Something that sometimes comes up in the discussion surrounding game prices is how preferable things are now compared to the age of arcades. Certainly, you’re probably getting more hours of entertainment per dollar than you would have playing quarter-guzzling arcade machines, and games have advanced massively since those days by just about every metric. Even so, I’m now convinced that gamers lost something important when arcades largely went away, and we’d stand to benefit massively if they were to make a comeback.

I started thinking about this not too long after I moved out here to Japan a few years ago and visited my first Japanese game center, but the really struck me hard after I visited one of the handful of retro arcades still operating in the heart of Tokyo. While game centers are for everyone, this place was a true arcade, the kind of place that only appealed to real gamers. Even at 30+ years old now, I’m still too young to have actually experienced real arcades in America, but I imagine that they would have felt very similar to this place.

Rather than the clean, almost antiseptic smell of a modern game center, this place smelled like a bowling alley. The lights were dim and the customers were all in their 20s, 30s and 40s as opposed to the young kids, couples and parents the frequent the normal places. There were leaderboards for high-scores hanging over a staircase to the second floor, tournament rankings and even someone MC-ing some sort of free-for-all event going on at two of the cabinets for a WWF fighting game. 

Racers and classic arcade cabinets lined the walls of the first floor, old shoot ‘em ups the second, and the center of the upper floor was filled with all manner of arcade fighters networked together for VS play, just as they were always meant to be! None of the games were exactly cheap at 100 yen a play, but that “play” could easily last half an hour, and the atmosphere was of the relaxed sort found only in spaces where you’re actually meant to just hang out. This was a true space for people who love video games! You could even say it felt like home in a way. So now I just can’t help but wonder if this is what we’ve lost back in the States? If so, it’s truly a heavy one. 

Where can a gamer go these days to just hang out and play games with like-minded strangers anymore? I can’t think of one. Heck, I don’t think there were many left even when I was a kid. We are, and have long been, all stuck at home playing by ourselves for the most part with the only breaks coming through occasional scheduled hang outs with friends. People talk about the “gaming community,” but I found it hard to actually see the “community” in this hobby.

We talk online in places like this, sure, and that’s nice, but where’s the face-to-face interaction? Probably only at semi-occasional conventions and fighting game tournaments now, and I just don’t think that cuts it. Not anymore, anyway. 

There are things that can be done, fortunately, but they do take some effort. The best would probably be organizing regular IRL meetups for gaming, but there are some unfortunate caveats to it. It can be expensive for the organizer, as arranging space for anything tends to be. And it could be dangerous depending on where you live. One advantage of the old arcades was that they were business first and often had the means to deal with rowdy folk. It also helped that the prevailing culture at the time greatly discouraged acting like a jerk in public, which isn’t really the case anymore.

An alternative could be to find out if you have any local gaming-centric shops or even one of the few remaining classic arcades in your area and become a regular. Even if it’s just a store, it’d probably be a good place to meet some fellow game fans and from there organize a good group (since everyone would have been vetted beforehand). It might take some effort, but it’s the sort of thing that’s absolutely worth it (as I’ve been discovering here). Gaming need not be such a lonely activity, not if you don’t want it to be.

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Of course, it’s perfectly fine to just enjoy your hobby on your own. It’s what most of us do after all. I’m just thinking that things have gotten a bit too disconnected these days and wanted to discuss making it a little less so, you know? Anyway, what’s your take on the state of gaming these days?

Image by Flickr user: LonelyBob.