The Color of Television: What is Gamer Culture?

In the book Neuromancer by William Gibson, the reader is introduced to a bleak and high-tech future in which a subculture of cyberpunk computer hackers plug into a reality generated completely by computers. Published in 1984, the novel largely prefigured the age of the information superhighway, where flesh-and-bone human beings could access data anywhere in the world from their own computer terminals. And certainly the Internet has spawned its own subculture in the form of memes, viral videos and its own vocabulary (lolcats, anyone?)

The kneejerk reaction when looking back at the significance of Gibson’s seminal sci-fi work is to make comparisons with the age of the Internet. But I’d like to train our focus on a slightly different comparison that can be drawn between the world of Neuromancer and an analogue in today’s world, a comparison that also involves technology and the way we trade information and human experience.

Indeed, faithful readers, let’s talk about video games.

A year before Neuromancer hit the presses, the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System was hitting shelves. In the decades that followed, Nintendo and other companies like it would bring console video gaming into the living rooms, rec rooms and basements of millions of households. The hackers of Neuromancer shared a culture and a set of almost communal experiences, and, likewise, I don’t think we have to look too far to find something similar that has emerged among video game enthusiasts (referred to as gamers from here on out). We share a language and a growing body of experiences that are pretty nearly universal among the hardcore. Quick: Sing the theme song to Super Mario Bros., or recall the first time you tried to wrap your hands around an Xbox controller, or name your favorite character in Street Fighter II. (The correct answer is E. Honda, by the way.)

With this blog, I intend to explore, define and chart the future of gamer culture, to the extent that one exists. Additionally, it’ll give me the chance to do some serious journalism again, to the extent that I ever was a serious journalist. I intend to confront a range of questions on gaming: What do video games say about the people who play them? What do they say about our culture? Are video games art? Is the medium here to stay? How will it change in the years ahead?

I’ll try to take on some meaty topics with sociological ramifications, but I’ll also strike a balance with some levity and humor. Also, expect the odd rant or review, depending on my mood and how much time I have on my hands. We’ll see.

Among science fiction novels, Neuromancer has always had my favorite opening line, and I’ll quote it here: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” It’s a bit noir and a bit pulp. But mostly, it reminds me of how my own TV used to look right after I flipped the power switch on my old Sega Genesis. A dead screen soon to give life to limitless pixilated possibilities.