Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 31)

Trigger Happy
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and detail every year and conclude that videogames are
increasingly realistic. Those cars look pretty real; those
trees at the side of the racetrack, waving gently in the
wind, look satisfyingly (arbo)real.
This turns out to be the subject of a fundamental
tension in videogames, which will appear in many
guises throughout this book. It’s a version of a very old
question about art, concerning what Plato called
mimesis (“representation”). Is it real or not? How can
videogames claim to be “realistic” at all? But the
peculiar nature of videogames gives the old question
several intriguing and novel digital spins. The problem
of mimesis in this context—the virtual representation of
“realities”—informs the inner life of nearly every
videogame.
Plato allows something to be a game as long as it is
not “harmful” and has no “utility.” There is an
increasingly vocal charge from some sections of society
that videogames are in fact morally harmful. But do
they have positive effects—do they have “utility?”
Squabbles between psychologists as to whether
videogames enhance spatio-visual and motor skills are
largely unresolved. The only thing that everyone agrees
on is that playing videogames makes you better at
playing videogames. Their effects on our