Reclaiming Peripherals from the Periphery

How does one define a video game? This seemingly basic question has provided a favorite digression among game designers and players alike. The grungy streets of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III and the sumptuously evolving world of Proteus. The thinky puzzle solving of Baba Is You and the courtroom dramatics of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. All of these, regardless of the widely varied experiences they offer, fall under the broad umbrella of video games. Perhaps even stranger than these diverse works falling within the same medium is that they each make use of the same mechanisms for players to engage with them. Most notably, these games primarily utilize one of the two staples of the medium: the generic controller or the mouse and keyboard. These items reside atop the pyramid of gaming peripherals: the input devices that players use to execute the actions of the games they play. This uniformity of inputs does offer many advantages, but in the process, it chips away at the soul of the game being played. Conformity breeds monotony, boredom, little room for imagination, and limits the game’s ability to truly come alive in the eyes of its players. This does not have to be the case. Here and now, before the hour grows too late, we must explore how to broaden our imaginations surrounding what’s possible regarding player inputs. We must return the weird, wild, and occasionally janky peripherals to the spotlight and into the hands of the players. We must reclaim peripherals from the periphery of gaming in order to grant players the truly immersive experiences they deserve.