Video game developers, academics try to touch base at Vancouver conference

Video game developers and academics have a great deal to teach each other, but few avenues to explore an educational dialog, according to a panel discussion held in Vancouver June 17. An evening plenary session at the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference Changing Views: Worlds in Play, saw four of the video game industry’s leading lights face an audience of university professors and students, with each side admitting that they haven’t been in close enough touch as new games hardware such as the Microsoft Xbox360, and next generation Sony and Nintendo consoles make possible ever greater levels of gameplay immersion. Industry representatives from Electronic Arts, Relic, Next Level Games and Radical Entertainment are excited about the possibilities, but unsure of how best to exploit faster processor speeds and unprecedented levels of graphic detail, something academics say they can help explore. The panel, said moderator and organizer Jason Della Rocca, program director of the International Games Developers Association, was created because, as he noted, "Often academics have no clue how a game is made." On the other hand, as panelists noted, the current crop of games planned for next generation hardware is vaguely uninspiring. Despite the gear’s impressive technical specifications, there seems to be little innovation in the game experience, with the first crop of titles due out expected to be safe improvements on already well-understood and popular genres and licensed franchises. As Steve Rechtschaffner, VP and chief creative officer at EA, said of this year’s E3 event, "The show was completely uninspiring, and completely inspiring at the same time." The new consoles, he said, are impressive, but says the titles leave him feeling like he has "played that game 10 times." Calling the new games "me-too" titles, he said the industry is currently facing a fear of trying anything new. He cited new advanced game character behaviour as one of the new paradigms that could boost video games into the mainstream – a key, he said, to the industry’s survival. Panelists agreed, and said the industry is experiencing a fear of failure and unwillingness to innovate as it grapples with the new technical possibilities. As Ron Moravek, director of operations at Relic, noted, the new hardware represents a new cycle in the games titles, and there is little appetite for the creation of new IP. "We’re just trying to figure out how this thing works, much less take on a bunch of risk." The refrain drew sympathetic nods from other industry panelists, though they seemed frustrated by the lack of innovation, with Rechtschaffner lamenting that, "We have too many marketing people in our industry." A key missing ingredient, all agreed, was a way to bring innovative products to the stage where they can be assessed quickly for market potential – without the expense and time involved in creating prototypes. Rechtschnaffner noted that in filmmaking, screenplays are an invaluable way to pitch concepts to producers, something that’s currently impossible in the far more technically complex world of video games. There is no way, he said, to put something quickly in a publisher’s hands to say, "Here’s what’s in my head. Here’s the experience you’ve never had before." He added later, "We don’t know how to innovate at a price at which we can afford to innovate." While the panel discussions turned on questions about emotion versus tactile experience, graphics complexity versus narrative, it was Della Rocca who brought the debate to a head when he asked how many of the panelists had taken part in the day’s activities – and none had. The DiGRA conference featured dozens of paper presentations from academics around the world exploring human/game interaction, studies of successful narrative and similar sociological and psyhocological topics. Each of the panelists expressed interest in having a richer dialog with academics, but said the day-to-day pressures of creating a commercial product stand in the way. Next Level Games CEO Douglas Tronsgard summed up the problem neatly, "What we need to do is make games, and when we’re not doing that, we’re losing money." Few companies have staff devoted to researching the long-term future of games, and new forms. Rechtschaffner – who works for the world’s largest video game publisher – says it is only recently that he has begun speaking with sociologists and behaviourists. "Two years ago, behaviourist wasn’t even in the language." Researchers in attendance seemed keen to begin what would likely be a helpful dialog. One woman, Northwestern University PhD student Robin Hunicke noted the introduction of a new academic journal, Games and Culture, a Journal of Interactive Media, edited by the University of Southern California’s Douglas Thomas, which could help begin breaking the ice.

Video game developers, academics try to touch base at Vancouver conference

Broadcast | June 24, 2005

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