With developing technology, community life also experiences major changes in politics and the economy. As long as technology penetrates to the center of life, dramatic breaks occur in cultural life. This period can be expressed as follows in terms of showing the changing dimensions of the human-environment relation-ship (Çavuş et al., 2015: 10).
Industrial progress has brought a new dimension to the human-nature rela-tionship. Thanks to scientific advances, mankind has declared sovereignty in the face of nature and has built cities, skyscrapers, and open spaces. With advancing
2 “Note” is the oldest known board game in history. This 5,000-year-old game was in-vented in Egypt. Examples of note have been found in the tomb of the pharaoh and its workers (www.astralcastle.com).
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civilization and the consequent cultural heritage, people have adopted a new re-lationship with the environment. Whatever is said in the name of the millennium (space, knowledge, or information), the human-screen relationship has existed in a different size since the second half of the 20th century. Humankind first overcame nature, then became trapped in the spaces they created. On the one hand, they have narrowed their living space. On the other hand, they have created virtual worlds through digital technology. These worlds promise an assumed eternity, infinity in parallel with the loneliness of modern man.
Technology used in daily life reveals the point reached in the human-screen relationship. Perhaps the most important of these technologies is the computer, being used after the second half of the 20th century immediately after the radio and television experience. Fundamentally, computer and Internet technology was first developed in accordance with military needs, then used for corporate purposes, followed by individuals, and finally for commercial purposes. The most popular tool from the computer’s commercial period was digital games. Digital development, dating from the first computer games to today’s games on smart-phones, is the product of inventions that are connected with each other. Indeed, digital games did not emerge suddenly and spontaneously. Today, some of the world’s most respected manufacturers of digital games (Nintendo3, Sony, etc.) are companies that were producing traditional games and entertainment tools in previous centuries (Kirriemiur, 2006: 22). This demonstrates that the ancestors of digital games had their origin in cultural activities.
What the first digital game was, how it emerged, and who played it is still debated. The types, emergence, and usage pattern of examples of the first digital games are the underlying factors in these debates. For instance, Alexander Doug-las, who was studying human-computer interaction at Cambridge University, designed the Personal Computer (PC) version of the Tic-Tac-Toe game in 1952.
This is considered the first digital game by some (Sezen & Sezen, 2011: 256). On the other hand, in 1958, William Higginbotham invented tennis simulation in the laboratory. Another group of researchers argued that this acclaimed simulation game, which spread rapidly in a short time, needs to be considered as the first computer game. However, today, when the first digital game comes to mind, peo-ple consider “Space War”, developed by Steve Russell in 1962, as the real precursor
3 Nintendo was established in Japan in 1889 as Nintendo Koppai. Producing playing cards for many years, the company took a step into the electronic gaming industry in 1974. Starting to produce gaming platforms under its own name, the company takes a privileged place in the digital game industry, particularly after the year 2000 (Sezen
& Sezen, 2011: 252).
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(Kirriemiur, 2006: 22). Like the tennis simulation, the Space War game also made a great impact. The game was developed with additions made in a short time and was a prime example of the digital game culture of that period with the most common use. This early success of digital games can be evaluated according to their structural features and the level of attention they received.
In the initial stages of the development of digital games, game manufacturers like Digital Equipment contributed to the process with a limited range of products, according to scholars studying computers and companies related to this field.
Later, Konami was established, which occupied a considerable place in the digital game world of this period. While the 1970s were the trial stage of the console and game machines of companies having an important place in the sector such as Atari, Exidy, and Magnavox, the 1980s were years when the console was dominant, literally the digital game for the world. Traditional game tools manufacturers who had developed a close relationship with computer technologies in the 1950s began to compete with each other regarding detached game console production in the 1980s. On the one hand, private and commercial use of the computer was becoming more popular; on the other hand, the utilization rates of games in independent devices such as televisions and consoles experienced significant increases. In addition to being a game, the Commodore 64 with major computer features became famous in this period. Sold at astronomical prices in 1982, the price of the Commodore 64 fell rapidly soon after and it went down in history as the best-selling computer-gaming console up to then (Yılmaz & Çağıltay, 2005: 2).
