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I ask the question in all seriousness. For years, I resisted it — I kept hearing about this game where you could pretend you were playing the guitar, and how insanely fun it was, and I would roll my eyes and think I DO play the guitar, and it’s ALREADY fun. Other guitar players I knew shared my disdain of the game. Trouble was, we had never tried it.
My road-to-Damascus conversion moment came a few months ago, when a friend’s holiday party featured an ongoing round-robin session of Rock Band, which for those of you who haven’t sampled this particular brand of crack yet is like Guitar Hero, except there’s also someone playing fake drums, potentially rocking a fake bass guitar and someone else singing along karaoke-style. Sounds like four times the lameness, right?
Unfortunately for my productivity and self-respect levels, wrong. Totally addictive. Two weeks later I owned my own copy, and started hosting my own Rock Band and Guitar Hero get-togethers — and suddenly found myself in the awkward, somewhat indefensible position of having no real answer to the question I had so frequently (and sarcastically) posed: why is Guitar Hero fun?
Below: my real guitar and my fake guitar. Guess which one gets played more often?
It has something to do with the nature of simulations and virtual reality in general, I think. You already have a life, for instance, so why would you need a Second Life? Lots of people enjoy real tennis — so why has Wii Tennis proven so popular? Part of the equation is that Wii Tennis and Guitar Hero actually do take some skill to do well (I still can’t quite beat the latter on “Expert” mode), but not nearly as much skill as the real thing. So you get the satisfaction of seeing your hard work and practice pay off, only the ratio of hard work to getting better is much more in your favor in the game world than in the real world.
So that’s part of it. Another factor is that it’s actually a challenge — even for “real” guitar players — which those of us harboring an unquenchable drive to excel at everything we do find irresistable. (This describes my wife more than it does me; there was a point at which, after having ridiculed me for getting the game in the first place and having never played guitar before in her life, I would find her practicing Guitar Hero every night — usually playing Heart’s “Barracuda” over and over again. Kill me if I ever hear that song again.)
Also, let me quash a nasty rumor right now: I’ve heard people claim that being a real guitar player is actually a disadvantage when it comes to Guitar Hero; maybe it’s that you want to play more notes than appear on the screen, but at the end of the day some video game nerd might be able to best Slash at guitar in the game world, if not the real world. I think this is hokum: it definitely helps if you know how to play the real guitar!
I feel like I’m partway there, but I don’t have the whole answer — what do you think? Why are simulations like Guitar Hero so damned addictive?
I play Rock Band. For me it’s not about the simulation (although I have always wanted to be in a band, even if I have no musical talent). It’s about being able to play with my friends/band all at once. Together we are “Comfy Couch.” If we do good, we do good together. And we also get booed of the stage together.
posted by Beth on 3-13-2008 at 11:44 am
I have no idea, but i’ll be damned if its not the most addictive gave i’ve ever played. I borrowed it from a friend a couple months ago, and now that he took it back, i’m having withdrawals, and considering spending $300, that I can’t afford, on a Wii, just so I can get my fix!
posted by Melissa on 3-13-2008 at 11:45 am
i looooooove guitar hero…and that’s all i have to say about that. hahaha
posted by shannon on 3-13-2008 at 11:49 am
I’ve never understood the popularity of Guitar Hero. I hear my kids talking about it, I see them play it, and I hear about friends who play it all stinkin’ night long, but to me it still looks incredibly lame.
That said but considering your conversion to a GH fan, I think I’ll continue to avoid it to keep from getting sucked in. Thanks for the warning!
posted by Dave on 3-13-2008 at 11:51 am
I bought a PS2 a couple months ago from a friend, and he threw in 3 editions of Guitar Hero (Rock the 80s being the best). My grades this semester are dismal, as I put off studying and class to play. To me, Guitar Hero is like a more satisfying version of air guitar. I am completely aware that I have no skills at playing a real guitar, but I do rock at Guitar Hero, and that makes me feel great.
posted by kari on 3-13-2008 at 11:54 am
my nephew got both a wii and guitar hero 3 for xmas this year. i played it for three hours and then hit ebay and craigslist to track down my own of each game. $550 later, i have two guitars to battle on my wii. but alas, i am only an easy level expert… :(
posted by theYerg on 3-13-2008 at 11:55 am
I forgot to add that my mom (age 60) tried Guitar Hero once when she came to visit, and she begged me to bring it home at spring break. She was completely addicted to it that whole week.
posted by kari on 3-13-2008 at 11:55 am
My son has GH and plays it all the time. I have no interest in trying it. It just doesn’t look fun to me. It does have some good songs, although I’ve heard Freebird enough to last a lifetime!
posted by tpal on 3-13-2008 at 11:57 am
Hope the story I am about to tell does not get too long. Sorry if it does.
