Instead, the purpose of art galleries is to preserve art so it can be enjoyed for as long as possible. By constantly looking to the future rather than to the present, video game fans are diminishing the impact that a game can have, ultimately making the case that games can be art much weaker.
However, gaming fans are not solely to blame for the degradation of the idea that video games are art. The companies that contribute to events like this also have a major impact on this perception. One of the other major criticisms of TGA 2019 was that there was too many generic advertisements for games that disrupted the flow of the event. While the issue would be less severe if there were well-timed commercial breaks throughout the show, the sheer volume of commercials being shown was so large that many of the award categories could not be unveiled on stage, and instead were presented in a rapid-fire format where the winners had no time to make any sort of speeches. Furthermore, companies help commercialize the event by providing the trailers that take up so much of the spectacle in the first place. This essentially creates a cycle where gaming companies focus on advertising games whenever possible, causing video game fans to see trailers and advertisements as more important than other aspects of the medium, in turn causing companies to focus even more on advertisements.
While awards shows like the Oscars have been controversial for only looking at a narrow category of movies, it is undeniable that the focus of the show has always been on presenting movies with awards. Both the fans and the creators have turned the Game Awards into more of a trailer-viewing party than a retrospective look at the triumphs made in video games in the past year. This obsessive commercialization ultimately serves to diminish the public's perspective of video games as an art form, which hinders the medium from reaching real artistic heights.
Here is a link to The Game Awards 2019.
Overall, the general consensus surrounding TGA 2019 (which was on Thursday, December 13) was that the show was disappointing for its lack of compelling new information about upcoming games. The award winners themselves did not cause significant controversy, but the fanbase still viewed the event as a failure purely because they did not get as many previews at the next blockbuster games. Ultimately, this outlook is dangerous for video games as an art form because it puts advertising for upcoming games above enjoying and appreciating those that are already out. One would not go to an art gallery just to see a small piece of a painting that would be fully unveiled there in a few years. Instead, the purpose of art galleries is to preserve art so it can be enjoyed for as long as possible. By constantly looking to the future rather than to the present, video game fans are diminishing the impact that a game can have, ultimately making the case that games can be art much weaker.
However, gaming fans are not solely to blame for the degradation of the idea that video games are art. The companies that contribute to events like this also have a major impact on this perception. One of the other major criticisms of TGA 2019 was that there was too many generic advertisements for games that disrupted the flow of the event. While the issue would be less severe if there were well-timed commercial breaks throughout the show, the sheer volume of commercials being shown was so large that many of the award categories could not be unveiled on stage, and instead were presented in a rapid-fire format where the winners had no time to make any sort of speeches. Furthermore, companies help commercialize the event by providing the trailers that take up so much of the spectacle in the first place. This essentially creates a cycle where gaming companies focus on advertising games whenever possible, causing video game fans to see trailers and advertisements as more important than other aspects of the medium, in turn causing companies to focus even more on advertisements.
While awards shows like the Oscars have been controversial for only looking at a narrow category of movies, it is undeniable that the focus of the show has always been on presenting movies with awards. Both the fans and the creators have turned the Game Awards into more of a trailer-viewing party than a retrospective look at the triumphs made in video games in the past year. This obsessive commercialization ultimately serves to diminish the public's perspective of video games as an art form, which hinders the medium from reaching real artistic heights.
Here is a link to The Game Awards 2019.
wow! Great case for why video games are losing their artistic vibe. I watched the TGA on twitch and let me say, you could not have been more right about the effect of the commercials. If you've taken a gander on YouTube to look at some reaction videos, they just get hyped about the releases! Do you think this drive for a constant supply of new sources of entertainment stems from our generations struggle with instant gratification? I obviously have no evidence linking social media's impact on our need for instant gratification as it relates to this new struggle, yet it seems plausible. I mean, that might explain why TGA focuses less on past games and more on new stuff. Regardless of its cause, how do you think we, as gamers, would solve this crisis, because I have no clue! Good post Jackson!
ReplyDeleteInstant gratification absolutely has an important impact on our inability to look back on where we have gone in favor of looking forward to the next big thing. In general, the Internet and social media has forced our attention span to decrease, making us less retrospective as a result. I'm not sure how the gaming community could solve the issue itself, because the power to make a real change in this field lies in the hands of the companies. I think it's up to them to decide to make a change in the way they present games that might seem unprofitable at first in order to protect the integrity of their medium.
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