Word: myst
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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ADVENTURE Gorgeous graphics, ingenious puzzles and barely a dead body in sight. No wonder ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME and RIVEN (sequel to MYST) have become so popular with kids and parents. Without the visceral fear of losing "lives," players concentrate on cracking codes, exploring imaginary worlds and enjoying the scenery...
...found most of these games oddly compelling. In the same way that Myst and Riven create places you can get lost in, the hunting titles I tried nicely evoke the great outdoors: wind blowing through the pines, boots crunching through crusty snow, the howl of a coyote in the distance. Hunting is an atavistic thrill: staking out a spot in the virtual woods and waiting quietly for a buck; centering it in the crosshairs and shooting it were satisfying in a primal, I-eat-meat kind of way. I preferred the GT titles. Deer Hunter II was more straightforward...
...thriller. Why watch The Terminator when you can be the Terminator, tapping into your own fight-or-flight feedback loop and blasting and stun-gunning your way to the happily ever after? Imagine when more cerebral entertainments such as Riven (the sequel to the best-selling CD-ROM game Myst) are the program equals of TV. Instead of sitting back and watching the Seinfeld characters interact with one another, you could hang out with them. Follow Kramer around until you get bored, then hook up with George...
Electronic games like Pac-Man, Tetris, Doom and Myst are the totems of a generation and have etched an indelible imprint on the American psyche. Or so J.C. Herz, the 25-year-old author of Joystick Nation (Little, Brown; 230 pages; $23.95), would have her readers believe. For as Herz sees it, video games aren't just kid stuff; they are "theme parks of the mind" that reflect the fears, fantasies and desires lurking in every human soul...