Churchill Club press
There are a few articles out there today regarding the CHurchill Club panel I was on yesterday. Excerpts:
GameSpot has an article:
“In the long run that is actually the unique selling proposition of a connected platform: that it is bidirectional, that it is persistent,” Koster said. “That’s really long-term what we’re selling. We’re not selling the bits. We’re selling those other intangibles, the opportunity to feel special, to show off your achievements, the opportunity to upload something.”
As Koster had noted earlier in the evening, “Using the word ‘connection’ even feels small. It’s a place. And all of this industry is moving toward realizing this, and all of this is going to be a place that serves a medium like entertainment in a lot of ways beyond shooting games.”
…and so does Gamesindustry.biz, which looks like it’s mostly echoing the Gamespot article. However, it leads with Lars Buttler’s comment that online games are like sex, and single-player games are like masturbation. He concludes this means that single-player games are never going to go away. 🙂
I believe that Gamespot actually filmed the whole thing, so that should be available at some point. Also, I believe that the Churchill Club releases their panels and talks as podcasts, so I will keep an eye out for a direct link once they post it.
And another at Spong.
And some reaction from a blogger. I’ve gotten questions here at work as well about whether or not single-player gaming is in fact going away or an aberration. Maybe that deserves a post.
After all these years, Gamasutra still can’t spell your name correctly:
“with quotes from speakers Peter Moore of Microsoft, Ralph Koster of Sony Online Entertainment, Lauren Detoc of Ubisoft North America, and Lars Butler, formerly of Electronic Arts”
Richard
I thought the whole point of computer games was the ability to play alone, against Artificial Intelligence. Maybe it’s true that people traditionally play games with others, but people don’t solve puzzles, crosswords, logic puzzles, etc, with others. And they don’t read/solve murder mysteries with others. And they don’t read/solve spy
novels with others. Good single player console and computer games are like lavishly illustrated puzzles or mysteries. Most online games aren’t much more than just virtual paintball disguised as some medieval fantasy.
Besides, depending on who you’re having “the real experience” of sex with, masturbation can be a lot more satisfying.