The title beckons escapism. To Tom Bissell, an extra life is a double, or even triple identity; not a life that begins when the first one ends. Is it possible to live vicariously through an Eastern immigrant venturing the streets of Liberty City? Can we share in the horror of sending a barely twenty-something femme fatale through a deserted town of zombies? It’s absolutely possible to share in the emotions. In fact, sometimes we become so attached to characters that we cannot associate with lesser characters. Feel like real life at the office? It should. That’s the idea Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter hints towards the fascinating idea that not only does the video gaming industry possess a critical framework: it’s staring us in the face. Only it’s staring us in the face a way a nightmarish dream won’t let you run as fast as you want to. We know what we want to do; we just can’t do it yet.
Bissell begins to explicate the industries framework with an astute academic approach. As Bissell states, literature has themes, symbols, motifs; cinematography has editing, soundtrack, and casting. But what do video games have? Graphics? Sure. Game play? Definitely. Narrative? Sometimes. Throughout Extra Lives, Bissell shows through various examples that our industry simply doesn’t have a set framework for comparison. We just know a good game when we play it. Mostly.
One of the hardships Bissell notes is, because of the mushrooming nature, video games are hard to pin down to frameworks. Bissell states that video games haven’t enjoyed the gradual success of cinema. Video games are more of the party-leading asshole than the guy who shows up to the party in the first five minutes and steadily drinks until everybody has left.
Our industry needs Bissell’s academic approach; especially as his pedigree involves teaching fiction writing at Portland State University. Which leads me to believe…
Bissell knows what he’s talking about. Just read the first few pages and you will take the same mentality reading his book as he takes when playing Grand Theft Auto IV, “just one more page…(just one more mission…).” Read his description of player interaction post-apocalyptic Fallout 3, or his chronicling of leading Shepard through the mind-bending realm of Mass Effect. You may question why he would shoot a good guy in the head for no reason (which we’ve all done at least once). However, you won’t question this man’s ability to discern the smaller, definitive characteristics of the games that propel his observations.
In my experiences, one of the startling, mind-opening traits for Madden 2000, for the Sony PlayStation 2, was that you can see the reflection of the dome lights off of the players helmets at night time. This may seem standard in today’s society, but for the year 2000 this was enough reason to play game after game…after game. Bissell notes that in today’s games, we expect stunning graphics. However, what wows us these days is our ability to wander in the game the way we wander through real life events. Ride a Jeep into a war zone? Let me change the camera angle (Far Cry 2). Exploring a planet that in no way directly relates to the story line? Let me battle a ground snake compliments of a Tremors remake (Mass Effect).
Plus, Bissell has been in Middle-Eastern war zone theaters compliments of our government. He was also let in on government intelligence meetings, although we don’t know what for. So, with all these experiences, why discuss video games? Mostly because he loves them, but there’s another reason.
The industry is burgeoning. A 2008 study shows that the average gamer age is thirty-three years old. And for those of you that think that gaming is for male shut-ins or nerds retreating to their nerderies, you should give credence to the fact* that only sixty percent of gamers are male. The other forty percent are males that create female characters. I’m kidding. On the female character part – not on the statistic.
Bissell records a plethora of statistics that show that the video gaming industry is nothing short of explosive. Playing for an eight-hour stint can be a weekly or weekend-ly event these days. Bissell even notes he played GTA IV for over thirty hours straight at one time. Here’s the kicker: he’s not alone.
Today’s generation is growing up with the graphics of the PS3 and Xbox 360. I grew up with the linear functioning of the Atari joystick. This is just with a difference of about 15 years in the generational gap. Think of another art or entertainment form that has progressed this much in the last 15 years.
I grew up with an Italian plumber using pipes to travel. Today’s generation is growing up with save-device portals. Video game traveling used to be unique, now it’s just something that gets in the way with a loading screen.
What has this burgeoning led to? On the surface level, more gamers. But underneath the surface we see a deeper meaning, an emerging life-force trying to break the constraints of tradition. We have story.
Should we be surprised the last few superhero movies are attempting to explain the origins of the hero? We are not satisfied anymore knowing Wolverine had a bad past, we need to know how bad. We are not content watching Batman fight crime and actually command bats to help him do so. We need to know why Batman fights crime.
But wanting something doesn’t make us get something. And who can write a better narrative script for a game if the frameworks are not in place to help us build a convincing story? And this is Bissell’s underlying motive to write Extra Lives.
For an industry with a lot of narrative, it doesn’t have a lot of literature. On reason why Bissell feels video games don’t offer more is because of the constraints of the game’s narrative. He notes that narrative wasn’t really that important during the industry’s early years because, according to a game designer Bissell spoke with, “We didn’t have the ability to render characters…because we were too busy figuring out how to make a rocket launcher.”
But there are other, more evolved reasons why games today still struggle with writing a compelling narrative script. Bissell believes that the explanation of the genre is the Achilles’ heel of the industry. Basically, imagine reading a book that was telling you you were reading a book while you were reading the book. More than not, that’s what video games must do to get you through the game play tutorial. This doesn’t mean the game’s story won’t be passable or even brilliant, but this puts a choke hold where we really need lubrication.
Plus, there are not that many books out to date that deal with trying to classify video games into a coherent critical framework.
But for video games, who are our major critical essayists? Who is keeping a watchful eye to make sure we don’t succumb to honoring games that simply don’t fall into the higher echelons of achievement? This is where Bissell shines his greatest. He acknowledges, “I am fairly certain that none of these writers is able to make anything resembling a living writing only about games.” Well, maybe not yet.
However, it’s in this age of darkness that Bissell is able to create a spark by rubbing two video game cartridges together.