In the 1990s, Atari, SEGA, and Nintendo were the most important compa-nies in the digital gaming market, which began to evolve into an industry. In those years, the realization of global sales, publishing and distribution processes, as well as production (game development), were components that sustained its dynamic nature (Binark & Bayraktutan-Sütçü, 2008: 68). Transportation of the game developed with budgets in excess of millions of dollars as the target audi-ence rose. The first step of the tripartite structure is game development. For this reason, companies aimed to bring themes/stories, graphics, and the playing of games to their highest level and the manufacturing process was carried out by professional teams. Finally, in 1992, a war game called Wolfenstein, developed by id Software, made a breakthrough in the field. The main feature of the game was it having a new type of control mechanism, called First Person Shooter (FPS).
Enjoying a huge following today, FSP type games enable the player to control the world which they occupy in the way they want. FSP not only brought a new dimension to the relationship between games and players, but also became a concrete indicator of freedom and immensity promised by the digital world by
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raising the player’s degree of engagement to the highest level. What makes digital games different from movies is that they allow the target group (players, users) to be active participants.
Although multiple sensory organs are active in movie-watching, this mass media tool is hot and due to the nature of the vehicle, participation is low4. As for computer games, although the process was already fully under control, operation is now much more complex. Furthermore, digital games offer an atmosphere which appears to be a twice the size and gives a relative sense of activeness to the player.
The millennium is the age of the digital game industry giants doing business on almost every platform. Since the Xbox developed by Microsoft and the PlayStation5 developed by Sony secured their place as the original platforms, there has been a record increase in the production of computer-based games. What makes PlaySta-tion and Xbox so special is that game developers were in a situaPlaySta-tion to produce original games for these platforms. As Grand Theft Auto (GTA), FIFA (football game), Gran Turismo, and many game series began to provide support for these platforms, production increased with each passing day (Kirriemiur, 2006: 30).
While these developments were being experienced in the digital games industry, a new technology entered the life of society, offering a combination of the most important inventions of the digital era. The name of this technology is the smart-phone. Previously, conventional phones evolved over time towards wireless tech-nology. Soon after, mobile phones articulated with computer technology became the second and then third generation multifunction device. The most important feature of smartphones is that they are equipped with hardware and software that is able to process data like a computer. Thanks to experience gained working with computers, this technology was soon transferred to smartphones.
According to a report published in 2016, the digital game industry has reached a volume of 100 billion USD worldwide. If growth continues at this rate, the digital game market is estimated to reach 118 billion dollars in size within three years. To-day, the volume of smartphone games corresponds to 37 percent of digital games.
This means a sector of approximately 37 billion dollars. According to the report,
4 McLuhan divided means of communication into two types: cold and hot. Hot tools ap-peal to a single sense and a low level of participation among the audience. For example, radio, newspapers, and photos are hot tools. Cold tools give little to the audience but are considerably added to by the audience. The level of participation by the audience in a cold tool is high. For example, looking at television as a cold tool, the audiences must complete the message using high participation (Erdoğan & Alemdar, 2005: 155).
5 Despite the launch of PlayStation in 1994, it experienced its golden age with the millennium.
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smartphone games have overtaken the share of computer and console games for the first time (www.newzoo.com). These indicators point to the future of digital games in mobile games. Furthermore, it could be argued that platforms such as personal computers, consoles, and tablets will experience stagnation and decline in later years and that smartphone games will show rapid growth. Also, the latest statistics show that the digital game industry has now reached proportions to enable it to compete with the movie industry. However, this situation has brought new controversies.
With the spread of the Internet, the harmful effects of technology, the misuse of the Internet, virtual addiction, and cyber-bullying concepts have drawn the attention of researchers. These aspects will occupy center stage of the screen-human relations debate which future researchers will evaluate and discuss.