Session Name: | Systems Make Statements: Simulations and Intentional Design |
Speaker(s): | Elizabeth Sampat |
Company Name(s): | PopCap Games |
Track / Format: | Design |
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Overview: |
Games are systems, and systems are often seen as cold and unfeeling; the opposite of emotional or provocative. Often the goal is to design a purely neutral system, completely free of bias, but since no one is free of bias, is that realistic? Instead of striving for neutrality, the first step to truly affecting game design is to realize that nothing is neutral: what is seen as a lack of bias is one's own blindness to the circumstances one lives within. In this session, Elizabeth Sampat discusses the 'SimCity' franchise and its politics, and how design decisions both deliberate and unconscious make statements about how the world works, and how you can use the knowledge of your own biases and philosophies to make more compelling, coherent games. |