Running errands this afternoon, I was driving and listening to the radio.
There was an extremely interesting discussion regarding how games affect us and about the future direction games may be headed in (http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jul/01/future-gaming/).
Why would this interest me so much you ask?
Because I really enjoy playing games!
One of the lines uttered during the interview by the way, was that while people often play games to escape reality, more and more games are making connections to the real world (that is pretty profound).
One of the people interviewed was Jesse Schell, a professor at the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University - right here in Pittsburgh) Entertainment Technology Center and the CEO of Schell Games. In Prof. Schell's vision of the (near?) future, he sees a time when sensors will become so ubiquitous, that all our actions every day will be recorded, tabulated and assessed. Therefore our everyday actions in the real world, such as brushing our teeth, taking the bus instead of driving our cars, walking instead of driving, or watching certain commercials on TV, will all result in us getting awarded bonus points. In other words our daily actions and habits will be turned into a "game" and the points we earn in the "game" will have real-world implications (such as coupons for things we buy, lower health insurance premiums, or tax credits for the examples listed above).
I know this is a foreboding look at the future and one which does not sound like much fun to some, however Prof. Schell's thesis completely blew my mind. He stated that since all our actions will be recorded and will be available for our children and for future generations to inspect, if the "game" is designed correctly, it may be possible to modify our behaviors and inspire us to become better people than we might have otherwise turned out.
That puts a different spin on the game of Life ... or maybe it does not.
If you want to listen to Prof. Schell's talk entitled "When Games Invade Real Life", just click on the link (http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html)
** warning it lasts 28 minutes **
There was an extremely interesting discussion regarding how games affect us and about the future direction games may be headed in (http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jul/01/future-gaming/).
Why would this interest me so much you ask?
Because I really enjoy playing games!
One of the lines uttered during the interview by the way, was that while people often play games to escape reality, more and more games are making connections to the real world (that is pretty profound).
One of the people interviewed was Jesse Schell, a professor at the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University - right here in Pittsburgh) Entertainment Technology Center and the CEO of Schell Games. In Prof. Schell's vision of the (near?) future, he sees a time when sensors will become so ubiquitous, that all our actions every day will be recorded, tabulated and assessed. Therefore our everyday actions in the real world, such as brushing our teeth, taking the bus instead of driving our cars, walking instead of driving, or watching certain commercials on TV, will all result in us getting awarded bonus points. In other words our daily actions and habits will be turned into a "game" and the points we earn in the "game" will have real-world implications (such as coupons for things we buy, lower health insurance premiums, or tax credits for the examples listed above).
I know this is a foreboding look at the future and one which does not sound like much fun to some, however Prof. Schell's thesis completely blew my mind. He stated that since all our actions will be recorded and will be available for our children and for future generations to inspect, if the "game" is designed correctly, it may be possible to modify our behaviors and inspire us to become better people than we might have otherwise turned out.
That puts a different spin on the game of Life ... or maybe it does not.
If you want to listen to Prof. Schell's talk entitled "When Games Invade Real Life", just click on the link (http://www.ted.com/talks/jesse_schell_when_games_invade_real_life.html)
** warning it lasts 28 minutes **
Whichever way you look at it, John, the name of the game will always the same. It's called "1984" or "Big Brother".
ReplyDeleteLOL Antoni -- it'll only become Big Brother if we allow it to devolve to that level (always the optimist)
ReplyDelete