User generated content isn’t a new concept really. It’s been around for quite some time now, primarily in PC gaming space at first but as the consoles have opened their doors to homebrew creations it’s growing in significance. There’s always a debate on the quality of the content being created and the amount to which the tools are used. I recall a statement that while the tools are there only a small fraction of the user base will actually use them. Given the growth of uploads on Spore, Sims 2 and now Sims 3 exchanges and other titles that provide in-game tools for content or levels, I think that assessment is incorrect indeed.

The amount of use the tool-sets given to the players gets is directly related to the ease of use those tools have. Certainly the higher the complexity of the tool is to use, the less likely a wide selection of people are going to be using them.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some games that require a certain level of complexity in the tools to create levels and so on, which is where the mod and indie developer community comes in, but games that have more intuitive and easy to use tools, the more content gets generated by the user base.

All of this is a great thing to see, and yes, I know a lot of the content that comes out of the community can be complete and utter crap, but other times we see elements and ideas that are truly inspired, interesting or sheer creative genius. The thing I like most about this is that it gives aspiring designers and developers a place to get their wet feet wet, their hands dirty and catch a glimpse of what’s involved in the space they want to enter. I’ve seen some truly amazing content come out of the minds of kids as young as 9 and it gives a bright hope for the future of the industry.

So where am I going with all this?

It’s simple, and it goes beyond the content, to the community built around the games. When the developers and publishers of a game are accepting and open to user generate content, not only do they find a wealth of new ideas to build on with the community, but also form a sense of connection that not only leads to an interesting gaming experience but also a more loyal fan base. (Which never hurts the sales hmmm?)

With more and more people making homebrew games across the many platforms we now have available to us, the more new and interesting ideas are coming forth. It can be a pain to filter through the random garbage, no doubt about it, but like sifting gold, you might move a lot of dirt, but then you find the bright shinny nuggets that really seem to sparkle in the sunlight.

The gifted and inspired within the community not only add a new dimension to the game experience but also these people should be drafted and brought into the fold to build on and expand the horizons of the games in  a more formal way. The wealth of undiscovered talent out in the world would startle many in the industry if they really took the time to look, and I believe taking a good hard look is worth the effort.

Free to play games, flash games, social networking games, mobile phone games, console homebrew, mods, indie projects, this is where a lot of the future can be seen. Sure everyone loves the big, heavy hitting triple a games with the massive budgets, but watching the habits of people playing games these days from every walk of life, and age group reflects that people just want to play games, good games, amazing games, or just casual addicting games. You don’t need a massive budget to be successful, you just need ideas that are fresh and capture the imagination to really stand out. (Though a big budget helps lol).

If anything, collaborative efforts between developers, publishers, and the gaming community is where some of the future of the industry can be seen taking root. User generated content is one aspect of where the lines between customer and collaborator are starting to blur a bit as players are adding to the game experience and recognition for those inspired ideas should be given freely as it will help fertilize and grow the future of the industry.

Right so as the gaming community is now chewing on the speech by President Obama with his usual comment regarding video games, I had a conversation the other day with Epi on this issue. So like anything else in the world that pings my brain for longer then 5 seconds I’m going to write it up.

Let me start off by saying that I do not in any way have a problem with the idea of play in moderation. I do think many times kids are left to much to their own devices by parents and many spend way to much time gaming. I know I certainly did as a kid and even today it can still be a bit tricky to put the game down to get work done. However, like most arguments by the anti-video game lobby I disagree with most of their tired old bullshit. Not that I count the Pres in that segment but when it comes to certain times, he does come off a bit overboard when he mentions video games in his speeches, or perhaps makes the reference far to often.

But I’m going to look at the other side of things this time around, I don’t feel like ripping the anti game establishment a new one right now. Let’s look at our children, our education system and our society, and take some things into accounting.

Consider the pressure our kids are under from day to day, and for those of us able to remember it hasn’t changed all that much in the last 50 years though perhaps the pressures themselves are different to some extent. (Yes I know as adults we are under pressure in our own lives but that’s a story for another day hmmm?)

Our kids start school usually at 5 years old, though around here they’ve started including some four year olds, and holy shit has primary changed from when I was a kid. They have homework and start on the fundamentals a lot sooner then we did. Most of what I remember from Primary was reviewing the ABCs, counting, playing with blocks and chasing cute girls around the playground. Now kids come home with homework that range from printing, spelling, basic math, reading and so on.

Now that in and of itself isn’t anything overburden some I suppose if the kids are prepared for it, but parents may not be bothering unaware of it, or plainly to busy. (Again a story for another day) So now kids are faced with this whole new environment, learning new things, concepts and in an enclosed world/social ecosystem. Now look at the fact that from start to finish in most cases kids are in school for the next 13 years of their life. Facing new challenges of learning every day save summer and Christmas vacation.

Add into that they are growing up, going through puberty, first loves, first enemies, changing world perceptions, and all the extra activities they are either willingly or by parental directive joining after school.

When you take a step back and look at the situation objectively, kids have a whole lot of shit thrown at them from a young age till they are nearly adult. Now add in during (usually) the teenage years they become drivers at 16, they deal with sexual issues starting anywhere from 10 and older these days (Scary as that is but I digress), and all that noise they get from their peers and family.

From their parents they will hear how they have to have good high grades, get into this university or that, find a good job, go to the Olympics or some other big dream plan dreamed up (usually) by the parent(s). Hell of a lot of pressure to put on a young individual still coming down off of hormonal turmoil, changing life perceptions and sexual awareness.

From their peers, we know what that all entails, sex, drugs, everything else under the sun that kids might experience to get them into trouble. Even more pressure atop from school, physical changes, emotional changes, and parental/family/cultural pressures.

