Computer Games bring Families back together

For decades computer games have been seen as a piraha which split up families, responsible for sending teenage boys and fathers off to sit in different rooms completely engrossed in their lone slash ’em up, shoot ’em up games, or buried deep in a fantasy world with elves and goblins.

This is changing now dramatically.  This winter will probably be the first to see families uniting around the TV and games console, playing together, talking, laughing and joking.  For years and years Computer games have been seen as a device which drives families apart, but now the opposite is happening, and they are bringing families together.

Why the change? 

Firstly, the consoles them selves have changed, the Wii, innovative and simplier for young children and less experinced games playing adults to use.  Wireless technology also makes the consoles and control panels simplier, allowing for the whole family to play eachother at the same time.

Secondly the games and the choice of games has expanded hugely.  Many of the wii games are based around offline games, that try as they might, parents just don’t get to participate in regularly with their children in the real world, such as tennis, snowboarding etc.

This Christmas will see a rush of family friendly games into the Christmas maket place, inlcuding games which let you prented to be popstars, actors, and air guitarists in the extreme.  And these types of games put everyone of a level playing field, an 8 year old can compete fairly with their parents, even their grandparents, and enables proper competition, rather than the politically correct kind that we’ve seen of recent times.

A further positive change to come from the move to family friendly gaming is that the consoles are now generally appearing in the living room, where the biggest television, and biggest space for game playing tends to be.  This means that children are no longer secluded away in their bedrooms in the lone game playing worlds, but within the communal family space.

The recent economic downturn is seen by many in the games industry as being a positive opportunity.  As families cut back on expenditure and goign out, and evening in playing games together looks like a good fun alternative.

The scenes drawn above are remeniscent of the prr-television society, where families would gather together or an evening to play board games like monopoly, scrabble or cards.  It seems that the wii, and the playstation have just re-engineered those old fashioned games for the 21st century family.

BBFC and the UK Games Industry move closer to agreement over Game Ratings.

Computer games and videos play a significant role in most Children and young peoples lives.  And as a result the issue of ratings on games is a recurring topic amongst the games industry producers and suppliers, and between political and social organisations.

Currently, PEGI is the system most used in Europe, whereby the games are rated from 3+, and guidelines exist as to what is suitable at each of the key levels.  PEGI is a European standard operated by the games publishers.

 

Currently the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) have no direct regularity authority over any ratings on any computer or video games.  However the Byron Report (described as remarkably balanced and no-political) suggested that BBFC logos be carried on the front of all packaging, as it’s ratings, images and standards are all very familiar to the UK public.

 

The rating system relies on a single recommended age box, along with a number of smaller boxes indicating what types of potentially objectionable content you may find in the game. These smaller boxes simply confuse matters – not least because the task of expressing an abstract concept like “horror” in a tiny black and white picture is the kind of thing you expect to find in a lateral-thinking puzzle game, not a sober attempt at implementing a rating system.

 

Arguments against the continued use of PEGI include the fact that it is Pan- European, and that cultural differences, religious and social differences all mean that what is “acceptable” cary widely between the European member countries.

 

After months of bitterly opposing the BBFC’s further involvement in game rating, however, Britain’s Games publishers seem to have changed tack. This week, UK games publisher association ELSPA tacitly acknowledged flaws in the PEGI system – and instead proposed a new “traffic lights” system, which would be much clearer for consumers, not to mention more visually striking.

 

In fact, what’s most visually striking about the new logos is how much like the BBFC’s they are. The rating system is admittedly different, but ELSPA’s new traffic lights really do bear a superficial resemblance to the BBFC’s own rating stamps. They even boast the explanatory text box on the right, replacing PEGI’s utterly awful content icons.

 

However, from this coming together of ideas springs a new issue.  Who should govern the ratings – the games industry (perhaps through ELSPA) or the BBFC.  The BBFC maybe do not have enough experience in this particular market, and could have a tendency to concentrate on the visual images in the games, as opposed to the underlying games strategy or the game playing. 

 

However, given the fact that the media are quick to draw links between computer games and our “broken” society, it would be a brave government that would give control of games rating to the games industry.

