The video game industry and culture are related in such a way that not understanding one part will cause failure in the other. Misreading the culture will cause the budding game designer to fail in the industry. Without understanding the industry, the game will not be able to flourish.
Cultural History of Video Games
Looking back at the history behind video games, it seems that one of the very first examples was written merely to test the capabilities of a new computer system, the PDP-1. This was, to my mind, the first true video game.
What is more important is the circumstances : the designers of the PDP-1 wanted to create an application that would show off their new machine. The video game fit the bill perfectly.
This remains true today. Video games are real time systems, they have advanced graphical and sound capabilities and respond to the user immediately. A video game pushes the hardware to its' limits.
If you want to make up your own mind who was the true 'Father of Video Games', the site http://www.pong-story.com/inventor.htm has a statement written by Ralph Baer. Mr. Baer is, again, in my opinion, the inventor of the commercial video game.
He created the first console that could be linked up to a standard television set, which was a commercial success. The system was manufactured by Sanders Associates in 1967, and was licensed to Magnavox in 1970. It became the heart of the Odyssey 1TL200, hitting the market in 1972, and selling one hundred thousand units.
Baer had created an industry.
The first video games, such as PONG were entirely abstract. This trend continued with games such as Pac Man, until Space Invaders launched the familiar 'blow things up' video game that we know and love today.
Video Game Culture
Largely the domain of 16-24 year old males, video games are almost always associated with violence, sex, and everything that is wrong with society. Girls, for example, do not play games. Nor do teachers or priests.
The reason is simply because they are viewed as either a complete waste of time, or something that taps into the inner psyche of the human mind in such a way as to be actively harmful.
While this may or may not be true, the most popular video games revolve around guns, cars, or a mixture of guns and cars. With a good measure of impossibly proportioned female protagonists thrown in.
