An Outer Heaven For The Rest Of Us…

The Medium is the Message. That statement has grown detached from the larger framework that spawned it overtime, reduced to the t-shirt slogan-verse that loses the substance somewhere in the cotton blend along with such other pearls as “E=MC2″ and “Shit Happens”. And it doesn’t help that Marshall McLuhan’s work is so dense that it is easier to take the apparent final summation as the stamp of comprehension for the man’s life work.

So what the hell does it mean or matter, Doc? As a stand alone complex it is easy to take the word medium to mean a mode of media; radio, television, the Internet. That the intention then is to state that the means by which something is said determines what is being said. Often this is exactly what is interpreted, pulling the statement into an outdated argument of form vs. content until many declare that the message must be the medium. But that misses the point entirely.

McLuhan was focusing on the idea that every creation has obvious impact and change that was intended by the creator(s). But what he was far more interested in were those changes that were not foreseen or intended and often went unnoticed. He believed that these unobserved changes caused by a creation defined the true character of the creation, and were in fact the core nature of the thing in question. These unintended changes were ultimately the message of the creation. The medium was simply any creation that caused change. Often the direct content meant to pass through or as a result of the medium blinds us from the real character, the true message of the medium. What is being suggested is that we can only know the true nature, the character of a creation, or idea, via the unintended and less obvious changes that it creates around us or even within us. The message is the true potency and effect of a creation because it defies the intended impact and gives rise to unexpected, potentially chaotic change.

The “Get to the point Doc” relevancy of this for us isn’t immediately obvious, which is one of the many reasons we have yet to touch it with a ten foot theory pole. But in the games as “art” / “entertainment” / “comparison to film industry” fifth circle of hell loop debate of our time, we have the means to get beneath all the distractions of medium content that works to blind us and reach the core of the real and pressing argument. If we want to know what the nature of games / gaming is, we only need to dig deeper and look harder for those unintended changes that have taken place as a result of the industry’s development and implementation. We cannot be wrong in the conclusions from our search. We can immediately disregard original intentions in this search. It does not matter what companies, developers, visionaries, paper kings or wooden gods want us to believe. Their participation in the industry is of historical significance only, equaling nothing in the ideological identification of the new aesthetic culture. They may produce the direct content, but have no control over the final results.

Now I might argue that one unintended change was the grouping of people not nearly so linked by generational demographics as much as by a growing cultural identity. Perhaps rooted in marketed symbols and ideas, but fueled by more fundamental perceptions. The gaming industry has utilized elements of that identity and appropriated large portions of its spirit. Is this why we feel so strongly connected and invested in the industry? Because so many of the final productions are infused with a voice we know to be one with our own? Maybe that’s why I get so pissed off at the state of the industry today. We have been the test subjects in the development of new technologies, new landscapes, relative not only to hardware advancements but the worlds and ideas created. But we are entitled to nothing for our participation. Any icons we cherish are registered trademarks that owe loyalty to the market masters over the ideals we place within them. Any new titles that may speak to our voice, is only corrupted by our embrace. Success causes industry dissection, replication, and market analysis spawning inferior replicants meant to further cash in on that connection.

But every technological advancement in the industry comes with unintended changes. The introduction of CD technology to the industry certainly appeared to open the door wider for us, when it seemed possible that all people interested might have access to create and distribute their ideas and creations. But that is not the case today. Corporate entities have sealed those doors, and now three companies essentially determine what will be produced, and thus attempt to define the medium for us. And of course there is a thriving indie universe of production that spreads across the Internet, providing unique voices and perspectives through titles available for the PC masses. But is the PC not a sad consolation for a console? Is there not something unique, an identity within a console, a focus that emerges from a console? What we truly require is a console that we can appropriate for our own purposes. One made independent from its original creators and intent. In short, a console for the revolution, and for the ultimate identity of our cultural collective. And the medium will be the message. The unintended impact of their intention is that they have delivered us the means of accomplishing this immense task.

Anyone familiar with my Sega fueled rants in the past now prepares to watch me hoist my Dreamcast into the air and proclaim that “I have a dream”. Nothing would make me happier. But despite the significance of that gesture, the GDROM technology and lack of built-in Ethernet ultimately makes that impossible. The work of various factions within the unofficial framework of the DC Underground have been impressive to say the least. But it is a solitary experience where software is distributed via the Internet only to be burned and experienced independent of the community interaction necessary to take the movement further.

It is the uninspired and generic design of the original XBOX that best suits the current need of this ideal. The open PC nature of the hardware provides the necessary space for modifications while built-in Ethernet provides the ability to realize connections to a vast network that would allow each modified unit connection and interaction to all others.

It is only a matter of accepting the challenge. Of taking our mutual interests into our own hands and working collectively to define the new rules of the game. There is an opening, an opportunity for cultural change and the creation of a community independent of industry control. An autonomous zone where new ideas, media, and creative ventures flourish without the censorship of industry. And not only would independent game development thrive, but all other forms of creative expression would immediately have access to a new environment beyond market demands and legislative controls.

As lofty as the ideal may sound, it is the inevitable evolution and the only real direction for change. Whatever successful penetration into the industry has been made by outsiders must evolve to keep the razor edge of unique outsider status or ultimately collapse against the agenda of the industry. The status of the outsider will always be absorbed eventually into the industry and made to comply with the direction of corporate hive mentality.

So we have two paths stretching ahead of us. One road entrusted to the powers of old in new guises, where we have already seen the rewards for our passive acceptance and participation by their rules.

But the other may be the realization of the Global Village, where a tribal collective is finally realized and a new social organization can begin…