Scholars and Designers: Video Games gets Married!

Finally, someone writes this.

An exhaustive, in depth discussion of the importance of merging video games and academia is hosted on GameSpot and entitled Redefining Games: How Academia is Reshaping Games of the Future. Written by Lauren Gonzalez, it discusses the development and evolution of the medium and why it is imperative that academics, game designers and players take this opportunity to really devote some serious research into these games' technological and social imports. The writer sums it up perfectly in the opening preamble:

"The game developer can teach the consumer what to expect in the coming months. The consumer can teach the academic about buying patterns and attention spans. The classics enthusiast can teach developers what makes a good game, regardless of era or trends. And academia can teach everyone a thing or two about what motivates a person to play games, why they are important, how we can make them better, and what we learn from them overall.."

There's too much to detail here, but among other things I found out: that doctorate-level programs on game theory, design and AI are going to be available (yay!!), there's such a thing as being a ludologist (ie someone who believes game shouldn't have a narrative, but wholly open ended affairs) and that in the US at least, serious thought is being (and already has been) put not only in the aforementioned intermarriage of academic and entertainment disciplines, but also into research to make games the next major form of thoughtful entertainment.

It's a lot to digest at first glance (even for me) since it takes up all of at least 16 pages, but for anyone who's got the time and inclination it's a positive note on gaming's evolutionary ladder as a whole. Perhaps the time may yet come when someone like me (half an academic who absolutely loves video games) will no longer be viewed as an aberration, and properly done this cooperation can only bring more involving, better written and more importantly, fun games.

A man can dream, can't he?