So a couple of years ago I had an idea. I wanted to make a documentary about gaming culture, a proper look at all aspects of it. I wanted to look at how gaming affects different people in different ways, I wanted to see how gaming inspires people to various forms of expression. Forms like music, drawing and painting, game modding, flash games, comedy podcasting, ludology, hell if I could get a full on game developer to talk about why he loves making games it would have been a winner!
Of course, these people aren’t what makes up the majority of gaming culture, the average gamer is the creature we’re talking about! I’d have needed normal gamers to talk about why they love gaming so much, what it means to them, what they get out of it, the levels on which they appreciate a decent game.
It could have been pretty good. But a mixture of fear, laziness and a general lack of ideas that could string the bloody thing together without infringing any copyright laws caused the idea to fizzle out.
But a few nights ago in a london pub, a conversation with my aunt reminded me why i wanted to do it in the first place. She wasn’t on any kind of attack, she’s a highly intelligent woman and she’s only in her thirties, she really was just trying to get her head around the idea. “But why do you play games Richard?”, “When i watch a movie it gives me something to think about and discuss, you can’t have that with games can you?” and the clincher “But what about real people Richard?”…
Preconceptions, that’s what pissed me off and inspired the film idea in the first place, this idea that gaming is a purely Trivial Pursuit, that there’s nothing there, nothing thought provoking in the slightest.
It’s difficult to remember that a lot of people think like that, when your looking at the culture from the inside, it all feels quite normal. When you surround yourself with other gamers, it’s easy to forget how the outside is looking at you and your own. I still get looked at as a child by some people when i talk about gaming. It fucks me off.
So i got the idea back into my head, like really, I keep thinking about it. But I was still having difficulty trying to come up with the format, until it hit me today – TIE IT TO GAMEWANK!
Now it’s not gonna be like “the guys from gamewank do a documentary”, I don’t want us to come across as having this inflated sense of self importance (well no more than we have already). It’s more like “two humble gaming podcasters take a lookat gaming culture and what makes it tick”. I figured it could be presented by myself and Jamie, meeting various people and interviewing them. Maybe try to squeeze in the odd little relevent sketch.
Also, i don’t want you to get the wrong idea from this blog entry, i don’t want it to be “look at us, we gamers are fucking better than you, you naive bunch of cunts!”. I want it to be a balanced look at things, with the only real agenda being an attempt to deflate preconcieved notions of gamers.
Now, to be honest, I don’t really expect to really convert any major numbers, as far as causes go, it’s a little weak. But I’d love to just present gaming culture in a positive light-
- this is where you come in.
I’m looking for gamers who have stories to tell about how gaming affects them, people who want to articulate their own opinions and feelings on video games. I’d also like to talk to artists/musicians/filmmakers or anybody that looks at video games as a source of inspiration. Game modders, game devs, anyone who thinks they may have something to contribute.
I’ll also be hitting up all the fellow podcasters too.
Now don’t expect anything massive from this, it’ll literally be me, jamie, a bus pass and a borrowed Sony Z1E. But i reckon we could achieve something pretty special!
Get in touch through feedback@gamewank.com
Lots of Love
Richie
Please Dear Father of all that is good and holy in this world — PLEASE do not tell me I’m the very first person to comment on this; because while I would be just as giddy as the next fuck to say: “First post!” I would much rather see this thread exploding.
This concept is fantastic, and I would love to see it reach fruition. Fruition is such a good word; it’s reads like “fruit”, but has an edge like a Christopher Nolan film. What was I saying?
Right!
Do this. Please do this.
Me personally, I would love to contribute in any way that I can. At my core I’m a composer, and the first thing that really catches my attention in any game demo, trailer, film, clip — anything — is the music. Music is crucial at setting the proper tone and emotion in your production.
I remember a clip from a show I used to watch in my childhood called Reading Rainbow where they played a clip of a crocodile entering a bog two different times: once with menacing and dark music, the next with very comical circus music.
Forgive me my rant. With Facebook limiting you to 420 characters and Twitter imposing a measly 140 characters it’s nice for a change to have considerable space to stretch my syllables. At any rate, that’s what I came here to say. That and I enjoy the everloving shite out of your podcast, and believe me, there’s a lot of shite to everlove out.