Suspending Disbelief in Video Games

by Alan Beatts

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, an avid player of video games.  However, I do enjoy some of them quite a lot.  They serve the dual purpose of entertaining me while also engaging me enough that I forget about the external world for a bit.  About five years ago, a friend gave me a game console for Christmas and, since then, I've played several quite good games from beginning to end.  I've also tried out a number that I started, got a bit of the way in, and then put aside because they didn't suit me.  That's a process that I do with novels as well. However, it's interesting that in video games the split between "this is fun, I'm going to finish it" and "nope, this isn't for me" is close to 50/50, whereas novels run closer to 85/15.

Perhaps part of the reason for that difference is that I have pretty specific tastes in video games.  Playing virtual football or golf has even less appeal to me than playing the actual sports (for which the appeal to me is already close enough to zero that you'll need several decimal places to make the distinction).  Likewise virtual dating games or other games that simulate social interactions don't interest me.  And, while games that simulate pseudo-natural processes in accelerated time (for example Civilization or SimCity) interest me in an ant-farm sort of way, I don't really like playing god.

Consequently, what appeals to me are role-playing games, shooting games and, most of all, the child of the two, generally called open-world games (for example Skyrim and Mass Effect). Since reading serves the same purpose for me as video games (entertainment and an escape from the outside world - although video games have an advantage in exercising my twitch reflex), in the last few years, I've started thinking about the similarities and differences between the two art forms.  The idea that both genre novels and the sort of video games I enjoy are both art forms is not something that I think needs much defense or explanation but, just in case, please consider that: they both require creating a structured narrative with plot, settings, and characters that will engage the reader / player for a prolonged period of time. Even games outside of my particular interest qualify as art forms, albeit for a different set of reasons.

When I consider the current state of the art in video games as part of the spectrum of story-telling entertainment, including prose fiction, illustrated narratives (i.e. comic books), film, epic poetry, and so forth, it strikes me that it is far from the eventual potential of the medium. Which is not to say that the medium doesn't have considerable merits now, but only to say that, even within the limitations of current technology, the medium is perhaps at a spot in its evolution equivalent to comic books in the 1970s.  And, like comics in the 1970s, video games are great fun and the product of some very talented people who are doing excellent work.

Paradigms Dying: An Observation On Diversity and Science Fiction

by Mark W. Tiedemann

[Editor's Note: August's From the Office piece was penned by guest contributor Mark W. Tiedemann.  Mark W. Tiedemann is an accomplished science fiction writer; the author of ten novels as well as numerous short stories and novellas.  Mark's newest collection, GRAVITY BOX AND OTHER SPACES, was just released from Walrus Publishing.  Looking for the common theme within the stories in this speculative fiction collection, Mark was pleasantly surprised to learn that the connecting thread was families.  Learn more about the new book here: http://www.walruspublishing.com/for-readers/gravity-box-spaces-talking-mark-tiedemann/.  Mr. Tiedemann is also a skilled photographer who has spent four decades working with a camera.  You can read more about Mark and see some of his incredible work here: http://www.marktiedemann.com/.  As always, the opinions of guest contributors are their own, and do not necessarily represent those of the owner, staff, or store.  But frankly, we usually agree with them. - Jude Feldman]

Some things seem so obvious, so self-evident that for anyone to react to them as if they were unexpected and, worse, unwelcome is puzzling.  Take for instance the idea of diversity -- in science fiction.

One would be forgiven for assuming this would be one of the Automatic Givens in a field that has made its bed in the Valley of Strange since it began, what with everything from Arrisians to Martians to Vulcans to Cyborgs.  How could such a literature not be thrilled at the idea of inclusion?  Of variation?  We should, all of us, have long ago gotten over the sense of revulsion at the presence of all the manifold Others that must surely make up the universe, genocidal alien invaders notwithstanding.

But I suppose, being humans, we compartmentalize even in this, our chosen precinct of the imagination.  All well and good for the page to be open and welcoming, but when it comes to who is writing the new stories and getting nominated for awards and, gasp, changing the nature of the field, tolerance can be just as scarce as among any other segment of so-called mundane society.

Trends

by Alan Beatts

Welcome to the new version of Borderlands' newsletter. We made a few changes to the layout and, over the next few months, we'll be adding a few extra features. One of the layout changes in this issue is the addition of this column. In the past I've combined my general musings and comments with store news. It seemed to work at least passably well but there were a few problems. Most notably, I could never decide whether to use the editorial "we" (making my personal comments seem like the official opinion of Borderlands -- possibly a disservice to Borderlands and almost undoubtedly a disservice to my staff) or the more informal first person. Consequently I found that I was switching back and forth, no doubt making myself seem even more mad than usual and furthermore making all the editors and writers out there cringe.