Many industries enjoy rapid growth with new advents in
technology, and computers are no exception to the rule. However, the birth of
computers heralded a somewhat lacking 'baby shower '; that is, no one knew what
to do with them!
Originally, computers were designed to do what was
'said on the tin': compute mainly numerical data at a rate exponentially higher
than any human, and were classically massive mainframes. However, as the
Commodore 64 (and other personal computers) entered the commercial market, and
indeed, 'personal computers' entered the lexicon, a smaller, more attractive
consumer package was implemented. A few decades later, and it seems that most
households in western society have multiple personal computing devices,
including laptops, iPhones, tablets, and the like, and in our contemporary
society, the range of uses of these devices are seemingly unparalleled and
infinite.
But what were they used for originally? Apart from the
previously-mentioned number crunching, a key component of operating your
computer was writing your own code for your own programs. This quickly grew
into a hobby for most, and eventually paved the way for the first video games.
Though very simple, usually text-based, games at
first, these quickly grew in popularity and complexity, and created a new
computer games industry that has grown into what we know today.
Computers have also bridged the gap in information
transmission, with the internet allowing us to find out news on the other side
of the world literally live, as it happens. This has also been translated into
the video games we enjoy today, whether it be taking your Xbox online with Xbox
Live or comparing your Angry Birds high score on an online leaderboard with
anyone.
An interesting example of the combination of gaming
and communication is Peter Molyneux’s game studio, 22Cans, and their project Curiosity
– What’s Inside the Cube?, where the overall goal is to find out what is
inside a virtual cube. You can only remove one ‘cubelet’ at a time (which is
pixel-sized), and the whole world is working on slowly chipping away at this
cube, but only one person will find out what’s inside.
Sources:
Curiosity
– What’s in the Cube?, viewed 30th July, 2013, Document URL <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_%E2%80%93_What's_Inside_the_Cube%3F>
Swalwell, M, 2012, ‘Questions about the Usefulness of Microcomputers
in 1980s Australia’, Media International
Australia, no. 143, pp. 62-77.
