Power Up

The Play Research Group, UWE, Bristol
studying the technologies and cultures of games and play

Koster's wisdom

Reported by Gamespot, "industry icons" are giving us their views on the future market of online gaming. Here is Raph Koster - leading fun theorist:

"The entire video game industry's history thus far has been an aberration," Koster told the audience. "It has been a mutant monster only made possible by unconnected computers. People always play games together. All of you learned to play games with each other. When you were kids, you played tag, tea parties, cops and robbers, what have you. The single-player game is a strange mutant monster which has only existed for 21 years and is about to go away because it is unnatural and abnormal."

Now, even considered as (so-called 'provocative') marketing speach, this is a puzzling statement. I mean, everything makes a lot of sense up until those last 12 words, but from there on our market analyst seems to sort of flip out, taking the 'industry veteran' thing almost into parody. I understand that the online market is very important to the executives (especially on consoles), and that it would be nice to hook us all up directly so that they can get rid of retail, piracy, used games market etc. But 'abnormal'? Singleplayer gaming is indeed a cultural bastard in the history of games and play, and as most 'mutant monsters', it is quite an interesting and stimulating one. But in what sense exactly has the development of computer games over the last twenty years been 'unnatural'? And why should it go away? I don't know, maybe it takes a veteran to understand a veteran.

posted by: Rune at 12:33 | link | comments (7) |

anti-advergaming

http://www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?game=disaffected

posted by: sethgiddings at 10:45 | link | comments (1) |

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