Thursday, October 9, 2008


This image called to me. I am certain that somewhere hidden within its stark lines lays a story waiting to be told. Is the man being blown backwards after being zapped by the powerful bolt, or is he dodging out of its way just in the nick of time? Perhaps tripping, he has lost control of the lightning and sent it flying uncontrollably into the air. If this is the case, is he then some sort of demigod, able to wield and manipulate the forces of electricity as easily as we might a pencil? Regardless of the nature of the mysterious silhouette, I am certain about one thing: I love it.

And does this image not represent the very core of modern gaming? It could be a metaphor of the possible damage these electronic toys can inflict upon us-he is a slave, unable to escape from the powerful lines of electronic code that consume his mind. He flails his arms in surrender.

On the other hand, this could be an image of the face of modern gaming itself. It is, after all, action typified. Here is an electronic avatar dodging and running through a series of preposterous obstacles in an attempt to reach his ultimate goal, whatever that may be.

Indeed, place this image on the cover of any game’s box, and the eyes of many a potential player will look upon it and become immediately transfixed by the saga of a man and his epic struggle with the nefarious lightning bolt.

Is it profound finality, or comical slapstick? The possible feelings and emotions that this picture inspires are limitless.

…or it may just be a ‘Warning: Electricity’ sign.

2 comments:

rYno said...

When it all boils down, we're all dodging lighting bullets everday. A great image to symbolize the everday life task. However, thinking about of the box, but that stick figure looks like is in the mid action of a bycle soccer kick. Plus, I wonder how it would feel to be struck by a lightning bolt.

Nate said...

You gotta be careful of lightning. I think that if they put that picture on a game system box, parants with little kids would not buy it in fear of an electrical charge coming out of the controller. Or perhaps the parants will decide to buy 'wireless' controllers. It is a pretty cool picture though.