We all have played video games, whether you played candy crush on a mobile in a subway, or a console in the comforts of your living room, or in a technocracy RGB multi coloured water-cooled computer room, the thing is no matter what your age is – you still played a type of video game. But how did advancements in gaming technology lead to the the rise of a supercomputing and change in society as we know it ?
Well, it all started in the 80’s with the arcade games like “Pac Man”, “Super Mario”, and “Donkey Kong”. The compact size of these machines as well as the ability to play multiple times without any signs of fatigue made it economically profitable – and addictive – to business who have implemented this system in their “kids play zone”. Moreover, these machines turned out to be super addictive to play with and the minimal wear and tear of these devices meant that it could be use for years to come by.
However competition soon rose as sometimes playing the same game might turn out to be a mundane task, so some companies took a drastic approach and invested in more graphically improved games and also in a 3D environment, which turned out to be a Massive hit as the intriguing 3D world and levels/chapters/missions made the games a whole lot more immersive. The biggest historical change in gaming and graphics (using a graphic card which does multitasking) took place when the video game “DOOM(1993)” got released. Such lightings and storylines – stored in a compact storage space – were the state of the art. (although a lot more choppy as compared to modern gaming standards, it did paved a way for more computer intensive games as well as casual games like Flight simulators or minesweeper).
Video gaming and games released since Doom(1993) became a lucrative business. Companies like Sony and Microsoft released dedicated powerful computers in the late 90’s to early 2000’s, called consoles, and games for this specific reason – gaming. With the rise of mini computers, internet, and graphical performance for gaming, came an unintended yet favourable side effects: VFX, digital movie editing, and content creation. The graphics processing and decentralization in computer architecture in the early-mid 2000’s made it favourable and easy to edit pictures or videos on computers in mere hours than days taken traditionally done. Movies like “Toy-story”, with its 3D rendering and calm storyline spawned in a whole genre of animation, while the movies like star trek used CGI’s to its advantage. And with the release of YouTube – multiplied with the ease of editing- gave birth to content creators/ online celebrities.
But games like “Crysis” with its immense environment, “Portal 2” with its ground breaking storyline and game physics, and “Minecraft” with its simplicity and versatility, ever so exponentially rose the standards of gaming graphics, vanishing the line between what’s real and what’s virtual. Moreover the feedback loop of funding research on gaming technologies correlates with mobile- and VR (virtual reality) technology, hence not only does it make the game fully immersive, but also could pave ways for actual research and problem solving. One of these positive outcomes it had on society was that Gamers used their stratigec techniques to cut down research time taken for finding DNA and cures for diseases as well as US Airforce using Ps3 to build a super computer . Moreover the VR improvements is also being used in brain-machine interface research and Virtual offices. Infact, the Nvidia’s new Graphic card/processor is so advanced that it can simulate physics in real time, as shown here:
Moreover esports is also being considered a real sport and several studies have shown that video gamers have a faster processing speed and much faster reflex reaction time. Unlike a regular person, experienced and pro gamers (even casual gamers) have a permanent boosting effect on their hand-eye coordination, whether its a 3D shooting game like “Call of duty” , or a casual game like “Purble palace” or car racing game like “Need for Speed/Forza Horizon”, or just a casual yet artistically stunning game “Horizon Zero Dawn”, these do have a net positive effect in processing functions and could lead to better decision making in life.
“The cake is a lie” – Portal
Have fun and play games!
I think everyone can relate to playing video games at some point in their life. It is a favorite pastime for many. It’s super amazing for me to see how video games have evolved from Pacman all the way to the new crazy Microsoft flight simulator which has the entire world mapped. Gaming has done a lot of great work for GPU development which in turn is what is now used to train AI models. If it weren’t for the gaming industry Artificial intelligence would not be at the point it is today. Gaming and video games have truly changed the world in many different ways.
You are so right about gamers (professional and casual) having better hand-eye coordination than someone who doesn’t play video games. I have a brother and several friends who religiously play video games and often times invite me to play. I am absolutely awful because I lack the hand-eye coordination needed to play the game. It’s so impressive to me how quickly they can think and move their characters around the gaming arena – without even looking at the controller/keyboard! Even though I am absolutely terrible at playing them, I think video games are very fun and good for people (when paired with a balanced life). I enjoyed reading! Thanks for sharing!
You are extremely knowledgable about the history of video games and computer development! I never realized how much electronics have developed within the last few decades. It’s interesting that technologies primarily developed for video games have led to advancements in other industries including film and data analytics. I’m sure the new physics simulators on the graphics card you noted will enable faster research in many different fields.