Thanks to Ben Medler, who supplied an audio recording, I was able to concoct a video that shows the slides and videos I showed in synch with the audio. It’s a little over an hour long.
As usual, there were some places I misspoke (that is what happens when you don’t use notes at all!) so I superimposed errata directly on the video as captions. 🙂
As I commented to many folks after the talk, this was one of the hardest talks ever to put together (“High Windows” was also really hard, and I need to figure out a way to get that posted, given that there isn’t any audio of that one!). Trying to figure out something fresh to say that had relevance to both the Web3d crowd and the game crowd at Sandbox was tough, and even then, once I knew the gist of what I wanted to say — not something all that fresh if you have been attending my other talks — it was very hard to come up with what I call the “through line,” the core narrative that serves as hook and as the trail the listener follows.
In the end, it was a “stunt talk” in a way. I drew inspiration from a talk that legend has it was given by Robert Heinlein at a convention once — where he set an alarm clock on the podium and said he woudl stop when it went off, then started telling random stories. An hour in, it seemed like the disconnected stories were all starting to link together and then the alarm clock rang and he just walked away.
Of course, one of the things about a talk like this is that the resulting blog posts and news articles each read things into it. Which is part of the point — I wanted the listeners to put stuff together in their heads, and different people will together different stuff. It’s been funny to watch the one tiny throwaway comment about Miyamoto and Wii Fit end up as a headline in several places. 🙂 I did get a poke from a colleague who used to be at SCEE pointing out that they have a long track record of this sort of innovation, including EyeToy: Kinetic. Which is absolutely true — the point wasn’t actually about Miyamoto specifically, but about the overall industry!
8 Responses to “Putting the World in WWW: Sandbox/Web3d video”
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Wow, what an amazing talk!
What you said really resonated deeply with me, in a way that is hard to explain. I look forward to listening to/watching any other talks you give, be sure to put them up on your site!
Best,
DGS
I am glad you liked it — I am disappointed, I admit, by the very few responses, because I think it is one of the best talks I have ever done. Ah well.
Well you’ve set the bar high indeed sir!
I was also surprised by the few responses (maybe an hour long presentation is too long for most?), which is one reason why I felt inclined to give a little love. Maybe that particular discussion interested me more than others because I’m acutely interested in the business of the game world (I’m currently a financial analyst, about to make the leap into my lifelong passion, game design, but the business acumen never goes away). I’ve recently been reading a lot, I mean a LOT of interactive media blogs, primarily to better understand the psychological, philosophical, and financial landscape as it stands today. Throughout all my searching I think you’re one of the few that “gets it” (at least as far as those who feel the need to express themselves through the internet goes).
Somewhere I found an mp3 of your 2007 IT Conversations talk about your theory of fun, which is next on my list (tho admittedly, your theories have resonated sufficiently to precede you). Any other links to talks of yours I should know about?
In the meantime, keep it up!
Best,
DGS
Pretty much all of my talks are on this site somewhere.
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/pres.shtml
Most of them are not quite as general purpose as the two you have found, but are more narrowly targeted.
My favorites of the talks I have given include
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/smallworlds.html
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/theoryoffun.shtml
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/moore.shtml
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/kgc2005.shtml
https://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/influences.shtml
https://www.raphkoster.com/2006/12/02/games-for-change-closing-address/
You rock, thanks!
[…] (as I did most recently in my criminally underreported, one of the best talks I have ever given, go watch the video now Sandbox/Web3d speech), I usually focus on adventure games, not the casual […]
It dosnt seem to work on IE7, FireFox seem to do it tho.
I wonder if you could post a downloadable version suitable for iPod (or any format, and I’ll convert it). I’m catching up on a number of things and haven’t found an hour to sit in front of a computer, but have plenty of time during the commute.