Biologically i am not old, currently i count my 35th year of lucky survival on our planet so far. But computer graphics and modern taste's wise sure i am dinosaur.
As everything with computers and internet related - you become obsoleted with your new computer even at the moment when you just about to buy newest one.
And it truly is like that. Hadn't played anything for decade, and suddenly when i see new stuff i am like a vampire obliterated from "the light"
Rioting might be good thing, Taron. As much as we like much of old stuff, even much of gems and classics that i would like to somewhat appraise from standpoint
of computer graphics, computer art and development era of CG, with all the innovations, ingenuity and most of all artistic passion --> yes, even with all of that
its truly evident how sadly much of stuff mostly gravitates towards primitive reflexing, violence and competition ego adrenalin pump. Its as if pretty much just a
a few, rare individuals were up to crossing the lamestream and explore non-competitive value landscape for game mechanics!
I want to give one example. Once at one friend's home where he had his IBM PC, i saw him playing SimCity 2000. Love its graphics! The whole game is gem. But
sadly, when i think about it nowadays - ... on a surface the game is the marathon of peace compared even to it's era games, all those crazy shooters. Yet still
evidently the game is about lamestream - build inhumane block-ish, prison-grid like cities, carry on with infinite growth, count the money, count the banking;
practice, get accustomed to, normalize and funny-lize the clerk approach instead of scientific methods for managing such complex system as modern city and
get away with it

It's a game of primitive, competitive, impulsive, addicted to growth-mania impulses at the end of the day
Or another more radical example. Who doesn't know C&C Red Alert? Played in my early youth. Played for first time at computer café since hadn't personal computer
at home back then which changed later on with a help and magic of a father's wallet and curiosity to get this thing called 'computer' and have a closer look at it.
Red Alert is outright one, huge violence. I happened to discover just recently that now you can play it online, for free - you get even free installer and it works on
modern OS. For some rare evenings one friend of mine, who is an engineer, invited me to remember this thing from our youth times. Of course, its pretty cool to
have this hassle-free crazy virtual combat - adrenalin works, and everything is cool and fun. But i can't at the same time not to feel sad that after all we did were manipulated
into those dangerous values - all this infinite competition, infinite wars, infinite destruction, so easily. And childhood memories hook up to those game names, experiences and
whoala - you get strange mix.
I certainly do feel that something is missing and it is certainly more collaborative games on difficult topics, such as economy simulators. Imagine having something like Red Alert
only were you are not waging war but building something together, and if there is any sort of combat and struggle than it is against natural law consequences and dynamics. I figure,
why it couldn't be just as thrilling to have simulated experience (online game

) where collaborators by using tools try to build and sustain some difficult logistics, humane economy
process or engineering effort while encountering natural difficulties - earthquakes, power outages, random events, technical failures, planning mistakes instead of focusing interest on
just beating each other. Let the parts of nature dynamics be "the villain" - you can still have your struggle but you don't fight anymore people or other individuals; you learn to simulate
and train collaborative reflexes and curiosity attachment to cooperative mode instead of infinite monkeys in our heads
Of course, monkeys are fun as was Doom and Warcraft (you name your favorites). Of course....
So, i saw that even Civilization and SimCity "do not" cut it - they still focus on competition, annihilation and as Taron rightly pinpoints - to everything lamestream at the end of the day.
(Damn, but i still somewhat love SimCity 2000; just ...can't not to share admiration of its code, of its existence and accomplishment of creating such simulator.)
I heard but never played abut game, called something like Spora or Infuzoria or something biological in its name. Can't remember correctly and too lazy to google-check now. What it
was, if i correctly recall --> some sort of online mmorpg for virtual organic evolution imitation. Something from 2000's. I stopped playing games back then but this thing got into my memory.
I don't know if there also main focus was mainly and mostly on competitive strategies and behavior instead of something also along lines of collaboration but i think that game was
something along "new lines", slightly different from usual gaming environment values. Well, honestly... don't remember precisely but memory "tells" me like that. And by the way, yes, there
most likely might be also few even old gems which did the same - stepped out of lamestream "box".
What i also have been thinking about was slowly manifesting idea that after finally finishing university (i have only diploma work left but its a real struggle and will be for some time), somewhere
"there", in future

i probably will try to start coding a crude, very ultra primitive prototype of non-competitive/ no-violence game - a simulator of a robotics base economic operations on Moon
with an emphasis on logistics/science of operational research/ resource-indexing and gathering and optimal working with no banking, no human clerks, no politician and ego interference but with
imitations of naturally occurring hardships like sudden failures, electric failures, logistical mistakes, flaws and errors. I learned to appreciate some scientific calculation tools - Matlab / GNU Octave
during university challenges. I know that somewhere long ago, in a dinosaur era there was a SimCity-like game on Amiga console about Moon base were you play an astronauts who build with tools
a base on the Moon and do something. And i am not sure what that "something more" was precisely; never played it myself - just stumbled in a real hurry on a Youtube video. So its not like i invented
anything

.
Idea to code myself in very crude primitive way using my favorite tool were you can comfortably do math and scientific computing/programming - GNU Octave, came when i had to face
a semester long homework where we were asked to program simplified so called "expert system". In AI such are called systems that can imitate in some capacities an expert knowledge
in some field. Loud, fancy words away - its just a program that with a lot of manual human work behind the scenes tries to work like expert with some narrow field information and possibly
give predefined alerting suggestions at correct times and only under correct circumstances which human operators may sometimes mistakenly forget. As you can imagine, in a student's home
work version things are quite simple

Well, it happened that i used this assignment as an opportunity back then to start coding something of this imaginary robot Moon base with its operations.
It's a program that kind of asks for user to pick few industrial operations options to perform in imaginary industrial "cycle" on Moon base, and based on input, correlating and analyzing it with few
base parameters, tables like available electric MW "budget", some imaginary specifics like available repair robot count etc. - generates a suggestion or conclusion of ability or inability to perform this or
that user demand. Everything is very crude, simplified there but hey, i have at least some working code in a beautiful console/ no UI version
Jaaay
Maybe its not a vervepaint at all, but to give something to look at about said things above, i add this picture of the game of the future, "SimCity" for robot base

. I have this horrible
tendency to write code in a mixture of English and my native language so maybe even do not try to read the lines, its linguistic combo may work only for me, i guess. Anyways, here is pic:

- robot Moon base_code snips_a.JPG (166.54 KiB) Viewed 9013 times
Now up to this date i know how to do some pixels in there, so once i finish uni maybe i will pull off some primitive game loop with few pixels and icons. Will see how things will go.
Currently everything is just on my computer, i can't supply demo-environment on web; there is nothing on internet from me on those computer science efforts currently. Only after i
finish the school i might find time to setup future place to share it on net. And maybe pixel art, when it comes to art-level will be created experimentally with some vervepaint in action.
So, that is my point about violent games. To sum up my perspective - as i see it, it would be tremendously positive development if more cooperative, 'build-together' no-wars/no-violence
but engineering or farming or fantasy-constructing themed games would occur and happened to be more demanded and appreciated. I think that classic era, DOS era covered violence
entertainment already and did it pretty good and probably in such status they could serve for infinite wants, desires and reflexes for some combat situations for a long time, for many
generations freeing next generations from a need to create any more new hundreds of violent games, creating maybe only some two, three once in few years, but ultimately turning their
heads in other directions in their gamedev efforts. For me it would be a peacefull vision to see future gamedevs creating smart, math/science/engineering filled games and simulators
while playing old Resident Evil during breaks or some evenings. My soul would say - "i see evolution" to me.
Though Machinarium looks great, i must confess.
But you can beat me with sticks now
