Culture

Tween Girls Double Gaming Time?

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Who’s doubled their game playing time per month this year? Tween girls, according to a study.

This intrigues me as this is a market NOT typically associated with gaming, and oft associated with shovelware and secondary works. There are some standouts for tweens, as noted in the article, so I’m wondering if this will affect development for the demographic.

In fact, if it does, who knows what surprises may come up. “My Little Pony” was intended for a younger female core audience, and we know what happened.  Wizardry 101 was intended for a younger audience and it was a hit in an older demographic.  Those working to appeal to this growing demographic may find a lot of surprises.

– Steven Savage

Non-Gamers Should Care About Gaming

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Venture Beat had an unusual article on why non-gamers should care about gaming. It’s a pretty interesting read, but what’s really interesting to me is the very idea itself.

As a gamer, I take the existence of my hobby and its industry for granted. I also assume, rather ignorantly, that there’s a certain barrier between me and non-gamers, even if it’s changing. That’s a given, a cultural assumption.

Of course as the article notes, it’s not true. Gamification, causal games, more games, etc. really do blur (and destroy) the gamer/non-gamer boundary. This boundary breaching is probably happening faster than many crusty old gamers like me may realize because of casual, mobile, and geek being chic.

So now that I’m actually thinking outside of the shrink-wrapped box, what do I see coming up in the gaming/non-gaming boundary:

  • Goodbye to boundary in the next 5-10 years. The only reason not to game will be because you don’t have access to the technology or the time. But gaming will be very omnipresent.
  • Design meltdown. Once gaming is so widespread, with more audiences than it’s used to, designing games is going to be more challenging. What demographics will game designers run into that they never encountered before?
  • Getting more businesslike. Gaming has had many a moment of not-exactly-professionalism. When it’s more widespread, that’s going to have to change. Expectations for businesses, of performance, of support, will alter.

What does it mean for future and current gaming professions:

  • If you’re not thinking out of the box you’re not moving ahead. Get ready to embrace a less bounded game world.
  • Act professional. It’ll make sure you survive and it’ll be expected.
  • Stop making the same damn game. Your audience has changed.

– Steven Savage

Why We Need Imagination In Our Economies, Media, and Careers

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I’ve decried the lack of space opera – because it requires thinking big thoughts and often thinking of the future, it seems those traits aren’t in vogue.

I’ve recently read a brutal look at the plethora of startups that aren’t original. I had to agree.

I had a discussion with a friend who works in gaming that led to a series of bitter exchanges as we lamented rampant unoriginality.

We can look at economic and political discussions where the same thing is said over and over again. Most lately the dismal attempts at austerity that don’t seem to be solving things.

I would like to postulate that one of the problems in media, in economy, in economics and politics, is a lack of applied imagination.

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