 

Fantasy Couriers is an online computer game that is played by under 18’s, and as such the company seeks to abide by, and exceed, all rating systems that are relevant to the games industry, whether they be regulated by the BBFC, PEGI or anybody else.

 

“We want parents to feel completely happy when their children are playing Fantasy Couriers” says director Sandra Patterson.  “Fantasy Couriers is about challenging the players to run a business, and as such there is no blood or gore, or any aspect or horror, or any other element which could make the game unsuitable for younger players.  We have always had this as a major underlying principle in the game development, and we continue this by ensuring that the sponsors and advertisers in the game are also only promoting products that are suitable for the under 18 year old players”.

Google Android to provide EA games to Mobile Phones

T Mobile will be the providing the first phone to use Googles Android platform to host 3 of EA’s games; Tetris, Monopoly and Bejewelled will be available in November.  These are the first games released, there are more in development, and EA is also developing games for the iPhone.

This sees google delve further into the games world, further to it’s acquisition of Lively.

EA’s comments at the London Games Industry Event Games 3.0 reinforce the thinking that that the Internet is going to be the major platform for gaming in the future.    EA’s UK Boss Keith Ramsdale said to the conference  “The next wave in gaming is to understand the trend, make sure that games are directly accessible to consumer on the internet – and key to us will be retaining those consumers once they come into our space. Whether that’s a brand or a franchise space, we need to hold on to them. The way to hold on to them is to deliver them great, ongoing content.”

Web based games, and mobile technology, and google’s platform look to be the ingrediants to a method to reach millions of people, at home, work, travelling.  Opening up the Games Market to millions more people and potential players, and presenting games developers and designers with potentially unlimited opportunities.  It’s going to be an exciting time!

Playing for Profit

An article in the Ecomomist, recommends that businesses encourage their employees to get gaming.

“ In a forthcoming book called “Changing the Game”, David Edery and Ethan Mollick argue that many skills and lessons from the gaming world are applicable in the business world. The smartest firms, the authors argue, will not only allow game-playing in the workplace, but will actively encourage it.

To MDs & CEOs who throw a tantrum every time they catch someone playing solitaire on an office PC, or who consider video games to be the exclusive preserve of pasty-faced teens, that may sound like daft advice. It may also smack of bias coming from Mr Edery, who happens to be in charge of game planning for Xbox’s Live Arcade online-gaming system. (Mr Mollick is an academic at MIT’s Sloan School of Management). But there are good reasons to think that he’s right.

According to Messrs Edery and Mollick, by making work more fun and by allowing firms to tap into wisdom beyond their walls, game playing can dramatically improve both productivity and bottom lines.

To see why, consider one of the things it takes to become an ace at, say, World of Warcraft, a hugely popular online fantasy game inhabited by griffins, trolls and other mythical creatures. To make progress inside the game, players must engage in “grinding”—gamer-speak for performing a repetitive task, such as slaying a monster, many times over.

 

What makes people, both young and old, want to sit for hours in front of a screen, clicking away on their consoles? The answer, say the authors, is status and friendly competition. Games that track players’ progress against their previous achievements, or against those of others, can make grinding seem like—well—less of a grind.

Gaming also promotes community building. Popular games can attract hundreds of thousands of user-group members, who swap notes and develop their own modifications (or “mods”). In many cases, such as The Sims—the most popular computer game of all time (in terms of copies sold), which allows players to control a household full of people with very human attributes—these mods have deepened customers’ attachment to the product.

The authors argue that firms in other industries should look to video-gaming companies for inspiration when it comes to managing their own communities. They point out that good gaming firms must learn the language and rules of different customer groups, appointing staff to engage with them. They also offer prizes that encourage creativity, as well as tools and support that make it easier for users to come up with mods, while discouraging unwanted innovation. The resulting software can help predict what future products might succeed.

The evolution of gaming technology has definitely given companies the ability to create virtual sandboxes that can provide a competitive edge. So executives who still insist on all work and no game play won’t just be running dull workplaces; they will also be running less profitable ones too.

Exert From The Economist – Playing for Profit – 26^th August 2008.

All copywrite to The Ecomomist.

Full article; http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11997115