Dragon Speech Finale "Chaaaaaaarge!"

[Chubzdoomer]

9:13 Sid Meier in the lower right corner, soiling his pants.

[thederrman]

This is such a great speech, i now admire him.

Also, at the end, the guy in the bottom right, is that Sid Meier?

[ludosophist]

@thederrman

Yes.

[eggfillet]

Considering the critical reception of Amnesia and Heavy Rain, it definitely seems as though the critics have changed their ways. But gaming is receiving a lot of new customers that seem to only care about competitive multiplayer.

[Geurion]

I wish I could have been there in person.

[tnt2005]

Thanks for the upload. Really great stuff.

[WarbirdGames]

Anybody else notice Sid Meier in the bottom right corner at the end? :D

[thekaje2]

Kind of a pretentious blowhard, but I also kind of like him. I like a lot of what he wants to say, although I'm always embarrassed by the way he says it. This is a fair example, although not the best one. Here's hoping for a slghtly more intellectual, slightly more socially capable game-designer/thinker some day!

[Lindyhops17]

shit.. this scares me.. is the industry so flawed that it ended up rejecting a man so full of innovative and creative ideas?

[ludosophist]

Yup.

[Lindyhops17]

I can't stop thinking about it. I want to be a designer myself, I thought I could change things. I'm stupid, I know, but I thought that the reason the industry's where it is is because no one's tried to advance it, but discovering Chris Crawford has scared me into thinking perhaps there is no changing it. Perhaps games are doomed to be mindless, reflex, killing simulators, and that's all they'll ever be.

Surely there's other people? More people like Jason Rorher and Jonathan Blow.

[ludosophist]

I spent 14 months in a 60 person studio working as lead designer on a licensed IP title for the Wii. I can tell you what I'm trying to do instead, I'll message you my e-mail.

[ChrisDevl]

@ludosophist Curiosity has got me wondering, what were you trying to do instead?

[ludosophist]

@ChrisDevl

I realized a few years ago that banging your head against the problem of writing AI that does dramatic character interaction completely misunderstands the "problem", the real solution is to put multiple people into gameplay situations where social reasoning comes into play. At the time I was proposing a system like that for Facebook, then I went to work for a major social game publisher that basically copies Zynga for a Brazilian audience, so more spiritual beat-down ensued.

[ChrisDevl]

@ludosophist Interesting.

[Alyxium]

@Lindyhops17 I want to be a designer too and the things Chris says are incredibly resonant to me.

Part of me does worry that Chris Crawford is proof the industry will never evolve.

But another part of me sees that there ARE people out there like him, and like you, who can see the immense potential of games as a medium of expression and want to work towards it's betterment and, ultimately, that makes me feel hopeful.

I hope you dont give up on your dream.

[starinfidel]

@Lindyhops17 I was thinking along the lines of what games on social networks are now. They're not about reflex and killing, geared towards much more general crowd. The very hardcore gaming people are quickly become the niche they always were. This is probably that step in the civilization tech tree that needed to be done before really social games can progress. They're currently in their infancy, but they look promising.

That raises the other thing...

[starinfidel]

... Chris here wants to make artificial humans to make interactive dramas. Which is a cool concept and a mighty challenge. But is it really needed? Wouldn't it be simpler to join everybody on the net and just gently push them into proper thematic roleplaying? After all, kids always roleplayed some fantasy stuff inspired by something.

[DinDinAlright]

@starinfidel Yep, or instead putting people into the role of story teller, like the premise of Jason Rohrer's 'Sleep is Death'.

I also think that AI will progress to a socially capable level, but not for the sake of games. That's not to say we can't pinch the technology once it's available.

[Applemask]

@Lindyhops17 Short answer: yes. Long answer: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss­sssssssss.

[manuelka15]

Rerally emocional.

[hsinche]

All I could think about was Murdock from the A-Team :)

[KnitterX]

Well, he sure was right at that time. Still I think he quite exaggerated.

Nevertheless this was a historical moment. ^^

[shusjord]

I think he is right, you know.

Imagine what a serious attempt at SPORE actually could have accomplised in terms of understanding of nature!

Why havent our scientific and academic communities embraced this!?

[thekaje2]

Because they don't play video games?

[ak47oooo]

He puts on a good show, but his speech was all over the place.

[tedades]

Historical

[Sahuagin]

anyone know if the guy in the blue and white shirt sitting in the second row all the way to our right is Sid Meier? sure looks like him at least

[ludosophist]

Indeed it was.

[Hendar23]

"For Truth, for Beauty, for Art!"

Fucking hardcore dude.

[thekaje2]

Yeah, but invoking Don Quixote and yelling, "For Truth"? Really? What's the Truth he's talking about, anyway? And who compares himself to Don Quixote?

[Hendar23]

It just sounds good. :)

[nonmodfag]

@thekaje2 The truth is that he considerd games to be an artform, capable of expanding the human experience while inspiring itself from it. The other truth he's talking about is that video games had grown from experimental works and fresh ideas realized by pionneers and hobbyists, to a money-making industry whose only goal was to make more money for investors. The world he had known until the late 80s (the village) was now gone, and had become a larger town full of "lawyers" ...

[nonmodfag]

@thekaje2 ... (cont.) Which is to say, his world went from people who loved games to people who loved money. The gaming industry (The Dragon), now ruled. He references Don Quixote because as he says, even though Don Quixote was an insane old man, he was more honest about his dreams than the 'sane' people. Chris Crawford understood that he no longer had his place in the new gaming 'industry', and decided to go on a Quest, like Don Quixote. What fascinates me is not that he captivated his crowd...

[nonmodfag]

@thekaje2 (cont.) No. What fascinates me is how he manages to criticize them so honestly, so openly, and yet, they still laugh at him, proving that everything he says about them, and the greater industry at large, is right.

[riffroof]

Bravo, my friend!

[RicksPoker]

And with that charge, Chris left the game industry forever...

[amadprussian]

...and entered the world of interactive storytelling!

[neometz]

...no Q&A?

[amadprussian]

A fitting end!