What is it about games from designers like Will Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier and Hideo Kojima -- to name an elite few -- that sets them apart? Certainly, there could be many answers to that question. For instance, they are original, creative, and fantastic game designers who execute brilliantly. And, something I think they also have in common is that they seem to take games beyond mere entertainment, providing us with something extra -- an added value, you might say -- on top of a thoroughly entertaining, absorbing and fulfilling experience. Perhaps we learned something new, challenged ourselves with complex puzzles in unique and imaginative worlds or experienced a story that moved us to consider our personal relationship with good and evil.
Despite many obvious examples of how great game design can combine with learning, great stories and a deeper exploration of what it is to be human, there seems to be little emphasis in video game discussions on seeking any deeper quality, however you may define it. In fact, some game designers actively oppose game stories, arguing that only the emergent story of each player should be considered. However, stories or no stories, I personally hope to see more games that teach us something or grab our emotions, challenge us and take us on a journey of self-discovery.
In all too many game discussions, any perspective or feature that doesn't involve the latest and greatest graphics processors, physics engines or the single-handed destruction of hordes of enemies by your tireless hero is often dismissed as unnecessary or not fun. So-called "educational" games are often reviled as boring or crude, yet a few notable exceptions have managed to crawl out of a crowd of games that's admittedly about as stimulating to most of us as a gathering of mathematics professors. These few exceptional games, like an exotic dancer at the professors' gathering, enliven the situation and at least help to prove that the addition of something really fun can make even the dullest subject interesting. They point out that learning and fun can go hand in hand, with proper matchmaking of their teaching and entertainment goals.
There are groups dedicated to applying game technology to very useful purposes, and these groups are coming at the problem from a very focused and productive angle. They have already accepted that video games are, or can be, learning environments. In time, I expect that movements such as the Serious Games Initiative, Games for Health and Games for Change will produce some very successful games, although I have not yet seen how they will blend into the more mainstream segments of the game market.
Meanwhile, we have millions -- by some counts hundreds of millions -- of people playing video games of one kind or another worldwide. For the majority of these people, the game experience obviously serves a purpose -- or purposes -- such as entertainment, social interaction and escape or even self-empowerment. That more and more people are playing video games is testament to video games' powers of attraction and retention, both of which are desirable where the goal is to inspire people to learn or to experience something that adds to and enriches their lives.
So where is the mainstream game designer in the discussion of games that offer some added positive benefit? Why is it that trying to discuss games that are totally kick-ass fun and that also somehow teach or inspire players is frequently met with a blank stare, a polite nod or a flat-out denial?