Time travel doesn’t require a magic potion or a Back to the Future DeLorean. Sometimes all it takes is a familiar scent, sound, or taste. For me, it might be smelling popcorn, hearing a favorite Christmas carol, or seeing the cover of a once beloved but forgotten book that sends me back in time. I had a vivid time travel reaction recently when the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at the Strong acquired an extensive collection of Golden […]
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Criticism of Video Games is Déjà Vu
The next time someone criticizes video games for their impact on moral values, here’s some historical perspective to offer them.
More than 200 years ago, commentators expressed concern that the newly popularized novels distracted readers from their work and harmed their morals. Critics worried especially about young women who became some of the most avid fans of novels. In an 1802 broadside, “Novel Reading, a Cause of Female Depravity,” one critic wrote, “Without the poison instilled [by novels] into the blood, […]
Rolling through Life with Kismet
My grandmother loved to play all kinds of games. In fact, I probably inherited my love for games from her. When my sister and I would show up on Nana’s doorstep and ask her to play a game with us, she would stop whatever she was doing and say, “Go pick out a game from the closet.” The closet’s trove of options included games such as Trouble, Sorry!, Po-Ke-No, and Don’t Spill the Beans. But our number one pick was […]
Romance in Video Games
Winter brings romantic holidays and parties with mistletoe and Dean Martin singing “Baby’ It’s Cold Outside.” When the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, we pucker up. And then a month later, we send sappy confessions of love and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. Love is a beautiful thing, but I despise all this commercialization. Mistletoe is an overrated garnish. And I can’t justify spending four bucks on a Hallmark greeting (no matter who the recipient is) that reads “I […]
What’s a Girl to Do?
Kids often use play to explore adult roles, and toy and game makers are only too glad to produce playthings that tap into that behavior. The museum’s collection includes a group of games that provide revealing illustrations of adult perspectives on how kids can or should envision their roles as adults.
In the late 1960s, Selchow & Righter, most famous for Parcheesi and Scrabble, produced board games titled What Shall I Be? in variations tailored to boys and girls. A competitor […]
Final Fantasy Video Game Concert Series
Recently, my husband and I made our way through the crowded hallways of the Sony Center in Toronto to hear Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. As we took our seats in the mezzanine, musicians on the stage below tuned instruments and briefly practiced music. I sat back in my seat and watched the crowd stream in—women in evening gowns, men in suits, teenage girls in elaborate Gothic Lolita dresses, and others in full video-game-character cosplay outfits. My crowd-watching ceased […]
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Monsters and Marshmallows: The Allure of Breakfast Cereal Characters
I miss my favorite vampire. No, not Edward Cullen or Bill Compton—I’m in Count Chocula withdrawal. Ever since this chocolaty breakfast cereal became a seasonal specialty at my local supermarket, I’ve spent 11 months per year convincing myself not to purchase a 12-pack online. It’s a somewhat irrational love, isn’t it? Count Chocula has never had a TV series of his own. He exists solely to advertise a product in animated commercials. Somehow, though, he enticed me into his dark, […]
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The Squirrel Says “Go Fish”
Some 135 years ago, four squirrels romping merrily through the woods met an unfortunate end. But, fortunately for us, those squirrels found a place in a playful diorama in the museum’s collections. Situated in a well-decorated parlor, the four squirrels are now posed in an eternal game of cards. That made them a perfect illustration for the induction of playing cards into the National Toy Hall of Fame a month ago. But before the diorama could go out on exhibit, […]
Advertising Real-World Products in Video Games
Whether the advertisements we see all around us are the brainchilds of Madison Avenue or of the local lawn care company, we cannot seem to dodge the onslaught. And it extends well beyond traditional product placements in newspaper, radio, and television. Corporations now place their advertisements on escalator steps, sidewalk trash receptacles, and even on restaurant bathroom stalls.
As if all that were not enough, now we increasingly find advertisements embedded into video games. Historically, few companies used product placements in […]
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