gaming What if video games had never been created?

[Celestial Wish 349]

Think about that question through a serious perspective.

 

What if video games never existed? How would it affect the world? How would we live now with technology? How would it have affected you?

 

The thought itself scares the life out of me because video games are such a big part of my life. They've helped me cope with many traumatizing things, gave me something to do when I was alone, and even influenced my bringing up. 

 

Ask yourself this and think deeply.     

Edited February 10, 2014 by Celestial Wish

[Zhortac 1,473]

D&D would've exploded, and there'd be a flood of D&D styles games all over the place. Dice sales would be insane!

[Celestial Wish 349]

D&D would've exploded, and there'd be a flood of D&D styles games all over the place. Dice sales would be insane!

 

As much as that made me laugh, it is quite possible true XD

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,330]

More people would be outside since people wouldn't stay in playing call of duty and the internet wouldn't be as big as it is with video games.

[Discordian 6,013]

It actually wouldn't be so bad. If video games had never been created the very concept of them wouldn't even exist in our minds, for the time being at least, so for people like you and I who play video games practically for a living we wouldn't miss what we never knew we had.

 

On top of that considering the type of people we are we would have found some other outlet we would have come to love just as much.

 

Most assuredly this would affect our development through life as there's a lot of difference between video games, what they are made of and how they influence us and say...a non-graphical entertainment medium like novels.

 

I'd also go so far as to say that whatever your second choice for entertainment is that would likely be your first choice in this theoretical universe where video games didn't exist. That is, of course, assuming that your second choice isn't too similar to video games. As long as a medium, idea or technology can logically lead to the creation of video games they will come to be though not necessarily within the same time frame or with the same level of advancement largely based on the existing technology at the time of it's creation and how quickly that level of technology moves forward.

 

Edit: Sorry for the broken post. Using the plain text editor sometimes doesn't properly parse everything and just scrunches everything together using incompatible code. -__-

Edited February 10, 2014 by Discordian

[Scootalove 10,685]

More people would go outside, and they would focus on more important things. Nothing too serious.

[Moonlight 7,279]

I suppose life would be more boring. I absolutely adore video games and they do make a nice outlet for when I'm in a bad mood or just bored. However, since they never existed in the first place, life would continue on as normal with none of the slightest idea that video games were even possible. Technology would continue on and it's more than likely video games would come back into existence. 

[Celestial Wish 349]

It actually wouldn't be so bad. If video games had never been created the very concept of them wouldn't even exist in our minds, for the time being at least, so for people like you and I who play video games practically for a living we wouldn't miss what we never knew we had.

 

On top of that considering the type of people we are we would have found some other outlet we would have come to love just as much.

 

Most assuredly this would affect our development through life as there's a lot of difference between video games, what they are made of and how they influence us and say...a non-graphical entertainment medium like novels.

 

I'd also go so far as to say that whatever your second choice for entertainment is that would likely be your first choice in this theoretical universe where video games didn't exist. That is, of course, assuming that your second choice isn't too similar to video games. As long as a medium, idea or technology can logically lead to the creation of video games they will come to be though not necessarily within the same time frame or with the same level of advancement largely based on the existing technology at the time of it's creation and how quickly that level of technology moves forward.

 

Edit: Sorry for the broken post. Using the plain text editor sometimes doesn't properly parse everything and just scrunches everything together using incompatible code. -__-

 

 

Very nice thought, that's true as blue. If it hadn't existed then the concept of it wouldn't have either. Though, knowing it is exists now and thinking of what would it be like if they never existed, sad thought u.u

[Discordian 6,013]

More people would be outside since people wouldn't stay in playing call of duty and the internet wouldn't be as big as it is with video games.

 

 

More people would go outside, and they would focus on more important things. Nothing too serious.

It isn't necessarily the case that people would go outside just because they didn't have video games. That's implying that the only reason people don't go outside is because of video games when it's not. One who does not enjoy going outside won't automatically love going outside if their main source of entertainment was unavailable. There's a lot of activities besides the two. Anime, books, comics; more productive things like programming, studying (both inside and outside of an educational setting), knitting, art, etc.

[Zhortac 1,473]

I think my imagination and creativity would've been stunted hard. Most of my ideas for my own characters, and stories I got while playing different games, and mixing them with my own thoughts from other sources. Plus, the music in alot of the ones I've played over the years, helped me come up with ideas easier and scenarios played out better in my head.

[Discordian 6,013]

Very nice thought, that's true as blue. If it hadn't existed then the concept of it wouldn't have either. Though, knowing it is exists now and thinking of what would it be like if they never existed, sad thought u.u

It is a difficult thought to swallow with our current knowledge but the "other" versions of ourselves wouldn't have that same knowledge.

