Bad Object 2.0: Games and GamersMain MenuIntroductionBad Object 1.0: TelevisionHollywood's critique of TVGames of the 1970sThe earliest depictions of video games on filmGames of the 1990sCultural anxieties and responsesGames of the 2000sViolence, sexuality and social normativityCounter-currentsExceptions and reconfigurationsMedia ChronologyA chronological gallery of all media included in this projectSteve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805G|A|M|E Journal
Games of the 1980s
12014-08-26T10:11:41-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805302551plain2014-09-04T15:16:57-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805A comparatively forgiving vision of video games is articulated by Hollywood throughout the decade of the 1980s, but it is important to make a distinction between the depiction of arcade and PC games vs. home console games during this period. Generally speaking, PC games are presented as coextensive with the emerging world of computer programming -- a technical skill with economic and professional rewards -- as distinct from home console games, which are strictly used for entertainment and therefore more closely linked with TV watching, a distinction that would grow increasingly stark in the decades that followed. Although "computer experts" were commonly featured in Hollywood narratives of the PC-era, the association of computer "hacking" with criminal activity was not codified in Hollywood until the early 1990s. During the 1980s, in fact, computer skills were often non-judgmentally linked with gaming skills, and PC-based game systems were seamlessly repurposed to other ends.
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12014-09-04T14:59:18-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805Games as Novelty2plain2014-09-04T15:21:16-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805
12014-09-04T15:07:18-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805Games and hacking1plain2014-09-04T15:07:18-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805
12014-09-04T15:03:16-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805Games and independence2plain2014-09-04T15:19:39-07:00Steve Anderson3e015d75989f7e2d586f4e456beb811c3220a805