On the Relevance of Video Gaming in Human & Social Sciences – Interview with Sébastien Genvo, game design expert

This does not mean that consumers are all-powerful for manufacturers continue to put in-game locks on their applications protecting themselves against actions that could be detrimental to the game’s profitability or threaten market regulation. There is constant tension between the need to design creative games and the barriers that the market implements to ensure profitability. A game must first be approved by a manufacturer before publication on its platform. Though mainstream logic always has the final word, other underlying types of logic are key to pushing things in a forward direction. Player-generated content is spreading. Thanks to this free boon, manufacturers save a lot on development costs. Sony just released a game called Little Big Planet sold with the following market argument: “You’ll get to create your own world, provide your own content, and maybe even become famous by creating a level. However, a closer look at global user licenses, such as EULA (End-User License Agreements), shows that Sony owns all rights on anything users create. Whenever users produce content on Little Big Planet, they waive their commercial rights to Sony who can, in turn, make commercial use of the newly-created content or use it for promotional purposes without compensating players. User content is leveraged for commercial purposes. That said, things must be put into perspective. Some players take it upon themselves to make the games their own and transform them. The balance between market logic and entertainment remains a very complex and tense one.

From perpetual obsolescence to gaming legacy: doing away with technological exemplification

Thierry Lehmann: Today, video games appeal to all family members because they are sophisticatedly segmented offering a wide array of action, platform, serious games, etc. Development is no longer focused on graphic improvements because sufficient evolutions have been made on this front.

Immersion is brought to the forefront via various kinds of interfacing, including Nintendo’s pioneering advances with its Wii Remote proposing new modalities of interaction and Microsoft’s recently launched Kinect, a remote-free gaming system based on motion recognition. In which direction do you think video games and especially tangible interfaces are headed?

Sébastien Genvo: If video games pertained only to technological exemplification as industrials had wished, the prevailing outcome would be perpetual obsolescence as was the case up until the 1990s. Digital oblivion and immediate consumption made it impossible to build a gaming legacy or even a gaming culture. Today, users contribute to constituting a video game legacy by installing emulation programs and making old games available, etc. Video game publishers have since tapped into this trend.

When taking a look at video gaming’s independent scene, you discover that many games go against the flow of technological exemplification. These are, without a doubt, independent games designed by three or four people that defy market trends. You can read an article on my website about the art of game design in which I mention a game named Passage whose dimensions are roughly 12 pixels by 100. Today, an increasing number of similar games are seeing the light. This goes to show that the medium’s specificity does not solely lie in technological amplification, but in its power to convey not only emotions using a handful of visuals, but also new forms of artistic expression despite significant technical constraints, all the while banking on a more abstract realm to design new imaginary worlds. Thus, technological exemplification as imposed by manufacturers is turned upside down. Finding an old-school console with all related games is not easy unless you buy it second-hand. The market spurs players to become instant consumers. Gaming represents much more than this as video games are gradually turning into a true tool for propagating legacy.

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