Making Art

Seth Godin (master marketer and thinker on things community) has a short blog post about art. He defines art thusly:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording... but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

Drop this definition into the discussion of Are Games Art and you find that: yes, they are.

Games are made by human beings. They can be created to have an impact, even if that impact is to distract you for five minutes at a time. And they are a gift: sometimes you have to buy them, but once a game is released into the wild the ideas and concepts it presents are available for everyone else to see and use. They create discussion, even without being played. A game with a unique mechanic informs other games simply by existing.

Games are art because we make them and we fill them with our ideas and then we release them into the wild for others to see and experience and ponder and play. Perhaps some games are better art than others. Just as some paintings or sculpture has more meaning for some than others, so too games can be personal to our experiences. Even Tetris can be art.

Digging for Gold

Two weeks ago I purchased a year long membership to Xbox Live Gold. Truth be told, I did it because the package included a chat pad, a headset and a game for a price I really couldn't say no to.

And I like some of the perks (though have used few of them). For instance, I can now get demos and videos of games I probably won't buy a week before I used to. And I can use the crippled and nearly useless Facebook and Twitter social apps. And I can play online (with all of the 5 other friends who don't have any of the same games and are rarely on at the same time).

Actually, looking at it now, the only thing I've really enjoyed about being a Gold member is getting to play 1 vs 100. Even that is not without technical hiccups. It may not hold my interest past the end of January. We'll have to see.

So what is all the fuss about? Do I have to be a hardcore FPS gamer (which I am NOT) to really appreciate and get my money's worth from the service? Is there a reason for a casual gamer like me to have a Live Gold subscription or will it go unused for the next 11 months and then lapse into forgotten-ness?

The biggest disappointment has actually been trying to play online with other people and failing to find anyone. I'm a board game fan. I'd been holding off of purchasing Carcassonne on XBLA because I actually own the game (with more expansions than were released on the arcade), and without Gold I'd only be able to play multiplayer locally. So when I upgraded to Gold I also bought Carcassonne with the hopes I could hop into the occasional pick-up game. Not so easily done. It seems to be rare that anyone else is even playing. The game seems to be all but dead. Am I too late and all the players have moved on to greener pastures?

Do I just not have the right game? Is there something I should be playing that I'm not? You can check out my gamer tag at the side of the blog. See the games I've got (and played recently). Drop me a line or send me a friend request. Suggest a game. Chat me up the next time I'm online. I'm looking for a reason to like Gold, but there doesn't seem to be a draw for anyone who isn't playing Modern Warefare 2 (or whatever shooter is the flavour of the week). Is Silver all the casual gamer really needs?

It seems like Microsoft is ignoring a perfectly good demographic (again).

Still Waiting for Jack

I have written about You Don't Know Jack at least twice on this blog (here and here). Both times lamenting the fact that I can't play a current version of the irreverent trivia game on my living room TV with friends and strangers over the internets. This was brought painfully to mind again this week as I dipped my toe back into the world of trivia gameshows with 1 vs 100 on the Xbox 360.

More than a year after getting my 360, I finally upgraded my Xbox Live Account to Gold. Mostly I did this because there is a really good deal where you can get a chat pad, a headset, a year of live and a game (PGR4 in my case) for a good price. I did it for the chat pad (which is the most useful accessory for a gaming system ever).

So I was trying out some of the things I can do with a Gold account and I figured I'd give 1 vs 100 a go. My first expereince was in an Extended Play game. It's trivia, fairly straight-forward and quick paced. There is the odd add break, but the only thing they seem to advertise is themselves, so it wasn't too annoying. Not horrible, and it played smoothly, and I love me some trivia. So I figured I would try the Live game on Tuesday night.

I think I know what I'm going to be doing with my Tuesday evenings for the next while.

1 vs 100 is not perfect, but it does have something unique, especially when played live. It has a sense of being a part of a larger show. The trivia is rapid pace, there is a real host, real prizes (Microsoft Points, XBLA games, and a few other give aways), and a chance to show off to other real people (if you manage to land in the Mob or as the 1). It's quite fun, but it sadly still falls into the '90s and '00s suspense-style gameshow.

Trivia gameshows tend to fall into three categories: challenging, witty/irreverent, and suspenseful. You can guess my favourite. The first tends to attach those who are smart, like to see smart people show off, or generally like the challenge involved in the questions. Jeopardy has lasted for so long because of a solid niche audience that loves to see the smart rewarded for knowing that little bit more than their opponents (hence the popularity of Ken Jennings).

I've always found the third kind of trivia game to be rather low-brow. It substitutes challenge with cliff-hanger expectation and mass appeal questions. Now there is nothing wrong about pop-culture in a trivia game, but when the majority of players can be out-guessed by a 5th grader, then you have a problem. Fancy cutting and dramatic music try to keep the audience glued to the rather banal trivia, and drag what could be a very rapid-fire game into an hour long slog. Popularized by Who Wants to be a Millionaire, we were soon deluged by a glut of anxiety-ridden contestants on a raft of mass-consumable trivia. I'm very tired of these, and am glad to see them dissapear into third-string time slots.

