Should video gaming be represented in Trek?

[Mark_Nguyen]

In the 60s, there WAS no video gaming - so they get a pass. In TMP, TSFS and a few isolated examples (notably TNG "The Game") cabinet-style and even headset-worn games are seen. But pretty much through the entire TNG-ENT era, there wasn't a game console to be seen, nor any rough analog aside from the holodeck. That worked just fine as a catch-all metaphor for what people do on their down time, but I'm talking about something more profound.

Today though, egaming and esports are a multi-billion dollar industry that permeates modern Western culture. Should this be represented in Trek somehow, and if so, how? Humanity is supposed to have largely gotten over their hang-ups with respect to current-day entertainment and addictions thereto, but we've seen anachronisms like movie night on the NX-01 (and a film industry in that era), as well as recordings of sporting events. What about the egaming in the future?

Would there be leagues of people playing in virtual war machines, not in a holo-environment, but through fancy 3D screens with controllers and all? Would people be playing more than pen pal chess over light years between colonies, assuming subspace communications would allow the bandwidth? I really can't see a future that is ONLY holodecks and Ready Player One-esque immersive games.

It seems that there would be very few technological limitations in the Trekkian future that would prevent the evolution of classic console gaming while still remaining familiar to people today. Thoughts?

Mark

 

[Lord Garth]

I think there's still some form of TV in Star Trek, even if it's not called such. In "The Neutral Zone" Data said TV didn't last much passed 2040. I used to think that was ridiculous. Nowadays, I can see how that would happen. I watch almost everything online. And whatever I don't is on Netflix.

With video-gaming, all of it is consoles in front of a monitor, TV or not. But if you can interact with or be surrounded by your environment instead, I think most people would opt for that... except there are only so many holodecks on each ship, so...

... I agree with you. They should have some form of entertainment consoles or video-game consoles in individual quarters.

 

[The Old Mixer]

n the 60s, there WAS no video gaming

But there was pinball.

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[F. King Daniel]

It is, it's called the holodeck. We're already starting down that path with our VR games.

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[thribs]

One of my favourite episodes that one.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Some people still like to play non-VR though.

Not TV, but this appears to feature a screen-based game: https://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Highest_Score

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I’m one episode Jake is playing Dam-Jat on a pad.

So we have one element of proof we can extrapolate to mean it’s still common.

I don’t think it needs to be a plot point. There are only specific cases where it’d enhance the story. It adds nothing to the narrative to show a guy sitting in his quarters mashing buttons. Even in coop it’s not inherently a social activity and that makes it hard to use to develop characters. And you could use video games as a vignette to establish a character conflict, but then you run into issue of people sitting there mashing buttons being too visually blah for a visual medium.

 

[Captain Killy]

Why would I want to “play” Lara Croft, when I could simply walk into a Holodeck/suite and *be* Lara Croft?

Of course, Holodeck and Holosuites require reservations so you can’t just fire up a game on a whim, so I’d image some forms of computer or AR type games do still exist.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Why would I want to “play” Lara Croft, when I could simply walk into a Holodeck/suite and *be* Lara Croft?

Because running and jumping is exhausting and real-life Lara Crofting would stop being fun after about 3 minutes.

 

[Captain Killy]

Because running and jumping is exhausting and real-life Lara Crofting would stop being fun after about 3 minutes.

Umm, I don’t think that’s exactly how it would work...

 

[Tuskin38]

Umm, I don’t think that’s exactly how it would work...

People still get tired on the Holodeck.

 

[Captain Killy]

People still get tired on the Holodeck.

No doubt. My point being that on the Holodeck you live out the story not the actual game mechanics. And to my mind, that’s preferable to playing a 2d computer game...

 

[Lord Garth]

Not applicable to ENT and DSC... but back in the early-'90s, during the days of TNG, I would've thought it odd to see a 40-year-old playing a video game. They were out there, but they were the exception back then. I can say first-hand that the demographics, in general, have broadened for sure.

I think that the writers, at least during TNG, and maybe even DS9/VOY, were letting their perceptions influence their writing of downtime habits. "They're too old for video games!" That might at least explain why they weren't seen in those series. By the time of ENT (when that excuse wouldn't have worked anymore), B&B were too set in their ways.

So DSC has a chance to shake things up. And I actually kind of want to see the freak reaction thread of someone posting "They're playing video games?!?!! Canon violation!!!!!" Because you just know there'll be at least one person like that.

... but I think all the jumping around and moving around on the holodeck would keep people in shape. It would be an alternative to sports or aerobics.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Umm, I don’t think that’s exactly how it would work...

I got exhausted playing Rick and Morty VR on PS4, and that's mostly about standing still.

(One of my most amazing-yet-embarrasing gaming moments *ever* came when I was crouching down to get open a fridge in Rick's garage and reached out to steady myself on a desk that wasn't there...)

 

[at Quark's]

Why would people still play videogames when you have the holodeck? Perhaps for quick, 3-minutes casual games and anything more elaborate takes place on the holodeck. Perhaps because the holodeck isn't always available. And perhaps there's kind of a 'niche' interest in such oldfashioned forms of entertainment, much like some people today take up training with bow and arrow, or muskets.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yeah, that's like asking why play checkers now when you can play human checkers with two teams of twelve players as pawns that you have to leapfrog over (jump) or ride on the back of (kings). More suitable for a quiet restful activity than a marathon.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't think holodecks replace the need for video games. Playing a game on the holodeck isn't the same as playing a video game. Look at how many people prefer retro style games now over modern games, it's not all nostalgia, sometimes simpler control schemes are more fun.

Most of the holonovels we see, besides the ones that are sexual, are more like acting a part in a play than they are playing a game.

Another integral part of playing video games for most people is the part where you're, you know, sitting down.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Simpler games could also fill a niche where holosuites aren't readily available. I doubt that every household has one, though people like the workers on Robert Picard's vineyard might be able to go into town and use one.