What Games will Society Remember?

I've been wanting to have a good discussion about a topic for a while now, and I figured, hey, why not do it on TV Tropes? It's filled with well-learned and intellectual people, right?

Have there been any recently released games that have been memorable to society? No, I'm not asking if games in general have impacted society, as they obviously have (especially when actors, writers, and even politicians (somewhat infamously, to my dismay) can reference them, that ship has sailed.)

I'm asking, are there any games, aside from the obvious Pong and Pacman and Mario and such that are so embedded in pop culture, that will be remembered years from now, in the same way we remember things such as I Love Lucy or Dracula or On The Origin of Species, or The Social Contract.

This isn't about games that you find memorable, this is about games that society will find memorable. And again, outside of the obvious.

Also, please don't use this thread as a soapbox for what's "wrong" with gaming. Yes, I'm looking at you.

To sort of give an opening statement, or jumping off point (that doesn't necessarilly have to be used at all, if you have a good unrelated point to make, make it) I'll say this:

I feel that most of the most "memorable" games, or games that would be memorable, tend to fall more into the indie scene, and of course, those won't be remembered simply by their nature, unless we count stuff like Minecraft as indie. Yes, we have our Call of Duties and our Halos that are pop culture icons, but I don't think those will really survive the test of time, or more that I hope they won't, as having those as the "example" of games would be... troubling. They aren't bad, but gaming can be a lot more.

Maybe they will, survive, though. In fact, can we even really make a prediction about this? Did people in the days of I Love Lucy know it would be so remembered? Did John Locke, when writing the Social Contract, know it would form the basis of an entire nation? I'm interested to see people's thoughts on this.*

I do believe that at least the first four Call Of Duties will be remembered, particularly Modern Warfare, as that game was essentially what started the massive FPS boom from 2007 onward (even more so than Doom). Some people may not like it, but it had a huge impact on the gaming industry, and it's the things that make such an impact that get remembered. The ones that spawn many Follow the Leader attempts. Mario was the same way back during the NES days.

Aside from that, pretty much any games that received lots of critical acclaim for their unique gameplay and/or intriguing stories are also likely to be remembered. I believe that Mass Effect, despite the infamous third game, will be regarded a classic in the future, as well as many of Bethesda's games for the unique way that they mix exploration, storytelling, and combat. Once again, people may not like these games, but nobody can deny that they've influenced many other games released in their wake. How many times have you seen people compare dialogue options in games to Mass Effect, or certain open-world RP Gs to either Fallout or The Elder Scrolls?

World Of Warcraft will be remembered. It will probably even survive until the time of the hypothetical 'future society' who will be gatewayed in by Patch 15.0.1 or somesuch. After the game dies the terms and jargon it's seeded into so many other genres will endure at least until the collapse of the future-internet. I expect Diablo II to survive for at least that long as well due to the community being self-perpetuating.

The first two Starcraft games will continue to be played for even longer. Perhaps the second game will as well but it doesn't have as much of a chance.

Dwarf Fortress is already in the Smithsonian's video game collection. I think that one will be remembered. It's funny and complex and the goal is a full simulation of a real world, with added weirdness. And it's all done by ONE MAN.

edited 5th Dec '12 8:33:27 PM by Journeyman

Genres as a whole will probably be remembered strongest, and the most remembered games will be either the famed-makers or most prominent/well known examples of each genre. Stuff like Sim City, Civilization, Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Mario, etc for their respective genres.

I want to say Bioshock, but that's not likely.

For the sake of a safe choice, Street Fighter will probably go on and be remembered forever, outside of Capcom Sequel Stagnation and the yearly EVO competitions.

Red Dead Redemption, I thought it was the best game by Rocksteady in a while. Another would be Batman Arkam City due to it still being praised today.

Yeah I think trope codifiers will really stick in the memory. Mario, Final Fantasy, Doom, Sims,

The stuff that has the best chance of being remembered will be games that were successful firsts in their genre or for some reason became memetic fan-favorites. For example, everybody knows what Star Craft is, some remember that Command & Conquer was made before it, but nobody but the most hardcore remember that Dune 2 was the first true RTS. Likewise Metal Gear Solid 2 tends to have just as many critics as it does fans, but it's reputation is what will likely make it survive the test of time. The second possibility is if the game made massive, record breaking sales or had an extensive line of sequels, such as the Call of Duty series.

Mediocre or niche series like Persona, Bloody Roar, Banjo-Kazooie, World in Conflict, Perfect Dark, etc will likely fade away into being nothing more than footnotes, played by "retro" hardcore gamers who tinker with used gadgets and such.

Grand Theft Auto III will definitely be remembered, as it was both a massive success and was the Trope Codifier for the Wide-Open Sandbox genre in the early 2000's. The combination of popularity, innovation, and controversy will put this masterpiece in the history books.

Same goes for Final Fantasy VII and Elder Scrolls

Aside from some examples mentioned here, I think The Sims will be remembered for a long time. These games certainly haven't waned in popularity over the years, as far as I know, and are actually some of the most profitable ones.

Mortal Kombat would probably fit here as well, though the original one is fairly old, but still, there have been so many continuations of it released. I doubt they'll drop it soon. Besides, it's one of the most iconic fighting games ever, it's unlikely it'll be forgotten easily.

edited 6th Dec '12 2:54:45 AM by whataboutme

I wouldn't be horribly surprised if Sim City is the one more remembered despite it being more stagnant in terms of new releases. Codifiers and all that.

