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[Laremere]

This video popped up in my Youtube recommended videos, and its title caught my attention.  After viewing it, I thought it would be a video worth while to share in this forum.  It deals with a realization that testing for a perfect type of a food never quite came out with any comprehensible data, with large ranges and no perfect result could ever be found;a perfect result shouldn't be looked for, and instead perfect results should be looked for.  Different people have different tastes they may not realize they have, and by constantly looking for a single solution to make everyone happy (which ends up with meager results), we should look for groups of solutions that make people happy with their own personal tastes.

You can watch the full video which explains it much better than I can here:




I think that parallels can be drawn between his examples in the food industry and interactive entertainment.  I would consider different genres (shooters, plat-formers, racers) as different kinds of kinds of food (ie Oranges, Cereal, Steak) and not really up for question for this discussion.  Can you think of any examples of this in practice; have any different interpretations of this talk; any ideas to share?

[Alex Vostrov]

Thanks for the link, Laremere.  TED is always awesome.

I think that this is a good argument against auteur games, or more correctly against treating some games as inferior.  I tend to do this often, so this video made me question this stance.

[Chris Whitman]

My secret ingredient for spaghetti sauce is roasted mushrooms. Seriously, try it sometime.

[Oddball]

The talk is flawed as there is a perfect food. The Giant Tortoise was so delicious to everyone that no one could stop eating them long enough to name them.

[Laremere]

My secret ingredient for spaghetti sauce is roasted mushrooms. Seriously, try it sometime.

Sadly, as we are drawing parallels to the game industry here, mushrooms aren't that secret of an ingredient.
I also don't like mushrooms :/

[team_q]

As video games being a bit more creative then Tomato Sauce, I think it's actually from the other direction, if you don't like something, there is a ton of options, you don't need to stay and complain about that one thing.

[astrospoon]

I think that this is a good argument against auteur games, or more correctly against treating some games as inferior.

Wait? Huh? Isn't this arguing FOR auteur games? I listened to this talk awhile ago, so I may be mistaken, but wasn't the whole point that "this is why we have a million varieties of spaghetti sauce"? It seems like with auteur games, you would get many unique types of games - the larger the team is the more generic the games are going to end up. I think it just confirms that there is room for offbeat very precisely targeted games - exactly what auteurs tend to produce.

I do recall some point about how people actually liked chunky sauce, even though people were selling runny sauce in the stores. I'm not sure this works in a game sense? Maybe this is parallel to the rise of casual games? Where big companies thought people wanted more "hardcore" games, and what the majority of people want to play is non-aggressive casual games? (Majority of general population, not of the "gamer" crowd)

[Alex Vostrov]

I put that badly.  Ignore the auteur bit.

My point is that individual authors tend to have very defined views of what games should be.  That's fine for an individual, but the medium needs diversity, overall.

[LemonScented]

I put that badly.  Ignore the auteur bit.

My point is that individual authors tend to have very defined views of what games should be.  That's fine for an individual, but the medium needs diversity, overall.

Ah, but here's the thing. I guess I fall into the bracket of being an auter, and I guess I have very defined views of what games should be (although I like to think I'm always learning), but that doesn't mean I want to impose my view on What Games Should Be(tm) on everyone else. I'll debate it, express opinions, whatever, but ultimately an auter's job (I know you said to forget about auters but then you immediately starting talking about "individual authors", which is exactly the same thign) is to put out games that reflect their worldview and hoping that they find an audience of like-minded people who enjoy their work.

All of which is a long way of saying that so long as auters don't do anything to stifle the creativity of other auters (and as far as I can tell, they don't), then their collective and wildly-differing output becomes the exact magic spring which spews forth all of the diversity which the medium thrives on.

I'm not sure I follow your logic. Are you saying that individual authors are bad for diversity, or that there's some kind of politicking going on which somehow stifles individual authors and the diversity they bring?

[Alex Vostrov]

Actually, my point is your point, really.