Well, Dan Avidan has.
So, in my last post, I reminded you about how I was putting together this internet hall of fame, but I didn’t elaborate on it much. The reason I want to bring this up again is because I somehow want to extend to you, the reader, the experience of how this sort of curation can yield certain dialogues that you might not have expected when starting out. For example, I started out with the kind of videos that I understand the most, that is, videos created by writing, editing, and performing. We started with video games and then we added movies, and there will be more stuff coming from other new categories, as well. But what about videos that don’t really require editing or writing? Obviously, the internet has a lot of those. Do we add to the hall of fame Sparks the kitty, that does that cute little thing with the box? It doesn’t really seem to fit. But what about Game Grumps, the YouTube channel that features a couple of guys playing video games – and that’s it?
What do we do when we are observing something with a perhaps unidentifiable and unquantifiable quality that, although having no discernible label, is noticeable in both its presence and absence? Not only that, but how do you pin this quality onto something when it’s not always there?
Sometimes, Game Grumps is pretty good, but not always. But then, I’m not sure if I fit into their biggest audience demographic. And that’s okay. They should be thankful for having an audience demographic, perhaps more so if that demographic is a little different from themselves. And they do seem to be thankful. But in terms of entertainment, some episodes really knock it out of the park for me. And maybe the simple fact is that these guys just are entertaining, except when they’re not. Perhaps the problem has something to do with the art of improv. I also tend to think that when the dialogue gets off of the game in front of the people playing it, the entertainment suffers. For example, in one of the most entertaining episodes to date, the P.T. demo (10 million views), the dialogue stayed on-game the whole time. At any rate, when deciding for the hall of fame, I want to see each candidate for their best. And for me, that’s going to be Dan’s solo adventure game series.
Now, I usually go to Game Grumps for laughs, but these videos are special. I really wish Dan had kept going with these, but I’m not sure how big of an audience there is for this kind of thing. While playing through Sierra’s Space Quest adventure games, Dan shows himself to be quite the capable host, taking the audience on a tour of what might be a rather inaccessible experience for most, all while keeping the dialogue going with his smooth, mellifluous voice. And it’s a tour that’s worth taking. It is worthwhile to experience old PC gaming in its best possible light instead of complaining about its lack of modern conveniences because putting the games in this light helps us understand how they were first played and enjoyed. This is almost, if not equally, as important as game preservation by itself. How many books have been preserved in libraries without most people ever having known how to appreciate them? Of course, I do take that to be the bigger problem. Nevertheless, we may have learned something from Dan, here. And that makes Game Grumps good enough for the Internet Hall of Fame.
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