 

It's a good thing we can think about it without it becoming a reality though. Video games are flourishing and they can only get better from here. Even for those who don't much care for the current generation of games or the developers behind them eventually there will be new ones. Especially with the rise of indie development. Games that aren't tied to a financial goal have the potential to be just as amazing, if not moreso, than all the big retail games of today.

[Scootalove 10,685]

 

 

 

It isn't necessarily the case that people would go outside just because they didn't have video games. That's implying that the only reason people don't go outside is because of video games when it's not. One who does not enjoy going outside won't automatically love going outside if their main source of entertainment was unavailable. There's a lot of activities besides the two. Anime, books, comics; more productive things like programming, studying (both inside and outside of an educational setting), knitting, art, etc.

I guess that makes sense completely, nothing bad can come from it then.

[Ponies n Pizza 38]

I think it would be horrible if they had never made video games because I think many people use it as an outlet because whenever you are feeling stressed you can escape into another world. 

 

I guess if there were no video games people would still be reading books

[Celestial Wish 349]

I think my imagination and creativity would've been stunted hard. Most of my ideas for my own characters, and stories I got while playing different games, and mixing them with my own thoughts from other sources. Plus, the music in alot of the ones I've played over the years, helped me come up with ideas easier and scenarios played out better in my head.

 

Yeah! The lack of video games would have affected the creativity of musicians who would have made the VGOST (Video Game Official Soundtracks). Not to mention, all the people who became programmers for the sole purpose of video games, that probably would have changed their lives entirely. It would have changed their very destinies!!! This thought is very, very intriguing!! O.O

It is a difficult thought to swallow with our current knowledge but the "other" versions of ourselves wouldn't have that same knowledge.

 

It's a good thing we can think about it without it becoming a reality though. Video games are flourishing and they can only get better from here. Even for those who don't much care for the current generation of games or the developers behind them eventually there will be new ones. Especially with the rise of indie development. Games that aren't tied to a financial goal have the potential to be just as amazing, if not moreso, than all the big retail games of today.

 It's almost like a blessing that we even have such wonderful gifts from our imagination and brains, because that's what video games truly are when boiled down. Humans gave video games life due to our brains thinking up the stories, the concept of the game play, the mechanics and so much more!

I think it would be horrible if they had never made video games because I think many people use it as an outlet because whenever you are feeling stressed you can escape into another world. 

 

I guess if there were no video games people would still be reading books

 

It's quite possible, but even books inspired video games O.O omg omg omg omg it would be a catastrophe x.x

[long gone 8,929]

Then I have no idea what I would be doing right now.

 

I'm serious, I don't really know what I'd be doing right now if it weren't for video games.

[Discordian 6,013]

It's almost like a blessing that we even have such wonderful gifts from our imagination and brains, because that's what video games truly are when boiled down. Humans gave video games life due to our brains thinking up the stories, the concept of the game play, the mechanics and so much more!

Video games: The one true medium. They do everything every other entertainment medium does and mashes it all together. The fact that not a lot of games make proper use of all of those features together, or some not at all, is indicative of the youth of the industry more than it is the medium.

 

I fully and 100% believe that video games are the future of all entertainment.

[Zhortac 1,473]

Yeah! The lack of video games would have affected the creativity of musicians who would have made the VGOST (Video Game Official Soundtracks). Not to mention, all the people who became programmers for the sole purpose of video games, that probably would have changed their lives entirely. It would have changed their very destinies!!! This thought is very, very intriguing!! O.O

 

Indeed. I probably wouldn't of bothered to buy RPG Maker VX and VX Ace to make my own game around my characters, if I didn't have that kind of inspiration.

 

Edit: I CAN SPULLZ GUD!

Edited February 10, 2014 by Zhortac

[Celestial Wish 349]

Then I have no idea what I would be doing right now.

 

I'm serious, I don't really know what I'd be doing right now if it weren't for video games.

 

AMEN TO THAT! I would be face rolling on the carpet in agony! (that is if video games somehow just disappeared and I had memories of them existing XD)

 

Video games: The one true medium. They do everything every other entertainment medium does and mashes it all together. The fact that not a lot of games make proper use of all of those features together, or some not at all, is indicative of the youth of the industry more than it is the medium.

 

I fully and 100% believe that video games are the future of all entertainment.