Pokemon.

It CAN be unpredictable though, Vindicated by History and all that...I mean, if you say to people in the past that Citizen Kane is gonna be remembered as one of the best film, they'll probably look at you funny...

Halo will. It was to alternate systems what the original Super Mario Bros was to the NES. Without it, there would have been no Call Of Duty boom. FPS games before that were largely Doom-clones and Unreal Tournament knockoffs. After Halo, things couldn't be the same if they wanted it to be.

Then you have the Expanded Universe stuff and the story of the games itself. Compared to most things, it's the Star Wars of video gaming.

edited 6th Dec '12 5:49:43 AM by MajorTom

Looking at my collection of games right next to me (which of course doesn't have download-only games, so I'll probably miss a few), here's what I think will be remembered:

• Final Fantasy. And if we need to name specific games, then FF 7.
• Mario, of course. Even ignoring spin-offs, there are still a few which will last on an individual basis.
• Zelda. Ocarina of Time seems the most likely to last individually, but a few others are similar like that too.
• Mario Kart. No particular game though; only the franchise as a whole.
• Donkey Kong; particularly the original Donkey Kong (which I guess was really a Mario game) and Donkey Kong Country.
• Sonic. Particularly the original three Sonic the Hedgehog games as a whole.
• Super Smash Bros, maybe. Only as a whole franchise though; it's not notable enough to last on any individual level.
• Metroid. I'm hopeful that Metroid Prime would be the "remembered" game, but Super Metroid has potential too.
• Guitar Hero, as a franchise.
• Pokemon.
• Kingdom Hearts, I think. Depends more on Disney than Square Enix I think.
• Street Fighter. Okay, so I actually have Tekken on my shelf here, but it reminded me of Street Fighter. No I don't think Tekken will be remembered that much.
• Metal Gear Solid.
• Simcity.
• The Sims. Yes, I think both it and Simcity will be remembered. Separately.
• Civilization. Purists will remember Civ2, but the public will only know the franchise as a whole.
• Warcraft. Particularly World of Warcraft, sadly. I never liked that one though. :/
• Starcraft. Thankfully there is no "World of Starcraft" to overshadow the actually decent games.

Other random thoughts:

• Halo. I think that it, above all other multiplayer shooters, will be the most remembered.[[hottip:*:If I were to name a more dedicatedly "multiplayer" shooter though, it'd be Call of Duty. As well as Halo.
• Duck Hunt, I think.
• Crash Bandicoot/Spyro. The original Playstation games only, mind you. No spinoffs or reboots, either.
• Tomb Raider. For all the wrong reasons.
• Half Life.
• Portal, maybe.
• Steam in general. Yeah that's not a game itself, but it is a very important part of gaming. Semi-relatedly, nobody will remember the Gameboy Advance.

Further in the future, this list will of course shrink significantly, and only the biggest will remain. Mario, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft*

And of course regarding both my long and short lists, I do not doubt that I am missing several series and games.

How "recent" is recent though? Because I can think of a few codifiers (Baldurs Gate for RP Gs) but they are quite old.

My thought when making the thread was 2008. But that seems a bit narrow now. I think 90s on could count as recent.

In that case I'll add Duck Hunt and the Prince Of Persia series to my list. Can't believe I almost forgot about them.

edited 6th Dec '12 12:24:50 PM by whataboutme

For the most part, they're games that were fads or controversial.

• Pong
• Pacman
• Super Mario Brothers
• Sonic (mainly due to console war)
• Farmville
• World Of Warcraft
• Mortal Kombat possibly
• Doom
• Angry Birds
• Grand Theft Auto
• Wii Sports
• Guitar Hero
• Myst
• The Sims (but not Sim City)
• Pokemon (how many realize it is a game?)
• Jury is still out on Minecraft
• Halo

Many of these will not be remembered by name, but in a sort of a diffuse "Remember that one game that everyone played" sense

Games that will probably not be remembered, much to the chagrin of internet gamers:

• Anything by Valve
• Baldur's Gate/Planescape Torment
• Metroid

None of these are bad games, but they are mostly unknown outside of gamer circles. The difficulty with recent games is that videogames really matured as a medium right around the great dissipation of pop culture that took place after the internet became widespread. Even back in the 90s, there was a pop culture that everyone was at least vaguely aware of. Now, though, pop culture is quickly becoming moribund and everyone is retreating to their preferred niche. You can't really break through to the big time when there is no big time left.

edited 6th Dec '12 1:03:35 PM by luomo

Nothing by Valve? Really? Not even Counter Strike or Portal?

Yeah, I'd put Counter Strike down as being remembered, if only because so many IT people have probably wasted time with it.

How about Quake?

I'll go and consider the playstation-era onwards as "recent". I won't cite games already famous back then, so of course no Mario, Zelda or Sonic.

• Pokémon
• Call of Duty
• The Need For Speed franchise
• Counter-Strike (at least where I live)
• The Grand Theft Auto franchise
• World of Warcraft

And I might have missed some.

And everyone in the entire world still plays it, from Mexico to Korea to China to Bosnia to the Philippines to France... if my friends who are from these places are telling me the truth, of course.

edited 6th Dec '12 6:06:42 PM by CPFMfan