A Picture Worth a $1000 in Wasted Research
In 1980, Ralph Baer, inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, birthed an invention to personalize video games – a camera that could shoot pictures of players’ faces, digitize them, and load the images into games. He thought that arcade manufacturers could place the camera in the marquee of their cabinets and paste player’s faces on characters in their games. The camera could also snap a photograph of a high-scoring player and post it next to his score.
- The Ultimate History of Video Games, Page 173
Amazing that such a concept was available before many of today’s gamers were even a twinkle in their daddy’s eye. Today we take for granted the ability to publish our accomplishments on our blogs via achievements and trophies. To link our high scores into our Facebook profiles and query top leaderboards from players across the world. Players can even be rewarded for their exploits, gaining prizes and recognition from the developers or special content for the games themselves.
Of course back in the 70s and 80s the most one could boast of is a three-digit set of initials emblazoned into the high-scores list of your favorite arcade machine. This lacked credibility as many people could have the same initial, and many machines dump their high scores when the machine is rebooted, erasing your achievement till you can return. The idea of the camera to immortalize players was fantastic, since while the high score might still be reset when unplugged, real concrete validation of your high score would be possible. Heck, random patrons of the local pizza joint might even recognize you on the street!
This did not come to pass though; the idea was tossed out after a single test run. The reason? Obvious, the second day of the test a high scoring player ‘flashed’ the camera. Done.
This issue still plagues modern games, as on many platforms players can use cameras to see other players or take their personal profile photos, with explicit content being a possibility in both. With time, the restrictions on such features have loosened up, allowing some lewd content. In other cases, the content must pass a review process before being ‘approved’ for the public. Had Baer added a feature to allow arcade owners to review the photos before being attached to their high score and released for the general public, this idea might have caught hold much sooner in the history of games. One thing Baer did not take into account; you can never underestimate the ability of players to find ways to abuse your technology. It is, in fact, a game of it’s own!