I first saw Guitar Hero at a friends house a little more than 2 years ago during halftime of the Superbowl (the one where the Steelers played the Seahawks). I had heard the game was cool but being a guitar player (and in a band, no less) myself, I was skeptical it could match real playing. Unfortunately, my skepticism was immediately shot down when I played it for the first time. I was so hooked that I bought the game the next day (after clearing it with my wife). Being a video game veteran of almost 30 years (I am 35 and I can remember playing video games when I was around 7-8 years old), I had never played a game so fun. It was as if my love of music (specifically playing the guitar) and my love of video games was fused and became (for me) the perfect past time. My wife got me the Rock Band game last year for my 35th birthday and it is very fun as well (this one is the better party game while GH is as fun with a group people as it by yourself). I even got my wife’s family to get into the games during our last vacation. We spent a rainy evening indoors playing GH all night. Kids, Adults, musicians, non musicians; the game is for everybody. I must agree that playing music does, indeed, help the learning curve. Knowing the music that is played helps even more.
The only issue I have with these games is the fact that they come out with new varieties too fast. I can understand why ($$MONEY$$) but I would be fine with the same version but simply coming out with downloadable songs (the Xbox version does this, however, they are still planning a new version of GH4).
posted by Ian on 3-13-2008 at 12:13 pm
I think I accidentally ruined some kids’ Rock Band experience. I was out shopping at a department store and they hand one of these gizmos on display. There were three youngsters playing the guitars and drums along to “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. That’s why I wandered over; I wanted to see who/why was blasting that song. I watched the kids for a few minutes and then commented “that song was a hit back when I was your age.) (The oldest of the group looked to be maybe 10.) They switched to another song, “Detroit Rock City.” “Oh, I love this song,” I said as they began jamming. “I saw Kiss play this in concert back in 1979…” The one kid paused the game and then stared at the monitor and asked plaintively, “Isn’t there anything on here that isn’t OLD?!”
posted by Jill on 3-13-2008 at 12:16 pm
I used to ridicule my brother-in-law for playing Guitar Hero (the guitar looks like a Fisher Price toy). Then my wife and I got Rock Band and he said I was a hypocrite. I do like the drums the best, but I do play the guitar sometimes. I also play a real guitar (poorly) and like Ransom says, you don’t have to practice as much to enjoy Rock Band. Plus the game setting gives you more tangible results, like beating a song. You know when you are getting better because there is a score, and people like the competition, even if they are just trying to improve on their own score.
posted by SgtPepp on 3-13-2008 at 12:16 pm
I found that being a real life guitar player WAS a disadvantage. I was always assuming the hight notes of the solos were higher up the fret board (like on a real guitar), but there was no correlation between pitch and fret. That made me not like the game as much. I’d rather play my Telecaster.
posted by PC on 3-13-2008 at 12:24 pm
I think its a fusion of two loves… music and video games. Often music accompanies video games, but if you look out there in the internet, you’ll find tons of remixes of old Nintendo games. People like making the music as much as playing the game. This makes a game out of making the music.
Song choices are important too. The music creates nostalgia for some people.
Additionally, the learning curve is low. Push a few buttons, wiggle the controller, done. You know how to play. It’s intuitive, yet challenging. Its the new tetris.
posted by Wayne Yuen on 3-13-2008 at 12:42 pm
I loved GH! I play it on my PS3 and my roommate just got RB for his Xbox and I enjoy the RB better. We have already begun our tour me on drums and he on guitar. My only complaint is that now while I am sitting at a red light listening to the radio I start playing air drums and my foot comes off the brake (for the bass drum pedal part). I am sure I look sane to other drivers around me. :)
posted by Jennifer on 3-13-2008 at 12:42 pm
I’ve only allowed myself to play GH at my friend’s and my bro-in-law’s houses because otherwise, I’ll want to buy one of my own and then I’ll never get to work/school.
GH rocks!
posted by Melodye on 3-13-2008 at 12:47 pm
I played a couple of times with a friend and got too frustrated to care about it until another friend brought his over, played a little and then left it for me. For the next month, all I did was play. I eventually asked my husband to take it back to his friend since I was so consumed by it.
My hiatus only lasted about 3 weeks and I’m now the proud owner of Rock Band. I’ll admit that I’m addicted to it as I was to Super Mario Bros. in 1988.
posted by bacaorr on 3-13-2008 at 1:16 pm
As a guitar player, I DID find GH hard to play. While the button pushing with the left hand was intuitive, the right-hand strumming was not. Since you have to ‘hit’ every note with your strumming hand, (rather than doing hammer-ons or pull-offs) I had to work at that part. But it was totally fun, and I could see how it could be addictive.
