Homo Ludens
October 24, 2007
My plugged in Antipodean mate Anne put me on to the London Games Festival, which kicked off this week.
It looks awesome - especially tonight's BAFTA Annual Lecture with Will Wright.
[If you don't know much about Will Wright go and watch this where he talks about his new, much anticipated, much delayed, potentially game changing game Spore.]
The topic, chosen by Will, is "Interactive Entertainment - The Oldest Art Form" and it's on at 6pm tonight at BAFTA headquarters on Piccadilly in Central London and tickets are free from the website.
[Before you start wondering - they haven't tapped me up for a plug. I include all the details because I can't make it and I would really love to hear what he's got to say so - can someone PLEASE go and then blog about it?]
We need to play.
Man has been described as Homo Ludens - man the player - because play seems to be a necessary [although not sufficient] condition of the generation of culture.
Thinking of computer games as a discrete, stand alone medium you probably don't need to concern yourself with is an error in a transmedia age.
[Actually, thinking of any medium as discrete is an error - digitisation renders the delineation meaningless. Digital content happily flows across platforms, bits are bits, so there are only different types of content - delivery mechanism is increasingly irrelevant.]
Our desire to exert control over our media experiences will inevitably drive the expansion of gaming and gaming behaviours.
As transmedia properties develop, gaming elements will be built into other media forms to satisfy the desire to be involved, to be active.
Check the Heroes ARG for how it works at the moment.
Aren't you already jealous of your grandchildren? Think of the progression from Pong to Spore in your lifetime, project that forward 20 or so years at a hugely accelerated rate, and marvel at what they will call games.