I have done my very best to convey to my readers that the gaming industry is a serious endeavor. They shatter entertainment records and suck hours and hours of our free time so that we can be immersed in a world in ways that films and novels can’t provide. People’s jobs have come and gone and publishers are at each other’s throats striving for the next big hit. And developers are thrown into the middle of the shark tank and they seldom get the recognition they deserve. The recognition the games industry gets is insulting and, at times, disgusting.
On Jan. 10, Kotaku revealed that inside the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamer’s Edition there were such prestigious awards as “First Country Music-Themed Dancing Game,” which went to GameMill’s Country Dance, and “Largest Range of Bombs in a Stealth Videogame” went to Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. The problem with these awards is that they only cater to one specific game rather than a wide-range of games that are under any sort of critique. It all feels like shameless promotion and I wouldn’t be surprised if it that was the case. Kotaku editor Evan Narcisse even cracked a joke by saying, when referring to the “Bomb Award,” “Why didn’t they just give Revelations a Most Grey-Bearded Italian Sneaky Guy award?” Kotaku received a statement from The Guinness World Records about the awards. “It’s up to us to diligently record all achievements in the interactive world to stimulate discussion and make sure we produce a book that is as comprehensive as possible.” Qualifying statements be damned, I’m not pleased with this pandering to the lowest common denominator of reader or any self-respecting gamer. But this is below the waterline of the iceberg.
The tip comes in the form of the Spike Video Game Awards (VGAs). Most comparable to the MTV Movie Awards, the VGAs can barely be considered an award show. I had the misfortune of watching the VGAs last year and they only gave acknowledgement to four awards: Best Action-Adventure Game, Best Character, Best Shooter and Game of the Year. For taking two hours, that is unacceptable by anyone’s standards. The rest of the time was devoted to attractive young women performing physical feats such as jumping into a wall in Velcro suits to raise money for charity and the remaining time was spent doing equally inane and offensive things.
On the other side of the coin is the Game Developers Conference (GDC). This is the equivalent to the Academy Awards for films. A group of game developers come together to vote on games that deserve recognition with a host who is currently a well-known video game designer in the video game industry. There are no tea-bagging sequences like at the VGAs, nor lack of video game awards. It’s a wacky idea but I propose that we supplant the VGAs with GDC or at the very least give GDC a more public venue because the VGAs send the wrong message that gamers are immature children who are amused by rude jokes and loud noises.
Leave a comment below or send me an email at shfawcet@asu.edu with your opinions on the recognition video games receive.
