Here I am in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, waiting for my connection to Taipei, which has now been delayed by 2 hours. This means that I’ve already knocked off the first book I brought with me ont he trip, which is Aaron Ruby and Heather Chaplin’s Smartbomb
I spent several hours with Heather in an amazing interview a couple of years ago, and another hour perhaps at GDC 2005. The book that she and Aaron have written is essentially a cultural history of videogames, a glimpse at the passions, politics, and personalities of the gaming world. I’m in it, and so are Rich Vogel, John Romero and John Carmack, CliffyB aka Cliff Bleszinzki, Seamus Blackley, Mike Zyda, Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto. Rather than trying to capture everything about the gaming world, this book is written more as a series of looks into individual people and projects, and each is chosen as a frame for the issues that the writers want to talk about.
And what do they want to talk about? The ways in which art and commerce live in tension. The quasi-rock-star celebrity that games can attract, and then the ways in which that can damage people. The curious sort of intellect it often takes to succeed in working in games, and the outlandish characters who result. The authors play up the alienness of many of the developers, the perhaps Aspergian distance, the obsession with models and minutiae, as if to make the point that these are not the people you usually deal with. Heather told me when interviewing me that part of what she discovered during the writing of the book was that she wanted to know “why so many of the brightest people I’ve ever met are making games.”
From inside, of course, it doesn’t always feel that way (though I do know several people, people you wouldn’t expect, who say they simply cannot communicate with Will Wright because he’s too out there). This outside perspective is valuable, especially as the industry continues to evolve rapidly in a swirl of big cash and small ambitions.
Much of the story depicted here is of art and idealism and perhaps most importantly, love of play, finding itself caught up and co-opted in goals that wander a bit afield–training soldiers, fighting for corporate ownership of the boardroom. A bit of an agenda creeps in in the authors’ tone–there’s a clear sense that they too, are horrified along with the graphic artist who asks if the makers of America’s Army are insane, that they are more on Seamus Blackley’s side when he argues for creativity than J Allard’s when he gives away HD TVs and proclaims the day of the microtransaction in the struggle for the soul of the Xbox and the living room entertainment experience. And there’s something downright elegiac in their treatment of Nintendo.
The book has some minor inaccuracies — I’ve never lived in the Philippines, and I never got beat up in school, and I don’t think my smile is supercilious (you tell me!) — but as a look into the realities of why many of us in the industry do what we do, and as a primer on where the heart of he industry has been and where it is going, it’s invaluable. Definitely give it a look.
BTW, there’s something really eerie about reading about yourself as a character.
They’re doing reading events across the country; I was supposed to be at the San Diego one but cannot make it since I will be in Korea. John Donham is there instead. Let me know how it goes.
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When I’ve seen you smile, I would have perhaps classified it as amused, curious, magnanimous, sarcastic, or wistful, but not supercilious. Though, I suppose it might depend on circumstance and company.
You mention that the authors bring up “Aspergian distance.” Do they go into the Asperger’s connection, much? I have a particular interest in that topic, and have observations to share, but it’s something best discussed in another venue, sometime.
They don’t mention Asperger’s at all. But in their descriptions of people as “robotic,” or emotionally distant, or constantly focused on details, it certainly seems to be suggested.
Ahh. Yeah, that definitely seems suggested.
Journalists love describing Asperger’s, without ever coming out and naming it. I don’t blame them. It’s unprofessional to go about diagnosing people in the media. But it’s downright funny when they practically give you a guided tour of the DSM-IV for Asperger’s, in the process of describing somebody. I read a whimsical profile of the new Supreme Court nominee in the Post, the other day, which did just this.
It’s funny, people generally think of programmers as being the Asperger’s types, but I think that game design can end up involving more detail work than programming, at times. I abhor data. I float around in layers of abstractions as much as possible. When I see an Excel spreadsheet open on a designer’s computer, all full of numbers, it looks excruciatingly tedious to me. I want an algorithm that’ll produce those numbers. I want a grand unified theory. I want a holistic, intuitive understanding of everything. I want machine empathy. Screw the numbers. They’re meaningless to me.
Hi, Heather here! Damn, i hate when i make mistakes!! Sorry Raph – Haiti, yes? second printing…
it’s interesting that you guys bring up aspergers. It didn’t really cross my mind during the writing process. But afterwards – i had the same reaction you did. I found myself thinking ‘wow, that sure sounds like what you here about aspergers.’ I’ve done a little research on the subject since. I think we live in a diagnosis happy culture, though, and am nervous about ascribing a disease to every person who is unusual. Raph – was just talking about you and meaning of “real” to several interviewers today! Have fun in Korea!
I heard the NPR discussion on the nature of “real” actually. Was there more? 🙂
Far more. I use you and what we talked about that day at your offices almost always to explain to people the notion of having Real experiences in a virtual environment. It helped me understand, and it seems to help others as well.
[…] …On the show “On Point.” The main guest is Heather Chaplin, who co-authored Smartbomb : The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution, which I discussed a while back. […]
[…] (Leave a comment) 09:56 pmraphkoster[Link] I’m on NPR tomorrow…https://www.raphkoster.com/?p=190…On the show “On Point.” The main guest is Heather Chaplin, who co-authored Smartbomb : The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution, which I discussed a while back. […]
I loved Smartbomb. Great read.
Hopefully I can grab a copy somewhere of the chat on NPR 🙂