Re: [-empyre-] games and apathy

[steve guynup <exposedfield@yahoo.com>]

> > > it should be clear that I would regard
> > > the gaming industry as deeply problematic and
> ultimately alien 
> > > to any creative and experimental practice.

While I don't some aspects of Game Theory (note my
maze/mouse comment earlier and also violence
issues),there are many many interesting game theorists
out there. They, like us are just trying to work
things out.

See the folks at: http://ludology.org/ Dr. Janet
Murray author of Hamlet on the Holodeck is this
month's special columist.

Still, game companies are economically adverse to
dynamic change. Will Wright had to threaten to quit
(and actually mean it) to get the Sims created. It can
sometimes happen, just not often. And whether you like
the Sims or not, it was something quite new - even
experimental. 

So what about us? my own Kosovo Unfinished
Installation & Blue Meanie Game are not apathetic)
http://www.pd.org/~thatguy/

And for those seeking/needing a little more real game
theory in their diet I'd like to suggest Chaim
Gingold's paper

http://www.slackworks.com/~cog/writing/Games-Spaces-Worlds.pdf

(It is a college master's thesis, if that puts you off
well, on the professional side Will Wright offered
Chaim a job whenever he wants one & on the academic
side he's favorite of Dr Murrays - so if you read it
now you can say - I read it then.)

or for slacker with good bandwidth -
GDC 2003 Video:
Will Wright's "Dynamics For Designers"

Somewhere between high-level game concepts and
low-level coding lies a region of design that's really
at the core of the interactive medium. It's here that
causal relationships, feedback cycles, information
propagation and emergence mechanisms reign supreme.
This is what Wright calls "dynamics"; the rules and
principles that govern the way in which structures
change through time. The design and use of early
prototypes is covered as a means to explore and sculpt
a variety of dynamic systems. 

[Start Video...] (57 minutes.)

---->>
rtsp://media.cmpnet.com/gamasutra/willwright2003.rm

Requires RealPlayer. [Download RealPlayer...]

peace
Steve






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