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6 Feb 2007 : Free as a bird #
Over the years, I have to admit, I've played a fair few computer games. A common theme that runs through many games is that of 'struggle'. You take on the role of an - often reluctant - hero, struggling against some alien or mystical aggressor so as to fulfil your destiny and, coincidentally, complete the game.
Another common theme that I've noticed is that many computer games like to include incidental aesthetic features. Bushes that move with the wind, birds that fly away in reaction to some movement, the changing light as the sun moves through the sky. These all add to the atmosphere of the game, immersing the player and increasing the feeling that the environment is real. It's touches like these that I find particularly beautiful in computer games; things that aren't necessary, but which nonetheless add depth. Half-life 2, Broken Sword Angel of Death, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Tomb Raider Legend and Prince of Persia the Two Thrones are games with these kinds of incidental effects that immediately spring to mind.
However, whenever I notice such things - usually as a result of me disturbing some quietly perched birds - it also has another effect, serving to highlight the disparity between the tumultuous struggle inherent to the gameplay and the unchanging indifference of the world it inhabits.
Why are evil overlord alien races or mystical enemies never interested in subjugating or annihilating the bird population? Why are they only interested in the humans? Why is it that they are happy to share their world with the birds, but not with the humans? There might be all manner of pain and suffering, battling, fighting and enslaving going on - massive gun battles and destruction - yet the birds just seem to go about their business oblivious to the disaster going on around them. It's not just the birds either. It's pretty much all of the other animals: fish, lizards, insects and so on. All of nature in fact.
Okay, perhaps I'm reading too much into what is really just an incidental addition to a game. But I think it's an interesting metaphor for everyday life. It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of stress and work that can consume our daily lives, whilst at the same time the world goes on, oblivious and unaffected. The stress and work is often entirely of our own making.
You can extend this further to more serious matters too. I'm lucky to never have experienced wartime in any real sense (although Britain seems to have been at war with at least one country for as long as I can remember; it's testament to the aggressive nature of our democracy that this always seems to be happening somewhere else). But even during the most horrendous times, nature carries on, the weather changes and animals continue their lives indifferent to the human follies around them. It's somehow reassuring.
It may seem a little odd, but it's this that I'm reminded of when I disturb a flock of birds in a computer game.
Over the years, I have to admit, I've played a fair few computer games. A common theme that runs through many games is that of 'struggle'. You take on the role of an - often reluctant - hero, struggling against some alien or mystical aggressor so as to fulfil your destiny and, coincidentally, complete the game.
Another common theme that I've noticed is that many computer games like to include incidental aesthetic features. Bushes that move with the wind, birds that fly away in reaction to some movement, the changing light as the sun moves through the sky. These all add to the atmosphere of the game, immersing the player and increasing the feeling that the environment is real. It's touches like these that I find particularly beautiful in computer games; things that aren't necessary, but which nonetheless add depth. Half-life 2, Broken Sword Angel of Death, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Tomb Raider Legend and Prince of Persia the Two Thrones are games with these kinds of incidental effects that immediately spring to mind.
However, whenever I notice such things - usually as a result of me disturbing some quietly perched birds - it also has another effect, serving to highlight the disparity between the tumultuous struggle inherent to the gameplay and the unchanging indifference of the world it inhabits.
Why are evil overlord alien races or mystical enemies never interested in subjugating or annihilating the bird population? Why are they only interested in the humans? Why is it that they are happy to share their world with the birds, but not with the humans? There might be all manner of pain and suffering, battling, fighting and enslaving going on - massive gun battles and destruction - yet the birds just seem to go about their business oblivious to the disaster going on around them. It's not just the birds either. It's pretty much all of the other animals: fish, lizards, insects and so on. All of nature in fact.
Okay, perhaps I'm reading too much into what is really just an incidental addition to a game. But I think it's an interesting metaphor for everyday life. It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of stress and work that can consume our daily lives, whilst at the same time the world goes on, oblivious and unaffected. The stress and work is often entirely of our own making.
You can extend this further to more serious matters too. I'm lucky to never have experienced wartime in any real sense (although Britain seems to have been at war with at least one country for as long as I can remember; it's testament to the aggressive nature of our democracy that this always seems to be happening somewhere else). But even during the most horrendous times, nature carries on, the weather changes and animals continue their lives indifferent to the human follies around them. It's somehow reassuring.
It may seem a little odd, but it's this that I'm reminded of when I disturb a flock of birds in a computer game.