Reality Panic

As always, the end of the year is a crazy busy time for all of us (hence the dearth of blog action here). Anyway, I’ve been collecting links to all the outrageous/negative stories over the past few weeks, and sadly, there are a lot. For example:

• GTA: Vice City now being investigated for hate crimes! (btw, check out this well said counter point)
• the growing craze over Manhunt and its
• interview with censor wannabe Leland Y. Yee
• new word: “killographic”

Anyway, this is supposed to be a cheerful holiday post. Instead of dwelling on all that negative stuff, I’d like to point to some nice work being done by the industry. First up, a news story covering the charitable activities of the Penny Arcade guys. Next up, similar charitable activities by the IGDA’s chapter in Austin. Way to go guys!

Sadly, I couldn’t really find any positive news/articles about actual games/gamers/gaming. Oh well, maybe next year the industry will be on Santa’s “nice” list (perhaps the IEMA’s latest move will help some ;)

Update Dec23: Wow, a non-negative and critical journo/academic has added a bit more bounce to my step…

Amid all the hysteria over violence in games, it is refreshing to see others taking a more critical/serious look at games as part of pop-culture and art.

Last month, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco announced an art exhibit, titled Bang the Machine, that will “explore the history and influence of computer game culture and the unique relationship between computer games and art”. Exciting. (Slashdot has extra links to some of the exhibits.)

Further on the artful side of things, we have GameGirlAdvance discussing a book of poems inspired wholly by games. And, Mario is now part of Hollywood’s Wax Museum. (Ironically, too bad that game developers are not getting a share of the “fame” in Hollywood circles…)

On the criticism front, we have a call for papers for a conference at Princeton University and GGA pointing to a Manhunt review as a possible step in the right direction. Also, this is a good time to point back to Matteo Bittanti’s rant on game criticism from GDC Europe… He’ll be at the 2004 GDC to do more of the same ;)

Coincidence? On the flight back from Australia, I read on article in Wired about “affective computing” - essentially giving computers/software emotional intelligence, feelings and so on. Just a few days before, I sat in on Phil Harrison’s (of Sony) keynote lecture within which he spoke extensively about making games more emotional, that future Sony tech will have the processing power to create true artificial intelligence, etc, etc. Even cooler still, advances to EyeToy that would allow it to detect a player’s emotions!

Interesting how in that same issue of Wired, we hear from uber-techy Bill Joy on the potential problems of runaway technology. I guess he didn’t factor in true love found via tech, nor the “soft” machines everyone wants to cuddle up to ;)

I wrote a “soapbox” article for the October ‘03 issue of Game Developer magazine titled “Regulation is Everyone’s Business“. One of the points I was making is that the government’s current fascination with violence (and to some extent sex) in games may broaden to other areas. Meaning, many developers feel “safe” or OK about regulation if they’re not personally making violent/questionable games… Well, recent news in Australia demonstrates that we all need to care about these issues!

The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on one of the gov ministers wanting to ban Project Gotham Racing 2. He stated that the game, which is rated E for everyone (and includes no blood or violence or sex) promotes reckless driving in the streets of Sydney. While I do not think that this threat has much weight behind it, it still shows the level of “fear” and anxiety these games can instill within the clueless.

Back to the US anti-violence crusade, we have a Californian law-maker trying to propose new legislation to restrict games. It is quite ironic that the new state governor has his own violent first person shooter on the market ;) Further, we’ve got the Haitian community up in arms about GTA:VC. What’s more, Lieberman has made yet another vow to squash games.

A very telling email volley with Jack Thompson demonstrates the somewhat questionable motives behind the very people who purport to be saving our culture and our humanity. Just wait until they all take notice of the latest gorefest, Manhunt… Oh my…

I’ve been meaning to pick up a copy of the recently released book “Gender Inclusive Game Design” by Sheri Graner Ray (who also happens to be the co-chair of the IGDA Women’s Committee). I thoroughly enjoyed her design lecture at the recent Australian game dev conference. iDevGames has a great review of the book, in summary stating: “The book is that irresistible. The book is that interesting. The book is a freaking TNT charge!”

I am big proponent of gender inclusive design. As reinfoced by a BCC article, it is about making good games, games that are fun for everyone. It is NOT about making “pink” games, as so many tend to believe… The folks at Game Girl Advance have ever more to add to the discussion.

Also, just came across this more general site on gender inclusion in technology…