Let's get one thing straight right off the bat. I am supremely jealous of how Jon-Paul Dyson spends his workdays. I'll try not to let it color this article too much, but I can't make any promises. Dyson is the director of the National Center for the History of Electronic Games, a recently established institution housed right here at the Strong National Museum of Play. He's also the head honcho overseeing the super-awesome exhibit "Videotopia," better known as "Geek Heaven" in our house. But more on that later. First, let's talk about NCHEC.
The definition of play has been continuously redefined through the ages, so whatever your feelings are on electronic media, the fact stands that one can't look at play today without including video games. The folks at Strong understand this, and thus began adding electronic games to the collection of playthings they amass.
"We began collecting games, and by early 2009 had about 10,000 games. We had formed one of the most comprehensive public collections of electronic games," says Dyson. "When we realized how important this collection had become, we launched the institute in March."
Now estimated at about 15,000 items, the ever-growing collection includes not only games, but also electronic game-related advertising, packaging, literature, and other artifacts. Once combined, a study of this juggernaut of a collection yields a comprehensive overview of the full impact electronic gaming has on how Americans work, play, and learn. Are you gamers drooling yet? Sadly, not even a Triforce wish can open the doors of this treasure trove to the public until 2012, when a permanent interactive exhibit is scheduled to debut.
Since 2012 is a while away, Strong decided to serve up a nice little teaser of what's to come. Enter "Videotopia," an international traveling exhibit featuring about 100 fully restored old-school arcade games - all working, all playable, all still super-fun. Housed in a large room resembling the mall arcades of yore, "Videotopia" offers the opportunity to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong, blast Space Invaders, and once again experience D&D fantasies through the wonder of Gauntlet. At once it's the coolest timeline of the evolution of gaming that has ever existed, and arguably some of the most fun contained in one room, ever. And I can't lie: reliving my wasted youth spent plunking quarters into consoles also included letting out a squeal when I saw Galaga. Oh, Galaga, how I love thee.
Beyond the glee found in once again ruling the universe in the aforementioned Galaga, along with playing Centipede, Star Wars, Tetris, and many others, the exhibit offers a fascinating look at the history of the development of video games and their proliferation into popular culture. Placards placed throughout the exhibit gift visitors with long-forgotten (or oft-not-known) details about the games, re-associating names like Jobs and Wozniak with the game Pong instead of with iPhones and dancing shows. Games like Missile Command take on new luster when placed within the historical context of the Cold War, and interesting trivia can be discovered at every turn. Techno-nerds can trace gaming history from the first games to utilize microprocessors, vector, or 3-D graphics and ROM chips, and see how these games birthed the immersive titles we play with today.
Perhaps best yet, the air is once again gloriously filled with the cacophonous symphony of the arcade, and the wow factor is in full effect at every turn. "People come in and say, ‘Oh you have that! I haven't played that since high school!'" says Dyson. "What's amazing too - I don't know if it's body memory or what - but it all [playing] comes back to you very quickly."
Well, for some of us it does. Galaga and I are still BFFs (I ranked No. 3 high score, w00t!), but apparently I lost quite a bit of my Space Invader skills. I wasn't the only one: I witnessed several 30-ish types educating their younger brood on the significance of these games...and then promptly watching as the words "Game Over" populated their screen. However, as one might expect, there is a learning curve for those who are experiencing these games for the first time, especially kids raised on the complex-button-combination and strategy-based games of today.
"Kids respond well to it," Dyson says. "It's a great opportunity for parents to be with kids...one of the few areas with the younger generation where the parents are the experts and can teach."
All that said, it's just so damned cool. So much so, in fact, that it has enticed people that who aren't typical Strong Museum clientele - many of them teens and 20somethings - to wade through the strollers, bypass Big Bird, and make their way into the arcade, which is exactly what the museum wants.
"Everybody plays," says Dyson. "The museum, this exhibit, and its items are for the whole age spectrum, and an opportunity for the museum to expand our reach and continue to grow as our audience ages. We want to make them still feel like this is the museum they want to go to."
Perhaps it's nostalgia talking, but it's clear to me that something has been lost since games left the arcade and entered our living rooms. Sitting back from a TV screen and mashing buttons just doesn't compare with the complete immersive experience of being sucked into the world contained within a stand-up arcade game console screen. Beyond that, however, games like Sega's G-Loc Airbattle - a cabinet flight simulator complete with hydraulics that tosses the player around, or Prop Cycle, which defies the couch potato notion of gaming by requiring the pedaling of a stationary bike to pilot through a virtual world - truly offer an experience not even an interactive Wii can compete with.
Gaming purists will note the absence of the Doom/Mortal Kombat-type games that were rising stars in the early 1990's. Dyson was quick to point out their omission from "Videotopia" does not mean these games do not have their place in the canon of electronic media.
"This exhibit does not have violent games - doesn't mean they're not important, but it just means they're not here," he says. "But we can't tell the story [of electronic gaming] without the inclusion of such games in [the NCHEG] collection. We have to look at it interpretively, and one thing we can do is put them in the historical context."
Dyson is quick to defend all games, even those today that raise eyebrows due to suggestive themes and graphic violence. Although such games are actually a small percentage of games available, Dyson explained they are also the ones that seem to get the most scrutiny, something he feels should be taken with a grain of historical perspective.
"Every time you have a cultural revolution in play there are cultural fears that come with it," he says. "It's easy to forget, but there were just as many fears raised in the 1980's when video games first came out. People loudly voiced opposition to these games - but those games seem innocent compared to today."
Viewing electronic games with such contextual objectivity is what the NCHEG strives to accomplish. The center has garnered worldwide interest from researchers, and in response, a research space is scheduled to open this summer. "Videotopia" will remain at the Strong Museum through November. And Dyson will be there, playing right along.
"My mother wouldn't buy me an Atari when I was young, so this is my revenge," he says with a laugh. And what sweet, sweet revenge it is.
To learn more about the National Center for the History of Electronic Games, please visit ncheg.org.
Videotopia
Through November 1
Strong National Museum of Play, 1 Manhattan Sq.
$8-$10/includes four free tokens; $20 unlimited gamer pass | 263-2700, museumofplay.org
Mon-Thu 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri-Sat 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun noon-5 p.m.