[casual_games] slamdance competition

[Tim Turner]

I believe that all this talk of art and censorship is a little misguided.
The fact of the matter is that if you can find pictures of naked women on
the Internet art is alive and well.  But just like its fun to watch the
monkeys at the zoo throw crap at one another I sat back and read this thread
with detached amusement.

 

Mostly I just didn't care.  I'd never heard of Slamdance and when I learned
what it was, contrasted with its name, I felt like the organizers where not
so much interested in creating a less commercial venue than Sundance but
that they just wanted some of that money.  I think their actions in regard
to SCRPG! back this up.  As for the game.  Well, I believe that a cover is
part of a book and should be part of the judging process.  The in-game
content may or may not deal with the subject matter in an elegant way but
the name is without class so, as far as I care, it deserves Slamdance and
visa versa.

 

However, I have a lot of respect for John Szeder and his comment about
"making light of his chosen craft" kept rattling around in the empty place I
call my head.  A few standout snippets from other posts kept it from getting
lonely.  Things like games not being able to convey messages and, most
importantly, the post by the Cartoon Network guy.

 

Typically I would not have followed the link to the September 12th game but
after the fishy Adult Swim Award at IGF last year Cartoon Network is on my
radar.  So I clicked the link and.  Darned if that little game didn't make
me suddenly care!  Note: It says it isn't a game and has no win/lose
condition but lets do the game vs. toy discussion in another thread.

 

Now look, art is, like love, one of those very subjective, broad, amorphous,
and generally impossible to fully nail down concepts.  Any conversation that
relies on said definition, especially over the Internet, is bound to get
furry fast but there are still some thoughts worth exploring and the
terrorism game proves this.

 

Games, even small ones, absolutely CAN contain meaning.  I disagree with the
point being made by the September 12th game but it is well made using our
"chosen craft" and it elegantly expresses views on a controversial topic.

 

Art is probably as much about intention as it is about execution.  When the
emo kid down the street left a pile of dog mess on my neighbor's teenage
daughter's car he was, undoubtedly, trying to express the ultimate nuance of
his angst riddled love.  It was art.  I did the same thing but I was just
pissed about the noise from the party she threw when her parents were out of
town.  It was not art.

 

Artistic intention does not save you from being a jackass.  The emo kid is a
jackass.  The SCRPG! guy is a jackass.  The Slamdance folks seem to be
jackasses.  Artistic intention regarding delicate or edgy or controversial
or immoral or whatever concepts does not make jackasses.  Insensitive
classless execution makes jackasses.

 

It is unfortunate that a few bad eggs can make the party less joyous for the
rest of us but it's still a party.  Despite Hotcoffee, despite SCRPG!,
despite whatever Jack Thomson throws at us games are going to continue to
grow in mainstream acceptance.  It is good that there are people that care
about driving the serious side of our issues forward.  Someday, when my bank
account has more digits, I'll stop worrying about the tactics of building my
business and start worrying about the strategy of guiding our industry.  In
the meanwhile I'll leave that to John Szeder and the guy who posted about
"owning a large home".

 

Later,

T

 

 

 

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Jeff Murray
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 12:11 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] slamdance competition

 

And you know what? Unless you named it after a true to life event, I'm
pretty sure that you'd be ok to submit either game idea to slamdance without
getting it getting pulled ;)

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Olmert, Shaul
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:41 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] slamdance competition

 

This is an appropriate context to reveal the game concept I had in mind for
a while: "Sweatshop tycoon"- a game that challenges you to maximize
manufacturing while abusing a huge staff of under aged employees.

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of John Szeder
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 1:34 PM
To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [casual_games] slamdance competition

My next game I make is going to be called:

 

"Knee jerk reaction consumer tycoon".

 

The idea behind the game is to play civilians in various ages of man,
starting in the dark ages and find ideas and people to get indignant about
and try to persecute them!

 

Marketing points:

            Shout loudly and throw stones at Jesus as he carries his cross
to the top of the hill!

Participate in the excommunication of Galileo due to his heretical views!

Write letters to congressmen and stage protests at stores carrying "dungeons
and dragons" games in the early 1970's!

File lawsuits against "Judas Priest" in the mid 1980's for the joint suicide
of teens!

Join usenet flamewars over topics you have not fully researched in the early
1990's!

 

Then again, I don't think anyone will get the game, controversy is too new.
Back to work.

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Tom Hubina
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:27 AM
To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [casual_games] slamdance competition

 

I just read that wikipedia page and when I heard what his school life was
like and how he went on a killing spree with that seemingly being what
changed him so dramatically and probably combined with some bad wiring in
his head led to him going on a killing spree .. It just sounds all too
familiar.

 

I'm surprised the nimrods of the day didn't blame James Dean for Charles'
actions. After all, they didn't have video games back then. *sigh*

 

Tom

 

  _____  

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Allen Varney
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 9:16 AM
To: casual_games at igda.org
Subject: Re: [casual_games] slamdance competition

 

Jeff Murray wrote:
  (((If you don't believe that, then try and find the last *true-story*
movie with a shock title like this, that won awards from a respected
organization. Oh what do you say? There aren't any? What a surprise. Was
Natural Born Killers a true story? I don't think so.))) 

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather

-- 
-- Allen Varney
    www.allenvarney.com

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