Bridging the gap: What I learned hosting Good Game
IN MY TECHLIFE ARTICLES, I DON’T USUALLY TALK ABOUT GOOD GAME, THE ABC TV SHOW I HOSTED FOR THE LAST DECADE. I’D LIKE TO THIS MONTH, IF YOU’LL INDULGE ME.
AS THE CURTAIN unexpectedly came down on Good Game in February this year, it’s given me time to think about what I learned over the years talking about games with our viewers and the talented developers who make them. I’ve come away from it all realising just how important games are to so many different types of people, and how the idea of a ‘gamer’ has moved beyond the stereotype of a boy in his garage, yelling, ‘Die! Die! Die!’
In the last decade, games have transcended into something that bridges gaps between generations and social boundaries. Despite the toxicity of some online communities, games and their communities are actually more inclusive than ever before.
When I started on Good Game in 2007, games were not for everyone. The online communities and forums felt like a boys’ club, for childish, niche nerds. Mainstream media coverage of the games industry only seemed to magnify the negative aspects, and none of the positives. Weekly releases were full of B-grade shooters, games that depicted women only as sex symbols, male-focused dude-bro stories, and few G, PG and kids’ games that were worth anything but the depressed bargain bin at K-mart.
In terms of maturity, there is still a long way to go for games, of course. But that’s what is so exciting to me, that we have so far to go, and yet games have come so far so quickly.
Over the years making GG, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to so many types of games and their players. It showed me how times really have changed when it comes to inclusiveness and diversity in the characters we play, which then promotes and encourages diversity within gaming communities and those who choose to go into game development. Developers like BioWare and Bethesda lead the way with gender-neutral storylines and I can’t wait for the day, where picking a male or female character is just standard, and not just an option in a handful of RPGS.
In the last 10 years, the types of people who play games has dramatically changed. The Wii, online ecosystems, internet speeds, the indie scene and crowdfunding has a lot to do with that. Today, I don’t know a 14-year-old boy or girl who doesn’t play some sort of game. Kids now have such mechanic-rich, complex, creative games to spend time in, such as Minecraft and Roblox, and they get to do it together — online or side by side with friends and family.
Out of the hundreds of very kind emails that have been sent to me since GG ended, a big theme is how parents, who don’t have time to play games themselves, were able to get some insight into the digital world kids live in and connect through gaming. I often hear from parents, ‘How do I stop my kids playing video games every day?’ to which I say, ‘Have you played any games yourself lately? Why would you want to stop them? Play with them!’ Moderation is important, but I’d rather my kid plays a game online than watch Netflix for five hours straight.
Games are so powerful, and thanks to improvements in the technology and accessibility over these last years, they have even become viable environments for helping people deal with mental health and social issues. Many who wrote to me suffer from or have kids that suffer from various forms of anxiety or autism. They spoke of how games opened the way for mental health sufferers to connect with their parents or friends. Games are so powerful. One lady in particular wrote of how watching our show and playing games together is the only way she is able to speak to her autistic son. 10 years ago, that couldn’t happen. Many who wrote to me also talked of how games helped them ‘find their people’. I can relate to this, too. My best friends and I all bonded initially on playing games together hours on end, in school or grotty netcafes. Games foster tight-knit communities online and in the real world. Fans of our daily show Pocket took it upon themselves to form their own Facebook page and had national meetups simply to talk about games and make connections.
Whenever I would speak to someone in the street who watched the show, it was often far more than just a casual chat. They had a personal connection to the games they play because they mean something important to them. Games are such an expressive way to tell stories, because you carve your own path and experience things at a different pace and style to everyone else.
Our motto on Good Game was always ‘a celebration of gaming’. To look past the obvious and celebrate the artform, the fun and the stories that this medium is trying to tell with you behind the steering wheel.
Good Game was just a TV show that I had the privilege to be a part of. If you watched, thank you so much, really. You mean the world to me. Along with the insane amount of fun it was to make with a team of professionally nice people (that were forced to make me look great each week), GG helped me see the power gaming has to bring people together, from everywhere.