Josh Larson of God At Play wrote about meaningful game play. Josh’s definition:
Meaningful game: a game that has significance or provides purpose for how one lives life.
He specifically argues that there seems to be a lack of games with deeper meaning, and that there are not enough of them to satisfy the people who want to play deeper, more meaningful games. He identified the difficulty a game designer has when setting out to make a meaningful game. Where does one begin? Have there been attempts before? It’s hard to know what works and what doesn’t without actually doing it yourself because body of work available to build on is scarce.
His suggestion is that there should be game jams dedicated to Meaningful Game Play, where such experiments can be prototyped and critically analyzed. The goal would be to create a resource for game designers who wish to develop deeper, more meaningful games.
The first Meaningful Game Play Game Jam starts today at the BitMethod offices in Des Moines, IA. Details can be found at the newly launched Meaningful Gameplay website.
I’ll be there. Do you plan on attending? Do you want to participate in a Meaningful Game Play Game Jam?