« Michael Naimark and Frank Lantz | Main | Joe Henderson, Social games - part 1 »
October 17, 2006
Talks about gaming
10/12 – Washington DC
It would be a total misperception in today’s culture to think that gaming is only of interest to a young teenage audience. There could easily be interest found from almost any field for an application of some type of gaming to enhance their professional efforts. For example, the presentation of medical procedures presented as a game-type scenario for doctors in training or even the virtual experience of a new home prior to purchase may have gaming qualities.
Recently I gave a talk at The McKinley High School in Washington DC during a technology summit. McKinley High School is unique and does not really have a comparative counterpart on the East Coast. Imagine a place where kids from a low income neighborhood can learn interactive technology, robotics and even work in a Vicon motion capture studio. A group of students presented a remarkable 3D game about fire hazards at home created for the Red Cross. The Technology Director of the school offers classes in interactive media including Maya, Virtools, Motion Builder. Mike Olson did a Virtools training session there over the summer. Rick also uses my last book as a class textbook. More than 60% of girls interactive are taking programming classes.
While a presenter was presenting slide about Google meets Adobe, a partnership they feel could “save the world”, two kids came to ask me questions about what we do at ITP. I explained to them that at ITP students would design their own version of ‘Google Earth’ and that it may not be as perfect as Google’s version, but at least they would understand the process and feel empowered by creating their own application. They seemed satisfied and left. I met one of the creators/principal of the school, a scientist who chose to head a high school. We talked about his desire to put his school inside a virtual world called Second Life. This was the second time in one day that I met people and who invited me to meet them again inside Second Life. It leads me to wonder what makes games successful. Does Second Life offer the same elements to people that may also be interested in say a game like Grand Theft Auto? How can people creating games today compete in a market that may have traditionally involved a different audience? And who exactly is the audience for the games of today?
Jean-Marc
Posted by jean-marc at October 17, 2006 11:20 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)