On Play

On Play

Shigeru Miyamoto, a person wholly in tune with himself, is able to create “play” because he is play.  He doesn’t need focus groups to tell him that his creations are fun because he feels it at a visceral level.  He doesn’t over-analyze; he plays.  This is all, of course, according to the New Yorker article, “Master of Play” by Nick Paumgarten, since I have no other knowledge of him whatsoever.  I am one of those people who just missed the “gaming era”.   Other than a bit of Pac Man, Asteroids and Tetris, I have no computer gaming experience.  My world, however, is about to change, and I’m game for it.

As a kid, my favorite games were Tag, 4-Square, Jump Rope, Mud Football, basically anything with lots of speed and activity, with sedentary favorites being similar in that quick thinking, quick reaction, speed aspect, and the best games were those in which we cooperatively modified the rules.  With the advent of “gaming”, it seems that there is less outdoor play among kids and, more problematic, less face to face communication.  I haven’t quite labeled this a descent or de-evolution of society, but I’ve been tempted.  I am countered by the subject New Yorker article, “And yet the success of this “casual revolution,” as Juul has called the spread of easier, more accessible video games, like the Finnish sensation Angry Birds, has engendered the idea that games should be more widely integrated into everything we do—that we are insufficiently engaged unless we are passing simultaneously through a real world and a simulated one.”  While I would argue that a simulated world can be merely the world of play itself and need not be of the cyber world, I am willing to explore this point by learning several computer games and designing one, or who knows, maybe more?

 Looking at designing a game, I must confess, is exciting and challenging, and though it feels a bit hypocritical as I’ve espoused that “quit wasting time on the computer” sentiment, combining the creative and technical aspects of the endeavor is very appealing. Inspired by Miyamoto, I’m going to assume that if I like my game idea, then others will too.  Also, I would like to steer away from the gratuitous, graphic, visual violence that is in many computer games, which is fortunate for me since I don’t have the computer graphics talent to create that kind of visual.  As Will Wright said of Miyamoto’s games, “When you play his games, you feel like you’re a kid and you’re out in the back yard playing in the dirt.”  I would like to design a game with this feel to it, but perhaps, also with a very subtle message or something in addition to just the play aspect.  That way, people will have an excuse to play my game; it’s for the message, right?  NO!  It’s for the play.  Miyamoto definitely has that right.