Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
our world be a better place if a primary advisor and strategist to our leaders were
a game designer? I
'
m inclined to think so. But then I
'
m prejudiced.
In a book just published, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How
They Can Change the World , Jane McGonigal suggests much the same thing,
adding that it is game designers
'
responsibility to change the world, not just
create fictional ones.
In my own book, Character Development and Storytelling for Games , I wrote
about game writers and designers,
re lucky, we might make something
more; a game that endures; something fine that we had a part in creating that
will touch the hearts and minds of generations unborn. Anything is possible.
The important thing is to have the will to try.
“
If we
'
�
I was attempting to rally my peers and the next generation of writers and
designers entering our world to make meaningful games. Now I find myself
asking the same questions about our place in the real world. Teaching has
encouraged me to look at the real world, and designing classrooms as games has
made me very aware of the place games are coming to occupy in it.
Idon
'
t have any earth-shaking pronouncements on the level of those I cite above.
I
'
ll confine myself to this one, very important corner of the future: our children.
Here in no particular order is how I see the multiplayer classroom
'
s future.
Where is my crystal ball? Ah, here it is. I know it
s just a prop from Skeleton
Chase 2: The Psychic (which should explain partially at least the skeletal hand),
but I
'
'
m going to gaze into its depths and make a few predictions (see Figure 16.2).
I
ve written both games and TV shows about psychics. I should know how to
operate this thing. Let
'
'
s see. Where is the Power On button?
Ah
there it is
pushing the button
the crystal ball is clearing
I see
...
...
...
...
...
n Researchers obtaining grants to study the efficacy of the multiplayer
classroom.
n Research bearing out Marie-Pierre Huguet
s observations on Level 8. The
benefits are proved to be real, demonstrable, and repeatable.
n There will be more topics examining classes as games.
n There will be a backlash against the concept, calling it frivolous and fleeting.
'
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