Toys and games

Harold L. Vogel

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511510786.012

Chapter 10 - Toys and games

from Part II - Media-dependent entertainment

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2009

Harold L. Vogel

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Summary

It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.

In the age of computers, that statement takes on new meanings: Only a few people in the world can beat the best computerized chess-playing machines. And video games cannot ever really be defeated because, no matter how high the score, it is always the human who tires first or makes the fatal error.

This chapter, largely focusing on toys and computerized games, will show how microelectronic-chip technology has enabled game designers to conveniently and inexpensively transform plain television screens into playfields of extraordinary capability. And we shall see how, from a small kernel, there rapidly evolved a business that is currently of comparable global scale and more vibrant than either that of movies or music.

First, however, we gain important perspective by examining the traditional toy and game sectors.

Not just for kids

Throughout the ages, toys have always reflected the technological capabilities and the cultural traditions of the societies in which they have been developed. Early primitive toys, some found by archaeologists going back as far as 5,000 years, were made of clay or wood or cloth, for example. Hobbyhorses and toy pets were seen in early Greece. Children of medieval times played with miniatures of knights and cannons and dolls dressed as monks. Fashion dolls were favorites of French aristocracy in the Middle Ages, and doll cabinets decorated the homes of wealthy Dutch and German merchants in the 1700s.

Type: Chapter
Information: Entertainment Industry Economics
A Guide for Financial Analysis
, pp. 355 - 376

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511510786.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2007

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Chapter 10 - Toys and games

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