But more to the point LOVE the Duo Jet picture. Play it, or give it to me!
posted by Gizmo on 3-13-2008 at 1:18 pm
Dude, its just fun. It comes off as being addictive, but its not. It is just so much fun that you want to play it all the time. I think you hit it right on when you said that you feel success by completing tough songs because the difficulty of GH versus real-life guitar is so different. I think another factor is that almost everyone wants to be a rock star. It has always been appealing, and this game puts you into your own little I’m-a-rock-star world. Who doesn’t like imagining being in front of thousands of screaming fans while you are ripping the guitar like a fiend?
posted by Josh on 3-13-2008 at 1:28 pm
It’s the feedback mechanism. Instantaneous mental loop, press button, hear sound, feel rewarded.
posted by TedMasterman on 3-13-2008 at 1:34 pm
Like many of you when I was introduced to guitar hero and rock band I turned up my nose — I’m not really a video game kinda’ girl. Well a friend of our got it and started having Rock Band parties and now my fiance and I are so into it!
So, for our wedding we’ve registered for a PS2 and Guitar Hero. =)
posted by Julie on 3-13-2008 at 1:35 pm
I had to laugh while reading this. I thought GH would be SO lame, but my husband wanted it really badly. Soon, I became addicted and now I can’t stop playing “Barracuda”!! I haven’t beaten it on the expert level yet, but it’s by far my favorite song on the game. Also, whenever my husband and I hear songs on the radio or on commercials or whatever, we often look at each other and say, “That would make a GREAT song for GH!”
posted by Amber on 3-13-2008 at 1:37 pm
I’m a singer and Rockband is by far the best game. I was so pumped when I found a game that both my husband and I could play together. He is awesome at his mini-guitar, and together we do a mean Iron Maiden. :)
It is also the best party game out there. We have parties with bbq and tell everyone to bring their guitars and we plug in and play. People gather together in different groups to make “Dream Teams” and play together. Our most successful party to date. :)
posted by Cheri on 3-13-2008 at 1:54 pm
i think it has to do with the fact that people nowadays want to enjoy the fun and attention of knowing a skill — like guitar playing or sports — but don’t want to have to spend 5 years learing and perfecting it enough to be able to play it in public without sounding aweful (because, adimitit musicians, your first few years learning how to play the dang things sounded horrific). People like to pretend they miraculously gain crazy talent, even if it’s just a simulation. That’s what I think anyway.
posted by heather on 3-13-2008 at 2:00 pm
That Gretsch is gorgeous and you’re guilty of horrible crimes for neglecting it to play with that silly plastic thing.
posted by Chris on 3-13-2008 at 2:09 pm
i played it once.
i did the easy level version of “killer queen” and got booed off of the virtual stage.
haven’t played it since…and have no real desire to.
posted by the creature on 3-13-2008 at 2:13 pm
I love Guitar Hero, although we stopped buying after the second version because we resented the fact that our off-brand second guitar was not compatible with anything other than the original. But I digress.
For why guitar hero is great, see the episode of South Park that features it. Randy March, in his underwear, trying to rock out to Carry on my Wayward Son. We all want to think we’re rock stars.
posted by Sara on 3-13-2008 at 2:53 pm
They’ve figured out how to infuse hard plastic with cocaine, and once the buttons get shiny on your keytar? You’re hooked.
posted by Brammi on 3-13-2008 at 3:31 pm
We bought GHIII for my daughters’ 19th birthday. I did’t have much interest, but one night last week, she was out and I gave it a try… Played ’till the wee hours…
posted by Kirke on 3-13-2008 at 3:44 pm
Most people who play guitar aren’t famous. When you see the digital crowd, and hear their cheering you feel if for just a few minutes like rock star. It’s essentially escapism, and that’s what most videogames are all about.
posted by John P on 3-13-2008 at 4:02 pm
Sounds like someone needs to make games for actual instrument players… but not allow them to play and only make clicky noises and have the real sounds play on the system (probably windows/mac)!…
posted by fdajkl on 3-13-2008 at 4:17 pm
Being a guitarist and never having played either game, I really should not hold such disdain for them. Especially after reading of another guitarists enthusiasm for them. I have friends who have children that play the game and I suppose I should give it a try before passing judgment.
