media ecology

From a media ecology standpoint the environmental impact of videogames stretches very wide. By looking further at the three foundational cornerstones of media ecology we can isolate the scope of that impact to a fuller extent. The three master metaphors of media ecology include: evolution, physical space, and space unto itself. Taking videogames as the object of scrutiny, I would like to explore this medium further as a space unto itself. Videogames as a form of media have literally carved out a space in our environment which we inhabit on a regular basis. Following McLuhan’s laws of media covered in McLuhan’s Wake, which include: enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and reversal, we can truly inspect videogames and the environmental impact which they have created.
Videogames inhabit every facet of our daily lives whether or not people realize it. People have videogames at home, at work, on their phones, on the plane, in the car, etc. People who take a stance saying, “I don’t play videogames! I have a real life to live!” do not even realize how permeated their own lives are by the influence of videogames themselves. Looking at McLuhan’s first law of media, enhancement, we ask the question, “What medium are videogames augmenting or amplifying?” Although they are enhancing a variety of mediums let us first take the example of literature. Countless videogames take the medium of books and in turn amplify it into a new evolved medium. For example the game Bioshock developed by Irrational Games very heavily borrows from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in order to create its unique and intricate game world. In a March of 2006 Game Informer interview on Bioshock, Irrational Games’ Ken Levine has this to say regarding the link between the game world and that of Atlas Shrugged:
“‘I’ve always been interested in Ayn Rand and her crazy utopian view of this extreme capitalism, and what that could bring about if it were focused –celebration of the individual versus society,’ explains Levine. This exaltation of mankind goes so far as to defy the gods by building an entire civilization underwater. ‘Their attitude, no matter what the challenge, is ‘we can beat it.’ And they almost do.’” (McNamara 37)
This extreme level of detail that developers are striving to recreate from literature is truly commendable. Not only are developers taking one form of medium and recreating it but they are adding to it as well. In this example they have taken a rough version of Ayn Rand’s world and recreated one that anyone can visit visually as opposed to the unmoving pages of a book. This example illustrates well how videogames are environmentally impacting our world through McLuhan’s first law of media: enhancement.
On the opposite end of the spectrum we also have to examine videogames using McLuhan’s second law of obsolescence. Here we have to examine what videogames are de-emphasizing or taking away from. Many obvious examples ironically include that which they enhance. Videogames deemphasize the importance of books, radio, magazines, etc., because they are promoting their unique form of visually and mentally stimulating media and not that of others. They are purely building upon the media which has come before them and therefore they inevitably are taking away from those older forms of media. For example a game is currently being promoted for release entitled Dante’s Inferno. In a recent preview Phil Kollar has this to say:
“For those who think it’s crass for EA to adapt this literary classic, the first question that must be asked is ether you’ve read ‘Inferno’ yourself. Visceral has put in tons of material either referencing or directly drawing from the original poem…In fact, they often compare their game to one of the visual maps of hell that the poem inspired in the 14th century. Those familiar with The Divine Comedy will immediately notice Virgil’s contributions-he serves as a narrator, describing each layer of Hell in lines lifted from the poem-and the Shades, sinners trapped in Hell whose vices are pulled word for word from Dante’s text.” (Kollar 107)
This game is obviously very directly “enhancing” an older medium but at the same time it is reducing the importance of the text. It is promoting the classic tale in a new way and through advertising designed to generate money it is in turn encouraging the consumer to experience something new and not to go read an old dusty book. Building from this example it is evident that videogames are clearly detracting from old media in order to obsolesce the way for new media.
Thirdly we must inspect what it is that videogames are retrieving in terms of media. Here it is important to recognize that although videogames are detracting from old forms of media they are also bringing the popularity of storytelling back to the public. A large portion of the population are not interested in books or other media and videogames offers up an enticing alternative which can still deliver many of the best parts of older media: storytelling, heroes, values, mystery, knowledge, etc. In this way videogames are helping reignite the lost interest today in one of mankind’s greatest achievements: storytelling. For example a game by Lionhead Studios entitled Fable II, emphasizes the importance of the “fable” to an enormous extent. It encourages the player to literally “live” their own “fable” with many classic storytelling stereotypes in place: heroes, good and evil, dragons, love, war, etc. The player enters a world full of possibilities and choices which create a unique story for each player. By taking this unique approach Lionhead Studios has managed to reinvigorate the consumer with a desire for storytelling and in turn serves to “retrieve” some lost media.
Lastly we will look at how videogames are reversing in relation to McLuhan’s laws. When videogames are pushed to the very extreme of their limits what will they become? This inspection is more hypothetical than the previous three laws because videogames are still evolving and have not yet topped out on their potential. Some possibilities in reference to upcoming technology could be that we might soon cease to just play video games and we might end up playing with them. Upcoming technology from Microsoft Corporation entitled Project Natal intends to revolutionize videogames like never before. Perhaps here we will see a reversal of the characteristics of videogames. In a fairly recent article on www.telegraph.co.uk. the extent of this new technology is outlined. Natal intends to let the player interact with the media of videogames in a completely hands free setting and with programming that predicts your every move or desire. It will give you things it reads from body language alone or allow you to simply interact through hand motions. Technology such as this will change the videogame environment forever and completely reverse what we have known so far (Beaumont 2009).
Videogames have invaded much of the environmental space which we inhabit today. In terms of media ecology they interact and influence us in many ways. Particularly examining videogames in the sense of the new space it has created to be inhabited we see videogames crossing over as a new, interactive media. Videogames are enhancing old media creating a new space or niche to be inhabited by the dominant form of media today. They are in turn detracting from the old books, movies, radio, etc. that we treasure but they are doing so by building upon these things as foundational roots. Lastly they are headed to new horizons as a reversal of the characteristics of videogames might be closer than we think. McLuhan’s laws of media serve as a proper tool to examine the unique form of media in videogames and bring a fuller understanding of how they affect our everyday environment

Works Cited
Beaumont, Claudine. (2009, June 3). E3 2009: Project Natal hands-on preview. Retrieved
December 7, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/e3-2009/5437978/E3-2009-Project-Natal-hands-on-preview.html
Bioshock. 2k games, 2007.
Fable II. Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
Kollar, Phil. “When Epic Poetry Meets Epic Action.” Game Informer Dec. 2009:107.
McLuhan’s Wake. Dir. Kevin McMahon. Perf. Marshall McLuhan. Disinformation Studios, 2007.
McNamara, Andy. “Bioshock.” Game Informer Mar. 2006: 47.
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. 1996. Signet Publishing.