Which brings me back to Jack, my favourite example of the Witty/Irreverent category (followed closely by Win Ben Stein's Money). Except for a short-lived foray into TV, YDKJ has always remained firmly in the realm of video games and yet they have always played best in a live environment. Many good times were had when mutiple people could be gathered around the keyboard, and my personal favourite installment of the game was also delivered live (sort of) to your screen every week over the net.

This begs the question: why isn't this on the Xbox right now? The technology exists to produce a high-quality game and play it live over distance. 1 vs 100 sets a precident for delivering weekly content. Jellyvision has always expressed a desire (with the right backing) to bring Jack to the masses. They are in fact long overdue. Almost a year and a half ago they brought an end to the YDKJ online experence (still playable) with an announcement that Big Things were coming for the series. This came shortly after they announced that Jellyvision was heading back into games after a long hiatus with some new leadership. So far these things have yet to materialize a Jack game.

But I hope they are working on something. I hope it's live, funny, and delivered weekly to my TV-connected console for me to play. I hope it gets here soon. Until then I'll be getting my trivia fix from 1 vs 100.

I Resolve

According to the rest of the world, this is going out a day late. All I can say is that sometimes these things take time. So, January 2nd just around 1 in the afternoon (Mountain Standard Time) I am writing this. I suppose it is my New Year's Resolution.

It is an odd ritual, the making of resolutions. People pick an arbitrary day in the Solar year and make a statement that they will strive to Eat Better, or Exercise Regularly; Work Harder, or Play Smarter; Succeed More or Fail Less. And then they declare that they will begin doing these things promptly tomorrow, because right now they are enjoying themselves.

For me a decade has just ended that began with me in High School (grade 11). 10 years ago I fell in love with the woman I am now married to and having a child with. This year will see me a father (something I certainly didn't see coming back then). This year is going to be a bumpy ride for us as we figure out how to raise a kid, pay for bills, and be a family. This is something I've been trying to wrap my head around for the past few months.

So, today, despite the miasma of vague illness and the remnants of Holiday Funk that linger, I am resolved: I want to make this year, more than ever, something to remember and something to be proud of. And I know I can. I can see it.

I had one of those wonderful moments of clarity. You know the ones. Things snap into place, or shift into focus and you can see clearly. You are renewed with energy; are given a purpose and direction. A moment where you start off reflecting on things that have passed and suddenly it all seems to fit.

It just resolves.

Happy New Year. Blessings and Fortune to us all. Make 2010 a year to remember.

Epic Failure to Communicate

It has been nearly 6 months since I last posted anything to this blog. Not for lack of things to post. Not even for lack of time (I have spare time, I simply waste a lot of it). I seem to have lacked drive. The fickle inspiration to transcribe my inner litany to black and white text had fled, leaving my keyboard un-tapped. I was in input mode.

This seems to happen, every now and again. I become a ravenous consumer of media. I devour games of epic length, entire series of books, whole seasons of television, and online content by the gigabyte. I fill my head with stories, plots, characters, ideas, facts, music. Anything and everything. For weeks and months on end I become a sponge for anything that crosses my path.

Until I am full. Or leastwise can't stand to absorb much more. Then my input becomes a disjointed fountain of output. I slow my rapid consumption and head into a time of pondering and (muse willing) writing. I always hope that one day I will become so saturated with raw interconnected data that I'll sit down and out will fly a book, or a script, or a game, or a whole world, fully formed.

I somehow doubt this, but I am only 26, and much could yet happen. I have absorbed so very little, so far.

Anyway, here is a short litany of things that have happened to me, that my few internet followers might be interested in:

• At the end of August my house was broken into and my gaming systems stolen. September was a month without video games (on my TV, I still had my DS).
• In September my wife and I found out that we are having a baby. This was (and is) a source of much joy and celebration. Also worry and fretting. Bit (as we have named the bump) is due sometime near the end of May.
• The end of September was heralded by the return of gaming as the insurance came through and replaced our stolen property. Games were re-purchased with several new ones entering the ranks.
• As can be evedenced by my gamer tag, I have played (and beaten) Brutal Legend (umlaut omitted). There was Metal, much to Morgan's consternation.
• I attempted to play Mirror's Edge but have given up with frustration at the game developers for putting guns into my game about free movement. Also Dragon Age came out.
• Dragon Age still consumes me. 60+ hours in, and I am far from finished. And I must still replay Mass Effect (because of my lost character) before the end of January. Bioware has eaten my gaming life. Please check back in May, about the time Bit will consume everything else in my world.

Short as this post it, at least I have started. Perhaps in the next few weeks my thoughts can be marshaled and coherent ideas put to screen. I have at least one game I can µReview.