Even in today’s modern age, video games are an often underappreciated art form when it comes to wider society. The majority of gamers know the impact and value that video games can offer, but folk who aren’t interested in games often miss why they’re so special to fans.
While some video games do exist purely for the sake of entertainment and stress relief, there’s plenty of titles that hold a lot more meaning than people give them credit for.
In fact, video games are often a fantastic lens to look at society through and can tell us quite a lot about the people who play them.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how popular video games often correlate to a desire of the general public or to a deep-rooted fear that society holds. We’ll also be looking at the cultural significance of some seemingly shallow or silly titles, too.
Video Game Genres and the Current Zeitgeist
We’ll be using the word zeitgeist a few times in this article, so let’s take a quick look at what it actually means in this context.
German in origin, zeitgeist is a word that essentially means ‘spirit of the time’.
The term is often used when talking about a particular time or point in history, like the Renaissance or the roaring Twenties. It’s interesting to look at how the general vibe of a particular era is portrayed in popular media from that time, as things like films and games often tell us a lot about how people feel about the state of the world.
The inspiration for this article actually came from the popular theory that famous horror films often reflect the common fears of their era.
For example, the original Poltergeist film from the 80s can be taken to symbolize the then commonly held fear of new technologies entering the home and disrupting standard ways of living.
It’s possible to see the same parallels in video games. More often than not, you can look at a popular video game and unearth a reason why it’s so popular at any given moment.
Some of this may be deliberate on the part of the developer, some of it may be subconscious, and some of it may be pure coincidence. Let’s dive into a few specific examples of how video games can reflect what’s going on in society- either in terms of what people are scared of, or in terms of what they’re deeply craving.
She Sells Sea Shells On the Sea Shore
Being in lockdown was a truly jarring experience, and that’s putting it mildly. It was a frightening time that completely upended most people’s standard routine - so is it any wonder that one of the most popular games during this time period was Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
If you missed the ACNH boom, it’s a cozy life sim where you start a little village on a deserted island with cute animal characters. There’s no particular aim to the game. You can build a house, pay off the mortgage, pick fruit, speak to villagers, catch fish, and decorate your home. There’s a lovely crafting system and plenty of seasonal events to get involved with, too.
What really jumps out when looking at Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the comforting routine that it offers. There’s only a finite amount of things that you can realistically do in the game per day, and your island changes over time, too.
All in all, it’s an exceptionally comforting game, and it’s built in a specific, time-gated manner that encourages short to medium play sessions on a daily basis. It’s not possible to sit and grind out all the content in a week solidly, it’s a game that encourages you to incorporate it into your daily routine.
The music is soft and gentle, there’s no real conflict or struggle (except when you can’t find enough Iron Nuggets), and the characters are sweet, too.
The game might not reflect what society feared at that time, but it did offer something that people were desperately craving - routine, comfort, and stability.
There’s An Imposter Among Us
Following the theme of lockdown games, Among Us was hugely popular during this time period. The simple gameplay and pared back art style made it accessible for gamers of all experience levels, and content creators helped the game to skyrocket to new levels of popularity.
If you’re unfamiliar with the game, it’s somewhat of a murder mystery.
It’s a party game that places teams onto a ship, assigning the majority of players the role of ‘crewmate’ and a select few/one player the role of ‘imposter’. Crewmates must complete tasks and figure out who the imposter is, while imposters must attempt to kill the other players without getting caught.
Among Us is simple yet enjoyable, and the key takeaway here is that it focuses on teamwork.
Unless you’re an imposter, that is. If you’re an imposter, the game requires you to pretend to be working with the team. This can be quite tricky if you’re a bad liar- dead bodies are reported by other players, which leads to a meeting over voice comms with everyone in the game.
Lockdown left a lot of people feeling isolated- both in an emotional sense and a very literal sense. While a game like Among Us may seem silly to some folk, it was a free game with minimal requirements in terms of hardware or experience that allowed people to connect with their loved ones.
The popularity of this game was absolutely affected by other elements like Twitch streamers and YouTubers giving it publicity, but it’s fair to say that the fear of being alone or disconnected from loved ones during lockdown pushed a lot of people to check out Among Us and other similar party games.
Owlbear Off the Top Rope
Changing the theme slightly, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) games of the year was Baldur’s Gate 3. This legendary game had other studios scrambling when it came out.
Firstly, if you’re unfamiliar with BG3, it’s a fantasy role-playing game based off of the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The game offers a rich, vibrant world, with heaps of characters that have become internet icons.
Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players serious control over how they play. The character customisation is incredibly intricate, and there are 5 game modes which alter the experience entirely- including a custom mode which allows for fully tailored campaigns.
The level of immersion that BG3 offers is second to none, too. The story is well-crafted and it evolves with your chosen character. You can give your character a real backstory and arc, and develop bonds with your party members, too.
All of this is to say that Baldur’s Gate 3 offers people 2 things that many are desperately craving at the moment. No matter where you sit in terms of your beliefs and politics, it’s fair to say that we live in a turbulent and ever-changing world that many feel overwhelmed by.
Games like BG3 offer players a deep level of utter escapism, along with a sense of true control and autonomy. While this game may not represent a classic fear in the way that the Poltergeist film represented a deeproted fear from the zeitgeist of the 80s, it can be taken to represent something that people are yearning for right now.
Final Thoughts
We’ve only touched on a few examples in this article but it’s an interesting thought experiment to consider why popular games might be so popular.
What caused the recent uptick in Gacha games? What made MMORPGs like World of Warcraft so exceptionally popular back in the day? There are a myriad of reasons and contributing factors to consider, of course, but if you examine the game genres in depth, chances are that you’ll either find a commonly held fear or a common desire.
Even the wider genre of MMORPGs point to a desire for community and shared spaces, along with the need for routine and familiarity.
Video games can be incredibly surface level and silly, of course. There’s something to be said for the simple joy of taking down a tricky boss or shooting zombies just for the hell of it, and it’s a thankless task to try and assign meaning to every single choice made by every single game development team.
It is worth looking at how video games can represent the common fears and desires in the current era, though. They can indicate wider trends in society, and the response to video games featuring common fears and desires is also worth examining as well.
It’ll be interesting to see how video game developers continue this conversation in coming years. Will we see more of a lean towards cozy and comforting titles? Or will we see more dramatic, violent titles that act as cathartic releases for gamers? It’s hard to say right now but it’s sure to be interesting to watch as a fan.
