Origin and inspiration
May 14th, 2009 by Ninja Dodo
There seems to be this notion in some circles that videogames are descended exclusively from traditional board- and card games and any influence from other sources is diluting the medium at best, or frustrated novel/movie-making at worst…
If you ask me, no one source is inherently more worthy than any other to serve as inspiration for this new medium. We should draw from whatever merits exploration, whether it be the mechanics of Monopoly, or the visual spectacle and character empathy of cinema, the introspection of literature, or the spatial exploration of architecture…
Certainly interactivity is the ingredient that makes games what they are, but the conclusion that any other medium that is interactive should therefore be our one guiding light is as flawed as assuming that any medium that is also visual must be our sole inspiration.
Surely there is room for more than one school of thought?