Links for November 20, 2017

Indiepocalypse Now. MaxMaxing Attention Economies In the Age of Cultural Overproduction.

Manufacturers of home computers competed with consoles by marketing them as more than videogame machines. Something you can do your homeworks or your accounting with. In doing so they conquered the studio, the bedroom, the desk. Worktime and playtime started to become more intertwined.

But it’s only with the popularity of the handheld devices, and smartphones later, that the possibility of playing literally anywhere and any time became real. You could play with the gameboy while traveling, instead of talking with your family. You could play in private even when you didn’t have access to a television.

You can play while on a romantic date and after sex.


“The Door Problem”

Game design is one of those nebulous terms to people outside the game industry that’s about as clear as the “astrophysicist” job title is to me. It’s also my job, so I find myself explaining what game design means to a lot of people from different backgrounds, some of whom don’t know anything about games. I like to describe my job in terms of “The Door Problem”.


Short Trip - Alexander Perrin