The Ivory Tower

June 2004

Invading Spaces, Defending Territories

"Are we not like those mechanical toys that endlessly continue to do the same gesture when everything else has changed around them?" - Bruno Latour

.Thump Thump Thump

Believe it or not, Space Invaders is more than 25 years old, which makes it older than many of the readers (and writers) of this column. Designed by Toshihiro Nishikado, it remains one of the most popular arcade games ever created. As we all know, Space Invaders is the quintessential space alien vertical shooter. Simple and addictive, the game requires players to destroy never-ending waves of aliens descending from the top of the screen. Confined in the lower part, the player moves left and right, firing straight up to keep them at bay and shooting the flying saucer for extra points. The original game can be played by one or two players, but it does not offer cooperative play.

Space Invaders is paradigmatic and seminal for a variety of reasons. It was the first arcade game ever adapted for the Atari 2600 home system. It was the "first target game to feature animated characters" (Herman, 1997: 34-35). It established the concept of the high score (although the game could not keep the players' initials). It was the first arcade game to "quickly infest untraditional establishments such as restaurants, supermarkets, and movie theatres" (Sellers, 2001: 36). Almost all the game historians also report that the game even caused a shortage of 100 yen coins in Japan. The game even caused one of the first crusades against videogames in Mesquite, Texas (as narrated by DeMaria and Wilson, 2002: 46). It had also been associated with one of the many diseases of the technological age, the "Space Invaders Wrist" (Herz, 1997: 17). Moreover, Chris Crawford calls it "an excellent metaphor for the frustrations of the individual in our society. All the social rules and institutions are arrayed against us; they march in lockstep as they threaten to suffocate us" (2003:20).

Thump Thump Thump Thump

At one point, Space Invaders even ceased to be a game to become a popular culture icon. It mutated into a form of street art (think about Parisian artist Space Invader, whose pixellated graffiti draws from the aesthetic of the original game). It also entered the sacred spaces of Art (like the American Museum of the Moving Image). It has been featured on CD covers like DJ Spooky's "Riddim Werfare". It inspired a line of clothing, courtesy of Joystick Junkies. Recently, the Republican party modified the original game to reinvent it as a political tool (John Kerry Tax Invaders).

In other words, Space Invaders was - and remains - about conquering "space". After Pong , it was the first game to successfully 'invade' not only public and private spheres, but also politics and fashion, music, and art. Species of [cultural] spaces.

In a sense, Game Studies are the new Space Invaders . Just like the menacing aliens, their appearance provoked both amazement and diffidence. Game studies have been often perceived as a menace, something that needs to be wiped out at sight. For a long time, academics have been considered like 'aliens', intruders, and trespassers by game designers, game journalists, game players, and even by other academics, who felt the urge to defend themselves from the apparent invasion.

The "shoot first, ask question later" attitude explains why, for instance, the debate between game designers and game scholars, so far has been simplistically framed in crass utilitarian terms. In other words, game scholars are abided by game designers only if they "prove" to be somehow useful. Notice that usefulness is implicitly defined as "providing better tools to simplify work" and/or "providing students that could be easily recruited in the industry". Many consider game scholars like those parasites we carry in our bodies. They are tolerated as long as they cooperate with the functioning of the system-as-it-is.

Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

My point is that collaboration is not subordination. While I do believe that a practical and pragmatic approach to games is essential, it is equally crucial that game scholars do not give up their right to think about games. Not just to think about making "better games" but to better understand the meanings, functions, and implications of existing ones. To investigate the reasons behind their staggering influence on contemporary society. To discuss, for instance, how and why videogames have become a tool for military propaganda. Game designers are not going to do that. If game scholars won't do it, who will? It's time for a digression. According to one of the many urban legends about Space Invaders , the game was originally going to use soldiers instead of aliens as the enemy to shoot down. Taito decided that it was politically unwise to encourage killing humans and so changed the soldiers into extra-terrestrials. It is an interesting story that needs further investigation. Bottom line: now that terrorists have replaced aliens as our videoludic nemesis and snuff has become TV's most popular genre, our conception of what is politically unwise has also dramatically changed. Today's video games are the most efficient weapons of mass distraction in depicting mass destruction: CNN stands for Counter-Strike News Network. Read: it is not just about polygons and power ups any more.

Thump Thump Thump Thump

When the first cinema and television studies courses were established in our universities, both politicians and media industry spokesmen felt these disciplines were utterly useless. "We do not need somebody to teach our kids how to watch a television show or a movie", they argued. Once again, their reaction was motivated by the fear of being "invaded", attacked, and colonized by hordes of Ivory Tower trolls. But again, it is the sheer uselessness of game studies that make them so precious. After all, we should never forget that playing games is rather useless as well. Therefore, I urge game scholars to engage into such blatant acts of "navel-picking" and "mental masturbation" (which is always good for hand-eye coordination) as asking ourselves, for instance: What is the relationship between game consumption and game production? What are the patterns that shape access to symbolic and material resources to games? What are the complex intersections between games and everyday life, as games are not simply texts, but practices? How do we link videogame playing to broader and global processes? Are videogame affecting the way we think about reality ? If so, how?

I believe it is necessary to rethink the cooperative interplay between game scholars and game designers, game journalists, game artists, and, least but not last, game players, whose importance is systematically neglected in the ongoing debate. We are not really doing it, yet: we are still in the foreplay. Videogames might deal with space, but they do not exist in a vacuum, separated from the rest of our culture. It is about time that we shoot that damn flying saucer for extra points.

...Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

References

Sellers, John (2001) Arcade Fever: The Fan's Guide to the Golden Age of Videogames , London, Philadelphia: Running Press.

Crawford, Chris (2003) Chris Crawford on Game Design, Indianapolis, Indiana: New Riders.

DeMaria, Rusel and Wilson, Johhny Lee (2002) High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games , New York: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media.

Herman, Leonard (1997) Phoenix, The Fall and Rise of Videogames . Union, New Jersey: Rolenta Press.

Herz J.C. (1997) Joystick Nation. How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds . New York: Little Brown and Company.

Latour, Bruno (2004) " Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern", Critical Inquiry, Vol 30, n° 2 pp.25-248.

--
Matteo Bittanti
Matteo Bittanti is the editor of "Ludologica. Videogames d'autore", a series of books that pay a critical tribute to the most significant video games ever produced. He teaches Video Game History and Criticism in Milan, Italy. Matteo lectured on game criticism at GDC.