LIFE: The Game

Jeannie NovakFounder, Indiespace

Lead Author & Series Editor, Game Development Essentials

Game Review

accessible & widely accepted to date

believable characters

lasting appeal

challenge & variety

unusual design feature: no choice in determining character’s initial starting location, appearance or gender (seemingly random)

customization comes into play later

newbie players are guided through early levels by NPCs (sometimes “griefers”)

experience achieved through “level treadmill”

player economy

career system

Components of “Play”

Engagement

Perceived Control

Entertainment

Decision-making

Social interaction (multiplayer)

Education (often covert/stealth and social)

Emotional attachment

Level of simulation

(“life simulation” as genre)

Game Elements

Gameplay (Formal/Structure/Mechanics)

Challenges strategies

Balance

Victory & loss conditions

Socialization frequency & success rate

Competition vs. cooperation

Virtual economies

Experience points (from battling monsters & “bosses”)

Story (Dramatic / Narrative)

Decisions and affect/emotions

Plot points = challenges

Narrative “pathing”

Game Elements

Character

Avatars vs. NPCs

Big boss

Identity and control

Effect of relationships on story “outcomes”

Interface

Physical/mechanical & visual controls

Feedback vs. control

Sensory feedback

Heads up display (HUD)

Life Examples

Job Hunting

Networking

Grocery Shopping

Dating

Driving

Negotiating

Investing

Learning

Writing

Composing

Creating a “blockbuster”

My Strange Encounter

“Doppelbot”

Virtual agent/”not so evil” twin that knows what you want/need and proceeds to get it for you (or provide you with the information you need to get it yourself)

Software-based

Automatic

Immediate linked to your thoughts

Life Management Tools

project management

organization

email

collaboration

searching

wikis

discussions

blogging

networking

strategizing

Age of the Amateur

Player as co-author

Non-linear life narrative

Comparing player control within and outside the game environment

Leveraging technology to enhance social interaction and efficiency

The Transparent Societyis Here . . .

Transparency goes both ways; feature of “good” corporations & government

Commercial web / information as facilitator

Privacy almost non-existent – but many would prefer to be in the public eye

Who Needs Privacy Anyway?

Total Recall?

Not Quite . . .MyLifeBits

Experiment: Gordon Bell is now completely digital (paperless)

Software Research: Jim Gemmell & Roger Lueder have developed the tool to support digital memories

If we can access all memories & our lives are fully digital, game-life elements will become even more pronounced

Ramifications: Legal, Social, Entertainment

If memories can be recorded, they can be altered

What is left untouched?

Dreamtime

Australian Aboriginal mythology

Two parallel forms of time:

Daily objective activity

Infinite spiritual cycle (dreamtime)

More real than “reality”

Natural world real? Human-made modifications less real, game-like?

Virtual Worlds / MUVEs

Economies

Merchandise

Social interaction

Simulated environments (many mundane – representational)

Game-Life Hybrid

What is real life? We’ve created artificiality; everything is an interface

Our impulse is to live in myth

Definition of story is “fiction”; if we move to the “real,” will we still be storytellers?

Will We Use -- or Lose -- Our Illusion?

Genre: Social

Farmville – social consciousness; tedious – just like life

Platform: Mobile

Intersection between analog and digital world

Mobile phone moves through our environment

“Cyberspace” as phone conversation cell phone as device that references an alternate environment

Augmented Reality

Bringing game elements inherent in life into focus

Augmented Reality?

Augmented Past / Memories?Alternate Reality?After Life?

Future of Entertainment

Entertainment business facilitates bottom grass roots entertainers vs. extremely high risk hit identification

This segment of the entertainment industry makes it easier to formalize the idea of our life as a game

Life and art have always mimicked one another, but the game entertainment segment has triggered a fusion due to the rise of online social media/networks and user-controlled content (player as “co-author”)

Web-based “life” has been an “enabler” in this area

Beyond “pseudo-events” & simulacra

The Game . . .

. . . Has Already Begun

Suggested Reading

The Transparent Society (David Brin) Total Recall (Gordon Bell et al.) Life: The Movie (Neal Gabler) CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (George Saunders) Play as Life (http://playaslife.com) Real Life – Gamespot Review (http://tinyurl.com/gufy)http://tinyurl.com/gufy)