It’s no small wonder kids can implode sometimes and why they turn to things like drugs, gangs, and other things that are far removed from parents expectations. People complain about video games like their something evil, yet video games are often one of the few pressure valves kids have. Sure some kids go outside and play, and that’s all well and good, but the video games also provide cerebral experiences that can relax a weary brain, assist in hand/eye coordination, and with online games, kids who deal with social anxiety/awkwardness/shyness might blossom into their own personality online more readily then in more physical social environments.

As I parent I certainly try to make sure my children have a balanced amount of video games vs. outdoor/indoor play, physical activity, and study homework time.

Do I think video games lead to children becoming violent mass murderers?

In some rare cases perhaps, though in many cases I suspect where the games not available to these few kids their violent outburst/explosion would likely have happened sooner rather then later.

We as a society need to look at the amount of pressures we place on our children, teenagers, and even our selves and think long and hard about how we can work to take some of the stress out of our day to day lives. Provide children with the love, encouragement and support to deal with their own pressures give them the room they need to grow and guide them towards the future.

Allow them what they need to relieve their pressures in a safe environment. If a couple hours of daily video game playing help your child wind down after the hell we know as School, then what’s wrong with that? After some time cooling off on some good fun playing games they enjoy (though you all know well I don’t advocate violent or mature games for kids their not intended for so don’t give me any shit on that) They’re more likely to be refreshed enough to tackle their homework either following some relaxation time or knowing they’re entitled to it upon completion.

Everything in moderation is true, be it play, or be it work and stress/pressures. We should be more forthright with our kids and involve them in serious discussions. We expect kids to grow up way to fast and we stuff so much “adult” information on math, sciences, and other subjects in school, yet we don’t hold real discussions with them because their “just kids”

The differences between their education and the way we treat them outside of school borders on naked hypocrisy.

We expect our kids to learn their biology, physics, chemistry, calculus and so on and get high grades, but we can’t seriously discuss important subjects like sex, drugs, and balancing their work and play time?

We allow kids to learn how to handle cars at 16-17 but we stumble over the idea of actually involving them in choosing or finding a direction in our lives?

I’ve covered some of this before so I won’t harp on it, video games and violence, video games and drugs, video games and gangs, video games and sex. All hot topics with the anti video game lobby, yet has anyone pointed out to these paper-asshats that Violence, Drugs, Gangs, and Sex has been around a helluva lot longer than video games. All these evil things video games cause in kids, predate video games by something in the way of oh I don’t know, most of human civilization.

But enough ranting from me, my closing points are simple.

Everything in moderation is a good idea, especially, the “Everything” part.

Our kids are under immense pressure all through school, then university especially when they dive right from one to the other. We need to look hard and long at our education systems.

Video Games won’t cause anarchy amongst our youth, but they might keep our youth from going bonkers.

I find it interesting that while there is elements that could be considered “gamer” fashion, it’s not really a style per se. Certainly we have brand name t-shirts and the like from various companies, or representing various games, they run between t-shirts, hoodies, jackets and other fairly basic clothing forms without any actual variance in style. Then of course we have cosplay which isn’t exactly as fashion so much as a passion to dress up as characters from various games/movies/anime/etc.

Is there room in the world for a true gamer fashion style, I believe so and sometimes I’ve kicked around the idea of building one. Taking accounting of what we have and finding a hybrid middle ground to which we can show both our passion for the games we play and our loyalty for the companies that make and publish those games.

I’ve had the images in my head of course of taking game inspired designs and turning them into a real fashion line. No I don’t mean as costumes for Halloween or for cons and various other events. I mean a true blue fashion line that can range from everyday wear to formal wear that isn’t so far left field but something far enough out from the mainstream that the ‘core will appreciate it and the casuals can choice as easily as they wish amongst their other “normal” wear.

I’m certainly not talking about freakish monster creations but fashions and clothing that show a brilliance of creativity and take inspiration and ideas from the games and characters we’ve grown up with and loved. We have people designing clothing for their characters and avatars, all manner of fan art depicting characters we enjoy or in game worlds we might wish to live in. So it stands to reason we can turn those creations and designs into real clothes. Maybe a steampunk line that while not overly tech heavy but has a charm and elegance that seems to be missing amongst current day fashions. We could bring some things to the normal market and start our own couture just for the sake of doing so.

We see the stereotypic forms of clothing that identify “cliques” in movies and we all know that the atypical gamer is some overweight, usually underdressed dork who needs a makeover. Why don’t we break these stereotypes by bringing the creativity we have within the game community from artists and character designers, designers and players to make our own mark on the fashion world; and present something we can wear as we like? Showing both our passion but that we in fact are not fashion tragedies but fashion forward moving into our own space as the growth of games spreads across the entertainment markets of the world.

We always talk about how we are pegged by the mainstream for being this or that, our representation in movies and television is lacking to show how diverse and non idiotic we actually are.

We are gamers and there’s no reason we cannot stand proudly and reflect that using the creativity and passion we all possess as a common trait amongst us. We’re already taking over the entertainment industry, might as well break into the fashion industry with our creations, create our own style, our own trends, and rock it hard.

So who’s with me?

As you can see we’ve restarted fresh and while I’m working to get the archives of previous posts from our former host, we are building fresh with better category and taging management, a clean install and big plans for the future!

Also our forums are back up, and we’re working on plans for content for Integral, along side with plans for the guild and other projects. Anyone interested in contributing let me know and I’ll gladly discuss it with you.

We’re forging ahead and I hope you’ll join us going forward!

~AnjelusX