Video games have become the new comfort food of the modern age. Where it used to be movies and theaters it is now electronic entertainment, and the dominant form of that is video games.
NPR has a very interesting article discussing the issue, where they talk about entertainment from the Great Depression era all the way until nowadays. Here are some interesting nuggets:
* In the 1930s, Americans flocked to theaters for the cost of a nickel, where they got to see everything from melodramas, to romances, to films bursting with song and dance. For that nickel you saw two features, or sometimes two features and a news reel. And during the Depression, you got two features, a news reel and a raffle for Depression-ware china.
* Turn to 2008, and movie revenues are only up slightly, while the number of tickets sold has remained fairly consistent throughout the past decade.
* In comparison, video game sales in 2008 were up 43% from the same time in 2007 as of September 26th.
* David Riley of the NPD Group believes the reason video games are outperforming movies is due to “more bang for your buck”, movies a couple of hours, while video games give can give you anywhere from 15 to 100 hours of entertainment depending on the title.
I know for me personally, I always feel like watching TV and movies is a “waste of time” in the sense that I could be using the same amount of time to make a few hours of progress in whatever video games I’m currently playing. And I think that’s the biggest aspect of video games that separates it from passive entertainment like movies and television shows, you don’t have the same feeling of accomplishment that you get from a video game (you don’t gain any Achievements or unlock additional content by finishing a season of Smallville).
Not only that, but you also don’t have the same sense of “making progress” that you do in a video game, where you are actually “doing” something and working towards a goal, whether it’s kills in multiplayer, collecting furniture in Animal Crossing, defeating a boss or completing a chapter, all modern video games have some type of goal or way for the player to make progress and get further. And as mentioned above, video games also REWARD you for what you are doing, and I think that is one of their biggest draws.
I personally was never one who played video games to “escape”. Matter of fact, i wouldn’t even say I play them to relax (If I want to relax I’ll lay down and do nothing, listen to music or read a book); rather, I’ve always played video games simply to have fun, as something to do. And I think during hard times, video games are now more than ever the most attractive form of entertainment. As you can be rewarded, make progress, have fun, socialize, interact with others, achieve and feel every range of various human emotions through this form of entertainment. And it lasts much longer than any other form of entertainment. Which only makes the world a better place if you ask me.