More than just a game

As a gaming enthusiast, it pains me that not a single popular game has an Indian location as its setting. For all of India’s tech prowess, scoring a complete zero in this department is not acceptable. My complain however is with both the Indian gaming community and the foreign developers. Practically all the gaming studios are based in North America and develop games based on their world view. And in this world view, India doesn’t seem to provide a setting that can sell a million copies. A large majority of games continue to be based on the stale formula of Russians, Arabs and aliens as trouble makers. Japanese, the only Asians who regularly churn out games unfortunately pander to American sensibilities. Even Nepal has been pictured in one game (Uncharted: Among Thieves) albeit more as one of the pieces on the journey to find the fabled Shangri La than a South Asian country. From the brilliant detailing on display in the game it was evident that the developers had done their homework well and used local contacts for bringing out some accurate cultural references. Why then does the huge Indian community fail to find a voice among the studio think tanks?

For starters, while India has surely gained prominence for reasons beyond snake charmers and sadhus, the average teenager – the biggest game consumer, is still ill-equipped in the “know thy world” department. Afghanistan and Middle East, due to their volatile political situations and widespread media coverage command more recall value than India. In this context India is a rather boring place, despite humongous problems of its own. Technically the games are becoming superior, thanks to better processors, but losing the plot, literally. There is absolutely no attempt to explore new boundaries beyond what would interest the average American – their country’s war in some other country, crime, aliens, monsters and rogue Russians (yes, the Russians. Even now. And you thought the cold war was dead along with the VCR). It helps that the non American gamers are so interested in what interests Americans that the developers comfortably kill two birds with one stone.

I can only marvel in my imagination what a wonderful setting a bustling city like Mumbai would provide for a game compared to those look alike American cities (imagine a Grand Theft Auto-Aamchi Mumbai). A city that has a thousand cities within it is conspicuous by its absence in the world gaming map. Imagine a thrilling car chase through the crowded roads, a street fight in one of the old bazaars or finding hidden objects in a maze of a city. India’s high levels of corruption and industry-politician nexus can surely provide for better story opportunity than the done to death ‘I-want-my-own-family’ Mafia repeats. And right now I am only talking about adaptations of western genre. The opportunity for visual wizardry that our mythology and history provides can surely be done justice by today’s powerful platforms. Which Indian wouldn’t love to play a character in Mahabharat or Ramayan, shooting various kinds of lethal arrows and destroying enemy ranks? Or strategize in the numerous battles for Delhi? There may not be a huge western market for such games, but why can’t we Indians develop something for ourselves?

To the layman a game may seem simply a great animation job. But game development is a highly complex process, requiring a multitude of technical and creative skills and above all, time and money. Post production, it requires a promotion muscle that can match movie launches. It will take some time before India has all the skills required to get a winning game to the market. Technical skills are least of the worry. They can always be imported, like Bollywood has realized. The real breakthrough will come in the form of a narrative that has strong local roots and characters that Indians can related to. History of entertainment shows that it requires one winning formula to spawn a genre. I am eagerly waiting for that to happen.