By the way, nice Gretsch. Is that a Duo Jet?
posted by Wolf on 3-13-2008 at 4:18 pm
For me, a couple of reasons -
1. I have good hand eye coordination (GH) and hand feet coordination (Dance Dance). I’ve learned a little bit of guitar, and a little bit of dance in my day, and I respond to the sort of “instruction” these games offer. If they could really teach me guitar or dance steps, it would be awesome. Not sure if that’s the case for others that play them, but it works for me.
2. Real guitar people get snobby about it. My dad is in a band, and I’ve never been good enough on guitar to do that. The first time we both played GH we did it together, and I killed him. So there’s an underdog aspect that’s appealing.
3. It’s interactive in an unconventional way. Pong was cool because you could move the bar on the screen. The N64 controller was cool for that little joy stick thing. Guitars, drums, microphones and dance pads just add to the interaction with the technology.
4. It’s relatively cheap in terms of money and time cost. Spend your $90 for the game and guitar and you’re good to go. No need to buy a guitar and an amp, learn how to tune it, recruit band members, practice, book a gig… you just goof off.
posted by Rutkowskilives on 3-13-2008 at 5:04 pm
My family love GH. When we all get together at the grandparent’s house, us kids (well most of us kids are now adults, some with kids) play it for hours while the g-parents watch. They love it as much as we do but I guess they are satisfied watching us just get along.
posted by stef on 3-13-2008 at 6:00 pm
I recently asked my young friend Ed, this exact question, “What is the appeal of guitar hero?” Here is is rather lengthy, but highly amusing response:
“Well, huh, might as, might as well ask why is trees good? Why is sunsets good? Why is boobs good?”
- The White Trash Philosopher, Joseph Dirt
The attraction to Guitar Hero traces its roots all the way back to the 11th Century where Appalachian monks held weekly singing competitions round the camp fire. The battles were fierce, yet jovial. But what really was unique about these practices was that the monks were sworn to vows of silence. Indeed they merely moved their lips and tongues to imitate the act of singing, but did not utter any melodic tones.
From these humble beginnings, the competitive art of pretending to make music without actually making music slowly spread and evolved over the years. The 14th century Italian composer Francesco Landini, is revered by Stevie Wonder and a couple historians as the Godfather of Air-Composing. Blind at a young age due to his abnormally small pox, his father taught him the skill of flawing his arms around as if conducting an orchestra. As fate would have it, one day an orchestra just happened to cross in front of him and the rest is history. By the late 1700s, the French were consumed with toting their baguettes in a flute-like manner, and striking sharp notes with guillotines across the country. The Underground Railroad played a crucial role in its expansion as this new form of transportation helped quickly spread the cult-like ritual to fresh and foreign lands.
By the turn of the millennium mankind appeared perched for a new horizon in faux-musicianship. As a teenager, Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of an invention that would allow for a more objective way to score his ninja air-guitar battles against the other great young mutant minds of the Turtle Renaissance. But his plans were too advanced for the technology of his time. So humanity waited until the genius of Stephen Hawking was born to wheel across this earth. With the help of Tom Hanks he discovered da Vinci’s ancient sketches and set about founding the divine company of Harmonix, and ultimately conceiving Guitar Hero in a manger in a stable outside of a Red Roof Inn that was too full and not handicap-accessible. It came to absolve us of all our sins: impersonating false idols, using the air-guitar in vein, remembering and keeping holy the (Black) Sabbath, stealing riffs and chords, and coveting thy neighbor’s guitar.
posted by PattyN on 3-13-2008 at 9:43 pm
last night, by the way, i was at my bowling league and someone ruled the jukeox for a good half hour of nothing but songs from GH3. you would be amazed at how many people were playing air guitar hero along with it…
posted by theYerg on 3-14-2008 at 7:46 am
Wow you guys still play videogames? losers.
posted by Mr. X on 3-14-2008 at 10:09 am
This may be just a rumor but it would be cool if it was true. I heard that a company is working on a computer game that acts like guitar hero but at the same time teaches you how to play real guitar. Although you won’t learn how to read music it might help those of us that can’t learn the conventional way.
posted by Ann on 3-14-2008 at 10:38 am
I’m about to go play GH 80’s now.
posted by Nikki on 3-14-2008 at 3:30 pm
Why is Guitar Hero fun? Because the object of the game is not to play the guitar - it is to R*O*C*K O*U*T. How often, when playing a real guitar, have you struck a rock god pose, pointed the guitar up in the air, and waggled your tongue? Never, right? You’d look like a dork. Too bad, because it’s fun to do and doing it while playing Guitar Hero is perfectly acceptable, nay, mandatory. That’s why it’s fun.
posted by Alan on 3-14-2008 at 3:44 pm