[imagesource: Netflix]

This article is a guest contribution from game enthusiast and sometimes Dungeon Master, Mo.

Video games have, historically, been no stranger to controversy – from parental outcry concerning the levels of violence in games like Mortal Kombat in the 90s, which resulted in congressional hearings in the United States, to the current day uproar that video games are somehow linked to school shootings.

Hell, I remember an Afrikaans speaking friend of mine in primary school not being allowed to play Pokemon because his folks repeated the mantra so often heard from pearl-clutching parents: “dit is Satanisties”.

Violence (and apparently Satanism) aside, there are also fascinating moments in gaming history. By way of example, the fall of the gaming industry in 1983 as a result of the worst game of all time, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, from game developer Atari.

Observe as someone tries to play it:

Note that they had to dig the cartridges out of a dumpster in New Mexico.

On to High Score, scheduled for release on Netflix on August 19, 2020, where it seems as though some of these issues, including perceived violence in Mortal Kombat and the video game crash caused by E.T., will be addressed.

Check out the trailer:

The trailer doesn’t go into much detail about how they’ll be tackling these games.

It will be surprising if the more profound impact of E.T. on gaming is not addressed, inasmuch as that game, in no small part, resulted in video games being marketed specifically to males and is probably a contributing factor to the current climate of misogyny among gamers and game developers.

Have a look at this video from Adam Ruins Everything on why people think video games are “just for boys”:

From a gamer’s perspective, it looks as though High Score will address some of the more critical aspects of gaming history, including the historical impact of Nintendo, the development of Space Invaders, the development of Ms Pacman, and so forth.

As an ardent gamer who is interested in the history of gaming, a lot of this is fairly standard, but these moments will certainly be interesting to someone who is not au fait with gaming history.

Even to someone who knows the history of gaming, it does seem as though the series will show interviews with interesting and prominent figures in gaming history, such as Rebecca Heineman, a legendary transgendered game designer.

Arstechnica quotes Heineman’s frank admission that games were a crucial escape during her childhood struggles with gender dysphoria.

“[Gaming] allowed me to play as a female. I’ve always identified as a woman. Unfortunately, my anatomy didn’t agree. So when I played video games, I was in this virtual world where I was mowing down rows of aliens and ignoring the world around me. It was the only place I was able to find solace and peace.”

The inclusion of a prominent trans video game developer is heartening, as it demonstrates that the history of gaming has some moments of diversity. Will the series address the contribution of the all-female team that developed Ms Pacman, or Roberta Williams’ Kingsquest saga?

I also wonder whether or not the series will go into the impact of someone like Jerry Lawson on the gaming industry, an African-American engineer who pioneered a gaming system that first used the video game cartridge in the seventies.

Lawson should be a household name but he never truly got the credit he deserved.

It is my ardent hope that the series will tackle some of the more problematic moments of gaming history, such as Gamergate (which resulted in the harassment and doxing of female game developers and critics), which speaks to a deeper problem of misogyny among gamers and indeed the gaming industry as a whole, not to mention the current sexism and harassment scandal at Ubisoft (the developer most known for the Assassin’s Creed series).

Hopefully, and at the very least, the series will make the point that gaming is for everyone, and is not the sole province of a bunch of misogynistic neckbeards.

The history of gaming, as with all history, is complex and, at times, deeply problematic. If this series does its job properly, it won’t gloss over the darker side of the industry.

We live in hope.

As always, stay safe, and keep gaming.

[source:arstechnica]