Video games, culture, everyday life

Video games, culture, everyday life

One of the few games I’ve actually sat down and really spent a good amount of time on is Final Fantasy. What drew me in at the beginning were the graphics and how seemingly ‘real’ the characters are which differed from other games. But using the example of Final Fantasy, I’d like to examine how far games can affect our everyday life and how it becomes integrated in our culture.

References to final fantasy can be found in popular culture out of gaming itself. One example is the popular game itself being a movie franchise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttK8w7lMGvY (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Movie Trailer)

References to the game can also be found in mainstream movies like Charlie’s Angels and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Television series Robot Chicken included a parody of Final Fantasy VII called Final Fantasy Burger Chain. In the popular TV series Two and a Half Men, Jake begs Charlie throughout the show to take him to the video store to rent out the new Final Fantasy X. From these, we can see how games are becoming ever more integrated in everyday life, and even more so globally. This also brings about the interaction of culture and countries through gaming, as the visuals between Western and Eastern games differ by a great margin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wVogtCHJ70 (Robot Chicken)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6-d-YcYJWA (Two and a Half Men)

Final Fantasy has become so huge that it covers so many more aspects than just being “a game”. It might have started out that way, but now, people can buy Final Fantasy figurines, watch Final Fantasy movies, and search for Final Fantasy characters singing songs, their MVs, costumes and even a multiple fan made clips. A very popular fan made series is the Dead Fantasy Series by Monty Oum started in 2009 integrating the famous characters of Dead or Alive and Final Fantasy. This fan made series has racked up immense views on YouTube, as well as Monty Oum’s own website. So games like this have become more than purely just for entertainment, fans of the game can become closer to the game, its characters and Final Fantasy itself has become a brand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIy5Q3EB6ec (Dead Fantasy part 1)

Final Fantasy, being a game product made in Japan, is also closely integrated into Japanese culture. I’m sure everyone is familiar with Cosplay in which people wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character. In Harajuku (Japan), this is a familiar sight.

 Final Fantasy is also a favourite amongst cosplayers to role-play. Different to popular beliefs, cosplay is actually only popular in Japan, but is becoming more popular in the western world. Cosplay also influences Japanese street fashion and is considered as a part of a popular culture. Some people in fact, may know nothing about the games, never have played them before but dresses up as them purely due to the graphics, the characters, or purely just for the sake of cosplay. So unintentionally, video game characters are starting to become symbolic characters, what they wear, what their catch-lines are can influence culture, fashion and people’s everyday life.

So although we may not be “gamers” or play a certain game, we may in fact already be a part of it. Without us knowing, it may already be in our lives. So are games really just games? Are games just purely for entertainment and relaxation? Or have they become so important that without them now, we’d lose a part of our culture and cultural identity? Have they become a tool for global integration and exchange? How exactly do we define games now?