funkybrain

Raph’s Website » What core gamers should know about social games.

A great article on social games by thoughtful Raph Koster.

For the non-gamers amongst you, Raph is a bit of a legend in our circles. He’s been around since the early days of game design, and is a keen observer of how our medium is changing over the years. He wrote what I consider to be the best (of those that I’ve read) book on games, gamers and game-designers: a theory of fun. Very insightful, and of interest even to non-gamers. I highly highly recommend it.

Back to this article: in the current trench-warfare between core and social game-designers, Raph’s voice surfaces and tells us that, hey, drop your weapons and embrace each other in this brave new world. Nobody knows where we’re heading, except that games is an ever evolving medium that has a lot of opportunities for game designers to express themselves and find an audience.

Amen.

Bookmarked – will come back latter and talk about it, because Jane is someone that may be about to pull off a small miracle.

Tale of Tales » Interview with Jenova Chen.

This is a c. 2008 interview of someone that no longer needs to be introduced (to the gaming community that is). Both interviewee and interviewer are bright stars slash meteorites in the gaming world, people whose ideas make you uncomfortable in a good way. A better read than all the other interviews I’ve seen.

“We make things that challenge us. We make things that visually and sonically surpass contemporary cinema. We have made things that reinvented the music industry. We make things that bring people together. We make things that talk with the audience, and show them what they only dream about. To the notion that games are lesser and that games are a promise yet to be fulfilled, I say that video games are the most creative fucking medium in the history of the world.

via Life Starts Here: High Society.

I haven’t come across this kind of writing in the context of video games. Read the full enchilada if you have 15 min to spare, I think it’s worth it, whether or not your into games. (via Raph Koster)