Opinion: Peripheral Vision Revision
Read original Peripheral vision opinion piece
When moral panic rabble-rouser Jack Thompson denounced violent video games as “murder simulators”, the gaming community rolled its collective eyeballs with exasperated derision. The suggestion is patently absurd – playing an FPS is absolutely nothing whatsoever like firing a real gun at real people and really killing them.
There's no keyboard, mouse, or controller in the universe that's going to give anything even remotely resembling a recoil kick either. It's an experience, sensible people will all agree, that's entirely divorced from reality. It's just a game, right?
Why then, I wonder, do so many of these same sensible people denounce rhythm games as “guitar simulators” with all the presumptuous impunity of that Floridian cretin? “It's not like a real guitar,” writes Dan Parmenter elsewhere on this site. “Buy a real one and stop pretending.” Thanks for that electrifying bolt of reality, Dan the Man. I really had no idea. On that note, I'd better chuck Call of Duty 4 and go buy myself a real M16 so I can get down to shooting some real people in the real face too. I am so over this pretending stuff.
It's a dreary irony that the people calling rhythm games out as “simulators” are always those same people who don't (won't!) play them. I can say with some confidence that there's not a single Guitar Hero or Rock Band player on the planet who thinks the game is anything at all like playing a real guitar.
Guitars have frets and strings, for starters, and anyone with eyes knows this. Since Guitar Hero players must necessarily have eyes, I think we can reasonably presuppose a meaningful demographic consolidation over there. Presuming to remind anyone that Guitar Hero is “just a game” is every bit as disingenuous, redundant, and thoroughly obnoxious as pointing out that playing Call of Duty is “not like shooting a real gun, you know”.
It's already, like, really obvious.
The reason rhythm gaming is an unstoppable industry juggernaut in gaming right now is not because it's deluding generations of stupid people into believing they're bonafide shredders. It's because Guitar Hero and Rock Band are buckets of the fun stuff. It's a real game, Dissenting Dan. Stop pretending it isn't.
Footnote: I've been playing guitar for 17 years. My mad strumming skills and fast fingers had me playing on Expert difficulty while everyone else was still mucking about in Medium. Go me!
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Comments (7 posted): Comments (7 posted):
Subscribe to comments feedBut we cannot compare giving up the "fake guitar" for a real one to giving up the "fake guns" for real ones.
I suggest everyone who enjoys playing GH to at least try a real guitar... it's legal and will not hurt anyone.
Why?
But either way, I've been noodling away for around 12 years now myself, so forgive my less than subtle derision of these diluted 'simulators'.
We should jam sometime :p
I also double decker dare you to play Guitar Hero and enjoy it.
I have actually had a fiddle on Guitar Hero before. I attempted to show my young cousin a thing or two and was promptly schooled by the fast-fingered little bugger. This could be why I think it's rubbish.
But yes, you do put forward some good points. Perhaps I should give GH another go? Either that or continue to slander the "simulator" plague at every opportunity. I haven't decided yet.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an important SingStar session to get to.
But seriously. My point with this article is that Guitar Hero is no more a simulator than Call of Duty, or Tiger Woods 09, or Fight Night Round 4. It's simply a game that uses music as a theme and focal point. Ultimately, it's a game of hand-hand-eye coordination, much like most other games, really. ;)
I'm somewhat baffled by the widespread acceptance of stuff like Call of Duty, Tiger Woods, or Fight Night Round 4 - all granted a free pass to instant legitimacy - while Guitar Hero and Rock Band suffer vilification and accusations of "pretend". Of course it's pretend. All games are pretend. That's kind of the point.