Hah! I knew it! Speaking at SIGGRAPH 2001, Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, spoke at length about his approach to game design and dynamic story representation. His terms possibility space and meta-game may not have been wholly original (to all those computer game academics graduating in droves) but it turned my thinking around on computer games and made me think that perhaps the industry was not as tangential to my interests as I'd thought.
Anyway, funny to note that the same Mr. Wright has now inked a deal with Fox for (wait for it!) passive linear entertainment. To use another of Will's terms I dutifully wrote down in Texas, nothing more than "a ride on rails". Seriously, anything this guy does is worth taking a look at. Like it or not, he made a connection with The Sims.
Posted by .M. at June 3, 2003 04:20 PM | TrackBack