Will Wright writes on how videogames are unleashing human imagination

The human imagination has no bounds, no limits. Will Wright, guest editor in Wired writes and explains how videogames today are unleashing human imagination. He writes about how we, as children, have spend much of our time in imaginary worlds, substituting toys and make-believe for the real surroundings that we were just beginning to explore and understand.

The games have changed, it is no longer the toys the previous generations knew. A whole new generation has grown up playing videogames.

Wright says;

In an era of structured education and standardized testing, this generational difference might not yet be evident. But the gamers' mindset - the fact that they are learning in a totally new way - means they'll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact videogames will have on our culture.

He goes on to say this about people's skewed view on gaming:

Society, however, notices only the negative. Most people on the far side of the generational divide - elders - look at games and see a list of ills (they're violent, addictive, childish, worthless). Some of these labels may be deserved. But the positive aspects of gaming - creativity, community, self-esteem, problem-solving - are somehow less visible to nongamers.

So it's time to reconsider games, to recognize what's different about them and how they benefit - not denigrate - culture. Consider, for instance, their "possibility space": Games usually start at a well-defined state (the setup in chess, for instance) and end when a specific state is reached (the king is checkmated). Players navigate this possibility space by their choices and actions; every player's path is unique.

Then he presents his opinion by saying;

Games cultivate - and exploit - possibility space better than any other medium. In linear storytelling, we can only imagine the possibility space that surrounds the narrative: What if Luke had joined the Dark Side? What if Neo isn't the One? In interactive media, we can explore it.

As computer graphics advanced, game designers showed some Hollywood envy: They added elaborate cutscenes, epic plots, and, of course, increasingly detailed graphics. They bought into the idea that world building and storytelling are best left to professionals, and they pushed out the player. But in their rapture over computer processing, games designers forgot that there's a second processor at work: the player's imagination.

Well said right, we give it to you. I hope there would be many who would agree with you and just as many who wouldn't. But only time will tell how stupid it was for some part of (the evolving) mankind to look down upon videogaming once upon a time.

Read the full article here in Wired. Thanks!