The Sandbox

You knew this post was coming, right? If there's one existential question both developers and players ask about games, it is, "Can a game can be considered Art?" The latest foray into this realm I've read is Ian Bogost's "Why We Need More Boring Games" on gamasutra.com. That article is also a – perhaps unknowing – member of a set that inspires one of my personal existential questions, namely, "Why do all 'Game as Art' conversations invoke Casablanca?"

Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh has an excellent article on gamecareerguide.com on Animal Crossing, one of my favorite games. "Ambition and Compulsory Design in Animal Crossing" deals with games, goals, the motivations for play, and the platform context of a game. Well worth a read.

He calls Animal Crossing "the anti-game": there is no punishment for inaction, there is no real conflict, there is no major obstacle to collecting the widgets that, in most games, require serious effort to earn. This game should make everyone question their definition of what a game is, and what is necessary for a compelling game experience.

Why have I spent an embarrassing number of hours with Animal Crossing? Don't answer that. At least, I don't want to know the awful truth until after I finally get the lunar carpeting for my house, to go with all my other space macguffins.

This article at CNN points out something that most gamers have known for a long time, that games can be great ways to connect with other people, that they can foster good social relationships, instead of being the tools of isolation that they're accused of being.

More and more, as gaming systems and the culture that surrounds them evolves, gaming is becoming a social activity. No longer is it a simple thing to point at the child who spends hours in his/her room playing games as a creature hiding from socialization. It's true that digital socialization is a different phenomenon from such socialization that involves physical proximity, but it shares too many elements to overlook.

This is why it bothers me somewhat that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is seriously considering adding "video game addiction" as an actual mental disorder in its next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

On the heels of Rob's post about the possibility of a DSM classification for "video game addiction", Destructoid recently found an article on the research of Oregon psychiatrist Jerald Block which concluded that the denial of violent games to teen killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold was a catalyst for what became the Columbine massacre.

As someone who has worked on several FPS games, I completely understand this conclusion. FPS games are widely misunderstood in the popular media.

According to Serious Game Source (a corollary site of Gamasutra), Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) and EyeToy exercise are a legitimate method of reducing weight and increasing cardio-health.

Apparently, a representative from the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, has concluded some preliminary studies of students using the aforementioned tools, and decided that they can, indeed, provide an "effective workout". They will be presenting their findings this week at the LifeSciences2007 conference in Glasgow.

I guess not all gaming promotes poor circulation and weight gain.

Yes, I should be posting about E3: it's the biggest video game show in the US, and it's going on right now. Even though it has been moved to a gas station bathroom in Santa Monica, apparently, it's still a big deal. No more roaming for unknown gems in the wilds that were Kentia Hall anymore....

Anyway, on the heels of my last but one post, which was on the heels of Rob's post, about video games and their effects, yet another researcher has come out saying that violent video games may be good for some kids.

Not living in a battleground state, and not watching any network television, I don't see a lot of Election 2008!! commercials, but gamepolitics.com informs me that I've missed out on a truly excellent Mitt Romney commercial. Titled Ocean, Mitt comes out against liking things that are bad.

No, he was mildly more specific than that, belaboring a "society is an ocean in which we swim" metaphor, and video games get mentioned non-specifically for their pernicious influence. Yeah.

I would encourage Mitt to read The Sandbox, specifically this or this or this. Get with the program, Mitt.

Several years ago, I interviewed a guy named Billy Mitchell. Mitchell was a champion video game player from the 1980s who broke all the records on Donkey Kong. I've spoken with plenty of gamers over the years, but this guy was a genuine character - brash, egotistical, insanely confident, and, most recently, extremely passionate about making barbecue sauce.

So now I see there's this documentary, King of Kong, about Mitchell's rivalry with a guy trying to take his record on Donkey Kong. I watched a special preview, and this film looks to be amazing. Seriously. Of course it kills me that I didn't do this story myself, but oh well. This is a great American Rocky story, and also wonderful insight into the minds of obsessive gamer geeks. Highly recommended!

CBS will, at noon today, be broadcasting the 2007 World Series of Video Games. Featured games will include Guitar Hero II and Fight Night Round 3, games that can be simply watched as if they were musical performances or traditional boxing matches respectively. I would go so far as to say that some folks would reasonably be able to tune in to see FNR3 and not immediately know it was a video game, the graphics being as good as they are.

But what does this mean for games? Or CBS? Anything?

Every wonder what goes through the noggins of eager gamers?

Wonder no more. Gamasutra , the 'zine for game designers, has a story that attempts to break down the psychology of gamers. According to the piece, it all comes down to a desire to acquire more skills. True enough, the magic recipe of "easy to learn, difficult to master" is the indispensable core of any game. However, it's interesting to see how the burgeoning crop of sandbox titles - such as Little Big Planet - create a new kind of allure. It's not just about learning and mastering someone else's game, it's about CREATING your own game that's easy but difficult for others.

The Discovery Channel is starting a five-part documentary on the history of videogames tonight. I think I may be in the third episode, which airs December 5th, about first person shooters. The first installment is at 8pm ET/PT tonight.

It's amazing how little history/archiving there is for such a huge industry, and it's nice to see shows like this on the air. The other day, I blogged about a project in Texas to archive old games, and I think we need a lot more of this. How about a permanent videogame museum in NYC or San Fran?

With the next Grand Theft Auto game, GTA IV, coming next month, Electronic Gaming Monthly has a big feature story on the franchise. Included in the piece is an interesting interview with Patrick Wildenborg, the gamer who first discovered the notorious secret sex scene nicknamed "Hot Coffee." Hot Coffee would spark outcries from Hilary Clinton to Arnold Schwarzenegger and become emblematic of the ongoing battles over gore and porn in gaming.

The meta-challenge for GTA IV is whether it can transcend the sociopolitical baggage, and raise the bar of the sandbox style freeform gaming that the franchise pioneered. Long before GTA was reduced to a poster-game for kids gone wild, it was a wildly innovative epic that redefined the experience of interactive play. Let's hope it does this again.