Game philosophy
gamestudent
Member Posts: 504
Bill Gates was the richest man in the world when Microsoft was at it's prime. That was because he created a product that was insanely useful. When you exchange something with somebody you are creating wealth for you and for them. Obviously people would rather have a certain product more than their money, or else why would they buy it? So when Bill Gates makes something millions of people want and find useful, he is going to create a lot of wealth. Not just for himself, but for the world as a whole. Thousands of jobs are made when the product is manufactured, peoples work becomes easier, and their time then becomes more effective. This in turn generates more wealth. I can say without a doubt, peoples lives are better when business is run properly and rightly. Well now some might say that business men are greedy, evil, conniving jerks ( and I can't say that there arn't a few that are like that), But if you ask most, they'll tell you they do what they do because they love it. They're invested in it. They have a burning desire to see themselves succeed. I hope that a lot here are like that. That we have passion for what we do here. I hope that we sometimes dream about success, imagine ourselves finally "making it." That's why Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, And men like them do what they do. I hope we can do that too.
People like games, because they are diversions from their lives. So the trick is to make a game that is balance between not fun and addicting. enough, that they can play it, and enjoy it, and then go back to their lives. We should make games that make peoples lives better, don't you think? Maybe that's to assumptive. most people don't think of games that way.I hope we do.
I'd like to believe that games are an art form. Art's purpose, in my mind, is to communicate. That's why I think language is an art. Art is art. Right? Music is art. I have a friend that says he can't communicate what he's thinking, But when he dances he does. I guess. So for him dance is a form of communicating, thereby making it an art. Now, if video games are a combination of art, music, and "dancing" (as how I would describe the relationship between the player and the game), that video games are almost the ultimate art form.
I could say more, but this is enough to chew on.
Thanks guys.
Comments
Good luck to him on that one.
This statement I would sign my name under.
Ultimately, I believe everything we do in life should be like that, yet unfortunately, we fail many times to hold up that standard. But nonetheless, we should keep on trying.
Indeed, and sorry if I was speeking in the wrong tense, but I meant that he already has.
I'd say this was an oversimplification, there numerous situations where an exchange benefits only one side. For example if you dominate the energy supply market in one region and through this competitivie advantage decide to raise the prices then no one is benefiting other than the energy supplier and their shareholders.
Or another typical example would be when jobs are only available in certain areas, and landlords, seeing the demand for housing rise in that area, decide to hike up the rental costs to take advantage of the demand, forcing people to either give more of their earnings to the landlords or spend more on travel (commuting from cheaper areas), both of these exchanges, either with the transport company or the landlord, only benefits one side. There are endless other examples of exchanges that people are compelled to take part in every day that do not create wealth for them - and often they would simply rather not do.
You also say that "people would rather have a certain product more than their money, or else why would they buy it?" - I'd say this was also an oversimplification of a complex idea, again (and I'm sure you can do this too) I can think of endless examples of situations where people are compelled to make purchases they would rather not have to.
Does he do the thing where you spell out a word with big letters formed by your arms as you dance ?
@Socks, I knew when I posted this I would receive a refutation, so thanks for proving me right.
And your right about the oversimplification part, I was just mind puking a lot of ideas that have been bouncing around my head for the last couple years. But I think that for the most part people make exchanges of money for goods and services willingly,and sometimes gladly. I suppose when they could find an alternitave to that they would use it. Thanks for fleshing out my ideas, and making them better. 
Oh, and he only does that when they play YMCA at school dances
I agree that plenty of exchanges are made willingly, but I'd hesitate to put a figure or percentage on it, that's to say I don't know whether the majority of exchanges are done willingly or reluctantly or even coercively . . . I expect it's a spectrum running from people begrudgingly parting with their money for something they would rather not have to pay for at a price they think is unreasonable, to the other end of the spectrum that sees iPhone6 users queue up to throw money at the cashiers on launch day.
I expect most trade exists somewhere in the middle ground.
I suppose when they could find an alternitave to that they would use it.
Alternatives, if they exist, might offer no advantage and still might not add wealth to the buyer or even see them enter an exchange willingly, there are numerous exchanges whose shortcomings don't stem from lack of choice, for example if the company who makes a cancer drug prices some people out of that market, and then a second company comes along who charges half that price, still a small fortune but just within the reach of our hypothetical patient, then it would still be difficult to ague that the cancer patient would not prefer to hang on to their money rather than be buying medication to treat a cancer, that is to say they wouldn't have willingly entered into the whole process, I'd say it was more the case that circumstance often forces people to make disadvantageous exchanges and others often exploit these circumstances.
Of course this is an extreme example, but like I say the range and type of exchanges exist on a spectrum from the disadvantageous to the advantageous, and people don't always get to chose which end.
For me, Bill gates is not even a name that comes to mind when it comes to game development. However, pushing the corporate model into game development.....(which both aided areas and poisoned others), yeah. He nor Steve, really pushed the realm of gaming. They were not gamers.
If you want to learn true game philosophy read the books written by the people who truly developed the industry. The biggies is called "the theory of fun for game design" by Ralph Koster. Another is "100 principals of game design" they all break down the psychology of why people respond to games and break down the types of play and players. Stop speculating and start reading..lol
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Here are the links to them:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-Game-Design-Raph-Koster/dp/1932111972
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Game-Design-Wendy-Despain/dp/0321902491
Though, @The_Gamesalad_Guru, I also think that what @gamestudent was talking about as not necessary a thing of game design specifically, more of a general philosophy to keep in mind even when making games.
The books go into that as well. I'm a big student of Walt Disney read almost everything I can find on him. I share the sentiments of the post but the key is those men has something unquantifiable about them. They were born with a unique sense and instinct of what works and what doesn't. If you study these men closely they didn't learn it, it came through their ability to have a unique mindset and ability. you can't teach what those guys had, they just had it and developed it through their life experiences. that is what made them so rare. For anyone to think they can manufacture that is kinda fantasy. You are born with talent, the only thing you can do is cultivate that talent. If you don't have the talent for a particular thing you may become proficient at it, journeyman like but you will never be those guys without natural talent.
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