Games Britannia Continues

Last time I discussed about "Games Britannia" I followed the course of game evolution from ancient times untill the Victorian age. I saw games going from divination motifs and strategy practice to mass entertainment to education and the set of moral rules of conduct in ones life. The conclusion to the last post was that games had an extensive influence on human evolution, both as a singular being and as an individual part of a group and part of the society.

In this post I shall discuss about how games became something that satirizes the political issues that the 20th century, how they were turned into a massive industry and shipped across the ocean to America and how, in the late '80's early '90's they became one of the most iconic way of interactive storytelling.

Starting with "Games Britannia: Part Two: Monopolies and Mergers".

Continuing from where I left of last time, in the 19th century, in Great Britain, games were used as an instrument of moral instruction. They were introduced in schools and children were often encouraged to play them and develop their morals on the good outcomes of the games. And by "good outcome" I mean of course follow the path of the righteous and fair, saying no to all the temptation and eventually looking back at a very fulfilled, peaceful and paladin - exemplary life. Ah, if it only worked in real life as well.

Following the great boom these games had in that times society and seeing the great potential in making a good profit, the British game industry, at that time, started exporting them over the ocean. Americans took these games and adapted them to their own moral views, those of promoting the American Dream of free enterprise and economic success. Thus the first variations of Monopoly  started appearing. But it wasn't until the economical downfall of the economy, preceding the First World War that the game actually took flight.

Monopoly was based on a British game called "Landlords" which was meant to satirize the economical power that the British nobility of that time had. Players were able to buy land and the more you had, the bigger the tax your opponent had to pay.  Almost like monopoly, but without the building and bankruptcy part. This came later, when in the 1930's, the American version hit the market. Being based on the American view of enterprises and monopoles, buying land, build hotels and driving you opponent into complete and utter (fictional ) financial destruction became the fun of the everyday man.

Later on more interactive games with a social background were introduced, like Cludo, which is a game that puts you in the shoes of a detective and Scrabble, which is a board game rendition of your usual crossword puzzle you find in your daily news paper.

With the passing of time and the growth of the fantasy literature ( J.R.R Tolkien's books became a sort of Bible amongst most gamers and geeks ) a new niche was formed in the industry of gaming. That of RPG's (and I'm not talking about the digital ones yet.). In the '80's and '90's you could not call yourself a gamer if you did not attend at least a monthly 6 hour play-through of a 3 month long campaign in "The Forgotten Realms of Faerun" and being a DM was one of the greatest test of fantasy lore and story telling knowledge one could pass. These type of games brought forth an explosion on the gaming market, being also the first who could be held responsible for the creation of the first game fairs.

Today, in an era of digital games that are seen everywhere, besides the all known RPG's and Monopoly and Cluedo's, board games have become quite an underground environment for tabu political satire."Games Britannia: Part Two : Monopolies and Mergers" ends on quite a creepy note with a group of people playing a board game that pictures the "war on terror", completed with masks and consumes and themed boards, in a basement. Creepy...

The third and last part of the "Games Britannia Show " ends with the apparition and progress of digital games. I'm not going to talk to much about this, because it's a medium that 1: it's still developing and growing. 2: we all know that bit of history.

With the developing of technology it was bound that games will soon become one of the main objectives in technological advancement. Games can offer a unique experience into a world and players often do or partake in events that are not permitted in today's (or any other day's) society and are viewed as a complete tabu.

Lara Croft will let you explore wild places while you guide her through the Tomb Riding adventures, while "Black and White" gave you the powers of a god and a small group of villagers to do with as you wish. Games have evolved since then both in complexity and in content.

In this day and age, with games coming out one after another it is very hard not to disappoint those for whom you make those games. On one side you have "The Grand Theft Auto" franchise who kept getting better and better, and then you have games like "Fable" who start out as amazing and at the third installment the concept with which it stared was overused and it lacked that freshness that a new game, even a sequel, should bring to the players.

Reference : Image credit : Tim Barkley, CTRL+ALT+DEL Comics;
                                      Google Images;