Every now and then, technology evolves enough to give us an entirely new medium through which we can share stories.
Just a few hundred years ago, the only way to communicate ideas, recount history, and be creative was through the spoken word and either drawing or writing by hand.
It wasn’t until the printing press made it possible to produce copies of text en masse that books began to become an accessible form of entertainment. We saw similar with the likes of radio, vinyl, film, television, and portable music players.
From the middle of the 20th century, video games began to creep in as a new form of entertainment. They were a niche hobby enjoyed by just a small subset of society for quite some time, it wasn’t until more recently that gaming became a respected medium that is enjoyed by a wide spectrum of the population.
So what changed? How did gaming become one of the biggest hobbies of the 21st century?
Technology
Like with most other mediums, one of the biggest drivers of gaming’s acceptance and adoption has been technology.
In the early days of the film industry, movies were black and white, had no sound, and were very limited in the types of stories they could sell. Here in the UK, initial television adoption was slow due to the technology being inaccessible to many folks. Even though the late British head of state helped to boost the sales of TV sets, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II saw entire streets piling into a single house just to get a glimpse of the new monarch’s crowning on the only television they could find. With technology evolved, similar celebrations like her Platinum Jubilee saw folks move into the street to celebrate instead.
Similar trends have been seen in gaming. Early games were primitive, with titles like Pong using a monotone beep, a single colour, and rectangular graphics to represent the game of tennis and they required you to be tethered to a tiny TV screen.
Technological advancements have meant players can game from anywhere, enjoy photorealistic graphics, and explore entire worlds with complex storylines that rival even the biggest Hollywood blockbusters.
Cost
Gaming was also prohibitively expensive for many people when the medium first began to develop. Computer hardware prices and the smaller market meant manufacturers, developers, publishers, and retailers had to charge more to recoup their costs.
As silicon has become cheaper, more people have begun to play video games, and distribution methods have evolved, economies of scale have made the unit costs of hardware and software lower in real terms.
Many modern games are also offered for free, allowing more players to get involved. Online casinos have embraced this approach, by offering free spins to players as part of promotions and for completing challenges, allowing them to try out different slot games for free. Doing so lets players explore more games without spending their own money, creating the potential for them to find a new favourite they might not otherwise have explored.
Free-to-play video games have also made gaming more accessible. Major video game titles like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Counter Strike, and Hearthstone all have free-to-play versions that offer comparative quality and scale to the paid-for alternatives.
These games are monetised by players opting to purchase in-game items and upgrades, with new options for them to buy being released regularly by the publisher.
Cultural Shifts
Just like how people listening to music through a Walkman might have been considered rude or how movies were seen as culturally inferior to the theatre, gaming was once looked down on by some portions of our society.
However, through the increased accessibility created by technological advancements and reduced costs, more people have begun to play games. This has created a positive feedback loop that has made the medium more socially acceptable.
Consoles like the Nintendo DS and Wii also played a bit role in that, making it feel more natural to play video games and helping to pioneer new genres that appealed to wider audiences.
Today, it’s commonplace to sit on a bus or train and see middle-aged and elderly people playing games on their smartphones. This would have been unheard of 30 years ago, as you’d have been hard-pressed to find a grandma playing a Game Boy.