France & videogame addiction

 Posted by (Visited 22347 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Feb 242009
 

From Olivier comes this little tidbit:

Hi Raph, Here are some news from France. Politics try to put addiction to videogames into the new Hospital reform law. Here is a translation at my blog.

Best, Olivier M.

His translation of the legalese:

After Article 25 insert the following:

When a game presents a risk to public health because of its addictive potential, support each unit and its packaging bear, under conditions set by a decree of the Minister for Health, a message of sanitary . The implementation of this obligation is incumbent upon the publisher or, failing that, the distributor responsible for distribution in France of the video game.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

Adolescents constitute a particularly vulnerable target to computer. Consultations for addiction to video games are primarily concerned with children and adolescents. Faced with this phenomenon, a common sign in 25 European countries was established. PEGGY system (Pan-European Game Information) provides guidance in the form of symbols printed on the boxes of video games. However, many parents do not understand the meaning of symbols. This amendment seeks to make the implementation of a prevention message clear about the risks of addiction that can cause some video games.

As Olivier notes, it’s kind of a bad sign when legislation on games is being done by folks who don’t know what PEGI is.

Neuroscience of gambling

 Posted by (Visited 7095 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Feb 212009
 

I mentioned in Theory of Fun that humans kinda suck as odds estimation and that this is one reason why games of chance persist. But maybe there’s more!

It turns out that the reward system that lights up when we get a near-miss in a game of skill (which makes sense) gives us the same reward when we have a near-miss in a game of chance (but only if we get to make a choice in the game, such as picking our lotto numbers, even though this has no influence over the outcome of the game).

via Neuroscience of gambling – Boing Boing.

It’s a radio segment from Quirks & Quarks available here.

CA’s video game law ruled unconstitutional

 Posted by (Visited 5985 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Feb 212009
 

The battle continues. This is still that Leland Yee bill that was blocked in 2006, on appeal.

LOS ANGELES–A U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that a California law restricting the sales and rental of violent video games to minors and imposing labeling requirements is too restrictive and violates free-speech guarantees.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the labeling requirement unfairly forces video games to carry “the state’s controversial opinion” about which games are violent.

via California’s video game law ruled unconstitutional – CNET News.

The Pub Game, for designers!

 Posted by (Visited 11880 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Feb 202009
 

From Sheri Graner Ray, The Pub Game. In short, you take an experience, in this case a restaurant, and describe it as if done by different designers. For the record, I think she overestimates my design skills. 🙂

If Sid Meier created this restaurant, first we’d have to invent the Chinese, and the Koreans and all the other Asian cultures before we could invent the food that would then be served in the restaurant…

If Will Wright created this restaurant, we’d have to continually monitor what each employee was doing, instructing them when to cook, when to clean and when to go to the bathroom, but eventually, it would burn down anyway.. and if it didn’t a natural disaster would occur to make sure it was destroyed.

If Richard Garriott created this restaurant, it would have been started by him and a number of his friends. At the restaurant, the customers could harvest the grain, mill it into flour, mix it and bake it into bread… which of course would have nothing to do with anything on the menu

If Raph Koster created this restaurant, it would be completely self contained. It would be completely automated, adjusting its menus to reflect the changing seasons, regulating its resource consumption based on available crops and making the food. It wouldn’t even need customers.. in fact, customers could just watch as it ran itself!

If Brenda Brathwaite created this restaurant, it woud be staffed by naked people and the customers would have to order their meals from a terminal equiped only with an excel spread sheet

If Sheri Graner Ray created this restaurant, there would be extensive discussion on the new diner experience and how to create the easiest onramp to the restaurant and making sure all dining styles were accounted for.. this would all then be put into a visio flowchart before any work on building the restaurant could begin.

via twylite1 – The Pub Game...

If John Carmack created this restaurant, it would be just like his other restaurants, except much prettier.

If Steve Mereztsky created this restaurant, an octopus, a priest, and a cowboy would immediately walk up to the bar….

Add your own!

 Older Entries  Newer Entries