Games and hacking
Steven Lisberger's Tron (1982) presented a uniquely personified vision of the functioning of software programs within a computer game system, via anthropomorphized characters and epic narrative struggles. Cinematically, the interface between operator and system combined the mundane drudgery of command line typing with visual spectacles of computer generated imagery in the context of a 3D video game world. The Walt Disney produced Tron also represented a symbolic point of origin for attempts to capitalize on corporate tie-ins between products of the film and games industries. Although Disney was disappointed by the relatively low box office returns for the movie, multiple games derived from the film outperformed film sales and kept the franchise alive long enough to warrant production of the sequel Tron Legacy in 2010.
The character played by Matthew Broderick in John Badham's WarGames (1983) accidentally stumbles into a defense department mainframe via phone modem while searching for games to play on his personal computer. Although he brings the world to the brink of nuclear destruction, Broderick's character remains exempt from condemnation within the narrative logic of the film. The same youthful experimentation that nearly resulted in catastrophe also provided the unconventional thinking that ultimately averts nuclear holocaust by trusting the artificial intelligence of the computer to learn about the futility of nuclear war by playing Tic-Tac-Toe. A likeable, white, middle class, suburbanite, Broderick's character would serve as a prototype for Hollywood's more forgiving treatments of gamer-hackers. However, Broderick's emotionally stable, nice-guy computer prodigy figure was destined to become increasingly rare, as both hackers and gamers grow increasingly linked with antisocial and criminal behavior in the decades that followed.