Grown-up games?

Haruki MurakamiThere was an interesting comment in Keith's Nine foolish videogame predictions blog. Monty asks why there aren't more "grown-up" games around. "Haruki Murakami has writen a book about a boy's oedipal quest, so when are we going to get games that reflect the fact that grown-ups play them too?" he says. I think he has a point too.

Console gaming at least has some sort of excuse. Costs of development and a slightly younger audience mean creating something leftfield is a massive gamble. But, due to costs and lack of platform holder control, there is more scope for creativity on the PC. Maybe Monty's deeper gaming experience can be found here? Perhaps not. Flicking through the latest issues of PC Zone and Gamer, the two main PC games mags, shows a depressingly familiar mix of sci-fi and fantasy.

But what does grown-up gaming mean? Point and click adventures? Thought provoking scripts? Or, in fact, gaming that relies more on brain than brawn. Anyone who has played a first-person shooter online knows that caffeine and enthusiasm are no match for teenage reflexes. But that doesn't mean that action games are not for grown-ups. Half Life 2 may have mainly been about shooting everything, but the environs and characters in the world at least gave it some gravitas. After all, great games are great games, regardless of any perceived target age.

But overall I think Monty does have a point. We need more games that stimulate emotions rather than the trigger finger. We need better written scripts, ones that veer away from the comic-book and fantasy novel. But this doesn't have to mean laboured French point and click adventures. Or Myst.

Interaction and how you actually play the game is still key - the Zelda games, for example, have a childish look to the them but have a coherence and control that is logical. Then there are strategy games, like Rome: Total War, that literally offer a crash-course in military history.

Looking to the future there is the promising looking Dreamfall, the sequel to the excellent Longest Journey, that looks set to offer some thought-provoking gaming. And as the average age of games players continues to rise, the market should follow. More sophisticated and literate gaming will become increasingly relevant and profitable. Don't hold your breath for the Sputnik Sweetheart game though.

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