 

I do too. Like if they actually mastered virtual reality games with the right mechanics... oh man! Something like Sword Art Online and .Hack.... I think they're developing them to this point in secret and don't want the public to freak out or anything.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Celestial Wish

[Discordian 6,013]

Indeed. I probably wouldn't of bothered to buy RPG Maker VX and VX Ace to make my own game around my characters, if I didn't have that kind of instiration.

I've considered getting RPG Maker when I had money. RPGs are my favorite genre of all time and I've always wanted to try to try my hand at making them.

 

Right now I'm messing with the free version of GameMaker: Studio. I'm still too novice to know whether I should try to make my dream RPG in GameMaker, RPG Maker or even try to do it from scratch without a dedicated IDE. I don't want it to be restricted by my inexperience or whatever programs I may use in the future.

[Celestial Wish 349]

I've considered getting RPG Maker when I had money. RPGs are my favorite genre of all time and I've always wanted to try to try my hand at making them.

 

Right now I'm messing with the free version of GameMaker: Studio. I'm still too novice to know whether I should try to make my dream RPG in GameMaker, RPG Maker or even try to do it from scratch without a dedicated IDE. I don't want it to be restricted by my inexperience or whatever programs I may use in the future.

 

i would play your games!!!

[Discordian 6,013]

i would play your games!!!

Awesome. There's one potential fan!

 

Probably won't make anything worthwhile for...a long time. Years maybe. For now I'll stick to improving my skills. Probably have some freebie short stuff for now to get to know things though. I can keep you posted when I complete something that's not total crap.

[Celestial Wish 349]

Awesome. There's one potential fan!

 

Probably won't make anything worthwhile for...a long time. Years maybe. For now I'll stick to improving my skills. Probably have some freebie short stuff for now to get to know things though. I can keep you posted when I complete something that's not total crap.

 

OH YEA! <3        Game on! Game on I say!

[Zhortac 1,473]

I've considered getting RPG Maker when I had money. RPGs are my favorite genre of all time and I've always wanted to try to try my hand at making them.

 

Right now I'm messing with the free version of GameMaker: Studio. I'm still too novice to know whether I should try to make my dream RPG in GameMaker, RPG Maker or even try to do it from scratch without a dedicated IDE. I don't want it to be restricted by my inexperience or whatever programs I may use in the future.

 

VX is ok, and has good customizablity, but I like VX Ace. It's not too hard to get used to, and it also has features to make it how you want it, but it's more complex when you get to that point (I.E. damage calculation in VX Ace is done by putting in a mathmatic formula).

 

The one I've been working on (is just to get used to the program overall), I had one character hitting way too hard lol. Of course I had to get rid of some custom scripts, because it was confliting or making my dualwielders hit 5 times a turn.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Zhortac

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

I do not think that it would be a bad thing if video games never existed...

I am not a huge gamer, but I am fascinated with the video game industry. It's the fast growing visable technology as well as creatively. In terms of the modern world, researching/studying the video game industry is my hobby, so a world without video games is difficult to imagine.

However, a world without video games is very improbable. Board games have been around since before the 20th century, and tabletop games (such as checkers or chess) have been around for centuries in one form or another. As far as other entertainment media goes, books have been around for a long time as well, but only got into the hands of "common" folk with the introduction of the printing press and public education (education not based on wealth or social status).  Then the Television came about, and has been with us not even a hundred years.  All three of these forms of inactive entertainment have a huge hand in the creation of the video game industry. Started out as board games on Tv (take the Odyessy) and simple little arcade games (such as Pong).  As video games got more complex, so did their storytelling capabilities. Almost right away, games were applied to the television (the plethora of Pong consoles, and later the cartridge and CD consoles we know of today. With all that said. You might as well ask if the biggest contributor of the video game industry (the Television) was never invented. At that point, I would say then that the Computer would also never be invented and thus you might as well keep us in the 1940's or earlier...of course, I'm perfectly alright with that, no NSA tracking our every movement, and I'd prefer a Stanley Steamer to any modern ride (my pickup would be a Steam Engine, so I'd never have to worry about having too heavy of a haul XD )

[Discordian 6,013]

VX is ok, and has good customizablity, but I like VX Ace. It's not too hard to get used to, and it also has features to make it how you want it, but it's more complex when you get to that point (I.E. damage calculation in VX Ace is done by putting in a mathmatic formula).

 

The one I've been working on (is just to get used to the program overall), I had one character hitting way too hard lol. Of course I had to get rid of some custom scripts, because it was confliting or making my dualwielders hit 5 times a turn.

PROGRAMMING!

 

Does RPG Maker allow any sort of 3D graphics development or is it stuck to sprites? If it does I suspect it's tied to one's ability to write code directly. The in-game assets probably wouldn't be able to handle such things effectively.