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hey folks Alison's still getting some
much-needed rest and settling in at the
new job so please join me in welcoming
back our pal Shannon Meisner this week
we're gonna do something slightly
different and ask you to play a game
before you continue watching it's just a
flash game it'll only take like three
minutes tops but I think you'll find
those three minutes of play leave you
with a lot to talk about after possibly
more than most 20 hour game experiences
do the link should be below the video
down there to the right but in case
you're watching this embedded somewhere
here you go so go give it a play we'll
see you back here in a few okay so you
may have loved that or hated it maybe
you found it pretentious or thought it
was spot-on but the main thing is either
way we can talk about it all the time
I see people analyzing the writing in
games by itself talking about the
written story and discussing its meaning
in the way that you might a book which I
mean hey that's a good thing to do but
we so rarely hear people talk about the
meaning inherent in mechanics so today
we're gonna talk about mechanics as
metaphor mechanics with meaning because
to me if we ever want games to be truly
powerful experiences if we really want
them to reach their full potential and
be able to explore an enormous range of
concepts and if we want more experiences
where you just put down the controller
at the end and sit there stunned then we
have to start examining the meaning that
in here's in the action within our games
rather than just the words themselves
not doing so would be like denying that
films can convey meaning outside the
script like saying the entire narrative
in a movie is told only through the
words the characters say so let's look
at loneliness what's amazing about it is
the fact that it undeniably has a
narrative even though it features no
words save for a few sentences of the
designers thoughts at the end but what's
more incredible to me is how different
that narrative can be for different
people some of you probably tried to go
to all of the groups some of you
probably started avoiding the group's
partway through some of you probably
tried to double back and see if there
was anything you missed some of you were
probably hoping that last dot would
finally be the one
while others have you probably walked
straight on by it not wanting to be
denied one last time heck some of you
probably just gave up and close the game
halfway through and each of those
possibilities is its own distinct
narrative each of those responses tells
us a little about ourselves
this game not only tries to put us in
the emotional state of that crushing
loneliness that feeling of always being
on the outside but it lets us explore it
and this to me is the unique power games
those of you who went up to every group
had a protagonist that was always trying
to find someplace where they fit in
those of you who started avoiding
everything played a loner who decided
that he or she didn't need a world that
didn't accept them and most of you
probably made this choice consciously
while playing even though you may not
have registered it at the time if you
think back to your play experience those
of you who avoided groups probably had
that thought flashed through your mind I
screw these guys I don't need them when
you chose to start avoiding things and
those of you who went up to each group
probably said to yourself at least once
as a fleeting thought somewhere along
the line I hope this group accepts me
looking at and reflecting on this
experience can tell us something about
ourselves by having the meaning embedded
in the mechanics it gives us a chance to
truly make choices to truly explore
through play most of us have been
trained to think of choice in games as
something you do at binary moments often
as a dialogue choice or a very clear
action do I save this person do I not
save this person but here a choice is
analog it's in every moment of your play
perhaps you started by trying to find
people to associate with but then
decided that you were fed up with the
world and were better off alone until
late in the game you decided to give it
one last try and see if you could come
back to the world and find someone who
would accept you perhaps you just walked
straight through it all oblivious of the
rest concerned only with your own path
or perhaps your story unfolded in some
other way entirely that is real choice
right there that's more choice than even
these games will give you now you might
think that this is total crock or you
might have a completely different
opinion about what's going on here and
what its value is but that's great my
favorite type of entertainment is the
kind where afterwards you go out to an
all-night diner with your buddies and
debate what it really means or why it
matters to the world you live in that's
what you can do here there's a
discussion to be had even if you think
the game itself is pretentious or
terrible so join us next week when we
talk about how the idea of mechanics as
metaphor can be used in major release
games we'll be talking about both the
benefits and the difficulties of using
this concept and perhaps most
importantly talk about some Triple A
games where it's already being used and
if you know of other games where the
mechanics already embody meaning share
it in the forums or shoot us an email I
can't promise we'll be able to respond
to all of you but it's something we love
hearing about thanks again for coming
back to help us Shannon we'll see you
guys next week
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you