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23.
MY MOM WENT TO CYBERSPACE AND
ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT
Just recently, my father -
59 years old - got an e-mail account. He's been checking it daily
and has even figured out how to read newspapers online; he's quite
content. When I got my first video game system , an NES at the
age of seven, I was really quite thrilled. My sister and I would
spend hours playing while my parents were at work until we eventually
completed Super Mario Bros. (a true coming-of-age moment amongst
the net
generation). On occasion, my father would sit down to take
a crack at it and undoubtedly fail miserably. As I have witnessed
in a number of people his age, digital technology is something
approached with much apprehension. Although video gaming was developed
as an electronic toy for children and teens, it is currently witnessing
extreme popularity amongst men in their mid to late 20s. The market
has never tried to close
the generation gap, reaching out to my father and his fellow
baby boomers, and has effectively aided in the creation of a digital
divide. Foremost in the minds of game producers is the ability
to attract
and hold the attention of the youth market. In accomplishing
this feat, they repeat the assumed wants of the young and continue
the suffocating trends of the culture industry (witness, the
nearly 100 Mario games released in the last 20 years). The
need for true inventiveness at the level of content dwindles as:
the
interactive games industry expands its appeal by weaving into
games cultural practices that its young target audience already
enjoys. As in the fashion and music business, the video game
industry has had to contend with the style-conscious 'youth
communities' that cluster around preferences for brands and
genres20.
While
appearing to be the next big thing, the games industry merely
regurgitates the digested bits of late capitalist junk media.
The fact that the target market of many games now is making its
way to 30, is a result of the cycle in which the consumer is fed
back the moments it has consumed through some sort of mass misdirection.
Similar to the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (i.e.
mad cow disease - originated from the feeding of brain fragments
back to cows as a form of protein), a continuous unchallenged
acceptance of the media made available has dulled the present
customer, making the remnants of cultural objects of the recent
past appear good enough. I realize now why my father would rather
listen to Frank Sinatra or play his guitar than try his land at
level 2 of Mario Bros.
"It is still possible to make one's way in entertainment,
if one is not to obstinate about one's own concerns, and proves
appropriately pliable"21.
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