Keeping it real at the Montreal International Game Summit

Taking gaming to a new level by taking users away from the desktop was a key theme during the second annual Montreal International Game Summit last week, with several sessions focusing on merging traditional screen-based games with elements of physical play. On the conference’s first day Adrian Hon, director of play at London UK-based Mind Candy, led a session dealing with "alternate reality games" (ARGs), or those games that extend the experience beyond the computer to encompass live action role-playing and other forms of interaction in the physical world. He pointed to The Beast, launched in 2001 by DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft Corp. to promote the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence, as the first example of the genre. "It was the first game of its kind, and it didn’t even pretend to be a game," he said. Other examples of the concept include Electronic Arts’ 2002 game Majestic, the 1997 movie "The Game" and even H.G. Well’s infamous "War of the Worlds" radio show. Hon’s firm offers its own spin on ARGs called PerplexCity, in which players must buy packs of puzzle cards and solve them in order to gain clues. In turn, those clues will help players find a relic from an alien civilization that was stolen and brought to Earth. The multiple subplots woven into PerplexCity have attracted thousands of players worldwide who value a good storyline over awe-inspiring graphics, hyperbolic body counts and other quick thrills, Hon said, adding "the concept of a story, for most video games, is like a coat of paint." Hon pointed out that such offerings present challenges for game designers as well: without a defined beginning and end, it can be hard to bring new entrants into the game. Consequently, the PerplexCity web site features a "Story So Far" section that allows new players to catch up. ARGs often lack replayability, which can make the return on development costs seem prohibitively low. Nevertheless, the genre continues to attract potential developers and users alike by offering players the thrill of adopting a new identity, however temporarily. "Live events...are more visceral by making people actors in what’s going on," he said. Later that day, Frank Lantz, creative director for New York’s area/code, talked about real-world gaming, a genre not unlike ARGs in that it draws users away from the keyboard to interact and play in the physical space, but dissimilar in that users don’t necessarily become immersed in an "alternate reality" story line. "For thousands of years, games were a form of social interaction," Lantz said. With the advent of the computer, gaming became more of a solitary pursuit, or "media viewing." Now, with networking technology that allows gamers to interact while playing, as well as mobile technology that allows them to take the game outdoors with them, it’s become a social event once more. One example of real-world gaming is location-based games, such as Swordfish and Torpedo Bay from Calgary’s Blister Entertainment Inc., which allow players to go outside and reel in virtual swordfish or dodge digital torpedoes from their Java mobile phone handset (see p.7 for more on Blister). Given these attributes, it’s not surprising that Lantz and others count lower-tech games such as tag and hide-and-seek as forerunners of modern location-based games. Even the most advanced – and user-isolating – computer-only games have elements of real-world gaming. "3D games are about exploring space and moving around in space," he noted. "In a strange ironic way, these games are about location." Lantz added that the pervasiveness of technology – from digital signage to Wi-Fi hotspots – creates an environment ripe for massive multiplayer real-world games. "There is a blurring happening between our physical spaces and our informational spaces," he said. "Our environments are becoming more information-enabled." Area/code was behind a real-world game of Pac-Man called PacManhattan, in which players dressed as characters from the groundbreaking 1980 game by Namco/Midway and have their movements controlled by partners at a command centre who relay instructions via Wi-Fi, mobile phone and other communications channels. "The idea that I can play something that has the complexity of a computer game but uses my body in a unique way is incredibly exciting," he said. As pointed out by Hon earlier in the day, Lantz said there are problems inherent in designing such games, including: gamers losing a sense of when the game starts and stops; participant uncertainty around the state of the game (leaders, time remaining, etc.); players instinctively trying to reduce the complexity of a RWG down to an easily understandable single screen; difficulty in getting a group of players to come to a consensus on a course of action; and finally monitoring players to ensure they’re following the rules in both the digital and physical worlds. Casual games, formal business plans From the hardcore to the haphazard: a panel at the Montreal International Game Summit examined casual games and the "try-before-you-buy" audience, the antithesis of dedicated gaming culture. Casual games are those aimed at occasional users who play to pass time. Their players tend not to be slavishly devoted to gaming and are cautious about spending money on games, hence the trial versions offered by many casual game developers. "I love the fact that people can access instantly," said Nick Fortugno, director of design at New York’s gameLab. However, that ready access can be a double-edged sword, said fellow panelist and Reflexive Entertainment producer James Smith of Irvine, CA. "They have no investment they didn’t go to the store and buy it," he said of try-before-you-buy users. "They try it for 20 seconds and if they don’t like it they move on." Developers of casual games also need to strike a balance between revealing all a game’s features in trial versions, and providing enough of a tease to "convert" trial users to paying customers. "The user should have a brush with death within 15 minutes" of play time, said Dave Rohrl, general manager of Seattle-based Popcap Games Inc.’s San Francisco studio, of the need for suspense in trial versions. "You don’t introduce all your elements in the first level, because that would confuse and turn them off," Fortugno agreed. Like other game formats, casual games have suffered from a "me-too" syndrome, where a successful formula is latched onto and imitated by numerous developers. "I’m often surprised and sometimes appalled at this market’s tolerance for imitation," said Rohrl. However, Smith said, copying the feel and style of best-selling games is natural in a market where "what seems to be most successful is what gamers are most familiar with." Women are also more represented among casual game players than among hardcore gamers, meaning more women should be involved in designing casual games, Fortugno said. "To think that we know what 30 to 50-year-old women want when there’s been so little experimentation is ridiculous," he said. The panel predicted that the space will continue to grow from the addition of new customers, rather than existing customers buying more offerings, and that casual games will become bigger and more complex over time. Juan Gril, lead producer at Joju Games, also said that future games might incorporate an ecommerce component, where players get the game for free but buy special items within the game.

Keeping it real at the Montreal International Game Summit

Broadcast | November 11, 2005

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