The Other 51 Weeks

Features editor Carrie Gouskos is calling dibs on Will Wright's tiara. To get in line, write her at carrieg@gamespot.com.

[Editor's Note: GameSpot's Freeplay columns have returned! And in a slightly modified format. In order to make the columns more open-ended, new editions of Freeplay no longer use the last paragraph of the previous column as the lead-in. Let us know your thoughts by posting in the Feature Stories Forum.]

I spent the better part of last week commuting back and forth between San Francisco and nearby San Jose for the Game Developers Conference. The commute? Not so hot. GDC? Much better than expected. What I was expecting was a dumbed-down Electronic Entertainment Expo. What I witnessed was something that made E3 look pretty dumb in comparison.

This is the part where I cross myself and apologize for insulting E3. I love E3, and just because I've gone so many times doesn't mean I love it less any successive year. Sure, the first year is the best, where you walk around with eyes wide and mouth agape and can't believe that you've actually discovered this place, but each year you get to discover the secrets and ins and outs of the trade show, finding hidden gems tucked away on the floor. I remember two years ago someone running up to me and going "So there's this game. It's awesome; make sure you try it before you leave. Katamari something or other." (There is, incidentally, a much grimmer side to E3, and it's in comparison to that which makes GDC seem so pure and wonderful.) GDC is a wholly different beast, and since there weren't very many games on the show floor, my job was more to walk around and soak it all in and try and not miss anything.

The latter is impossible, of course. I'm sure I missed everything, because I had to pick one of maybe 20 possible panels to attend at every junction. At one point I called Andrew to see if I should go to the panel called "The Game Design Challenge: The Nobel Peace Prize" or to "Murder, Sex, and Censorship: Debating the Morals of Creative Freedom." How do you pick between those two? I ended up going to the former, and I don't regret it for one minute (particularly because I got to see Will Wright in a tiara), although I would have loved to hear assemblyman Leland Yee's portion of the latter panel, at the very least. This is probably why I need at least one clone of myself.

But let me back up a little bit to talk about what GDC is, since I only recently discovered it myself. GDC is intended to be a huge get-together for developers, where they share tidbits with each other, talk about the projects they're working on or have just wrapped up, and discuss trends that can affect the future of the industry. I've been told by several people who have attended the show many times that they recycle the same talks and speeches every year, which I'm guessing is not entirely true, but even if it were, it would still take the next 10 years for me to see everything I wanted to see. If you're not in game development, attending GDC will make you feel a bit like an outsider because in each talk, the speakers often make comments such as "I'm sure you guys are experiencing this with your games." It's clear that I'm not the intended audience, made even clearer when I see a room full of designers who have been interacting with each other for many years, and I get to witness their camaraderie (and competition). It's actually a little bit like attending someone else's summer camp.

And the game presence, as I mentioned, is usually quite minimal. With the exception of the New Super Mario Bros. and the Loco Roco demo download, I spent more time marveling over tech demos (the PlayStation 3's and Project Offset most notably) than actual games. But the most marvelous thing about GDC is the reminder that the game industry, for all its whimsy and fun, is built on a very strong foundation, a foundation of brilliant people who are funneling their thoughts and years of work into one cohesive experience every single time they produce a game.

Take, for example, Ubisoft's panel on Project Assassins, the company's upcoming action adventure game that takes place in the Middle Ages. In the game you will, apparently, assassinate other people. The session covered how the team developed the main character's abilities and interactions so as to dramatically change the gameplay experience from previous action adventure games, including Ubisoft's own Prince of Persia series. You'd think a lecture involving slides that show the jump distances of the average person wouldn't be so interesting, but for me, it was riveting, and it was a reminder to me of how games are developed. Every last movement of the character has an impact on the layout of the level, and the two must be considered simultaneously; when one is tweaked, the other must be as well. I've never thought game development was an easy process, but it's moments like at GDC that remind me exactly how complicated it is.

And that same exploration is applied to not only specific games, but also game themes as well. As features editor here at GameSpot, it has long been my goal to spend most of my efforts talking about the greater importance of the game industry--the "meta" discussions about its sociological, psychological, and physiological impact on people. At GDC, those discussions were being had in the hallways, and there were entire panels dedicated to articles I've longed to write. (Which, incidentally, brings me back to my point about cloning myself.)

But my question is: How do we make GDC a reality for everyone who wants to see video games as more than just a pastime? How do we have these talks every day and with people who aren't the intended audience for GDC? I suppose it begins by talking about it right here, as I'm doing, but I'd like to think those talks don't end in the halls of GDC, but extend into educational and social situations all around the globe. I want to look into the local paper and see a game-discussion roundtable being held any day of the week, not just one week during the year and not just for the people making the games. If anything, they're already converted. Now we have to get busy convincing everyone else.

Next Up: Freeplay by Andrew Anderson