Life is a MetaGame

I just finished reading a sci-fi/fantasy novel by Sam Landstrom, a technical writer for Microsoft, called MetaGame. The book is available for free on the iTunes bookstore and similar retailers. MetaGame describes a future society where people are continuously involved in “The Game,” a way of life where people earn points for their actions, use said points as currency, and worship an advanced Artificial Intelligence entity known as the OverSoul.

The Game is comprised of two major game classifications: grinder and spanker games. The unfortunately named “spanker” games are similar to the games that we play today: for entertainment. These games are controlled in a different manner, however. Players are required to jack into the game with their Mind Interface Chips, allowing their senses of sight, sound, and smell to experience a virtual world. By physically moving about in the real world, the player experiences moving about in a dungeon of a MMORPG or taking cover in a massive firefight of a shooter game. Mostly, points cannot be earned in these games, only spent.

On the flip side, grinder games are the way people earn points while doing something productive for society. Then name is taken from the term “grinding” in RPG’s, as in grinding for gold, loot, or experience. Grinder games provide an incentive for doing actual work, the idea behind this being that accomplishing goals and earning points immediately will increase productivity, efficiency, and more people will want to do it. Points earned in the grinder game are used to make purchases for conveniences and for use in the spanker games.

In today’s society, grinder games don’t quite exist yet. Microsoft has made a game using Office’s Ribbon bar, called Ribbon Hero, as a way to teach how to use it efficiently. A game called EpicWin is coming out soon on the iPhone that is basically a to-do list. Players create tasks for them to accomplish. Completing these menial to complicated tasks reward the player’s character with gold, experience, loot, and titles. With Facebook integration, people are allowed to gloat about their winnings and completed tasks with their friends. This can spur on competition among friends to see who can complete the most tasks (as long as they are honest about it). Hopefully, this will increase productivity in a person’s life as well as reduce laziness!

MetaGame briefly describes the evolution of gaming to involve common tasks and development of said games. With interfaces as simple and efficient as the iPhone and Android phones and with Facebook to share our accomplishments, we are heading in a direction where games similar to the ones in MetaGame can actually help improve our ability to accomplish work. While a future similar to the one in the book may be many years off, we seem to be heading into that direction.

One note: MetaGame has been picked up by Amazon’s publishing house. It is receiving an edit and a hard copy release. I did notice some errors in the free copy of the book which I imagine will be fixed in the final release, along with some small clarifications. All in all, though, I felt that MetaGame was a good read and worth the time.

Video Games are Art?

There is a lot of hubbub about video games and art again, with Roger Ebert speaking his mind on how video games can NEVER be art. Penny Arcade has weighed in on the subject as well as everyone who has replied to Ebert's blog entry.

I'm very curious as to why this is even an argument... Frankly, art is something completely subjective. I'm sure that there are some people out there who feel that movies are not, or could ever be, art. Kellie Santiago, of thatgamecompany, gave a speech at USC making the argument that games already ARE art. So, who is correct?

As Kellie started her argument, the definition of art must first be explored. She looked at the definition on Wikipedia, which one could argue isn't the best place to get the definition. In fact, the top of the page states that "the article has multiple issues"! While Kellie uses the definition at the beginning of the Wikipedia article, further down is a definition from Britannica Online which says, "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." With this definition, one could definitely say that video games are art. Arguments exist concerning the definition of art, however. I won't go into gross detail here, as one can easily research the fact that there is no definitive answer to the question, "What is art?"

With that being said, how can one say with any certainty at all that video games can NEVER be art? The idea of something being a "piece of art" is entirely in the eye of the beholder. Does the piece stir emotional feelings inside? Does it make you feel passionate, strong, heart-broken, or intense? If so, then what you are seeing/feeling/experiencing is probably art. At least, that piece is art to you, the beholder.

It is pretty funny to me that this topic has come up yet again at this moment in time. This past weekend, I finished the storyline for Final Fantasy XIII. As we watched the ending together as a family, my daughter begins to cry because of the tragedy (I'm avoiding spoilers here...) that occurs during those final moments. This was the first time that she cried during a video game. If the game could stir that sort of emotional response in my seven-year old daughter, and if she could hold such an emotional attachment to those characters, then I could argue that Final Fantasy XIII is a work of art to her, according to some of the definitions out there. I can't help but remember various moments in my own life of particular games that I was playing at the time and the feelings that I had while playing those games. Games like the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, the Metal Gear series, Xenogears, and others have affected me deeply and have potentially shaped the person that I am today. You can see Juri and I telling the folks at Penny Arcade about our emotional connection to Final Fantasy VI on Penny Arcade: The Series (around 1:48).

So are video game art? I happen to think they are. But then, something is only a "piece of art" if you feel that it is.