

How I Gamed GDC’s Top Social Game Developers - surlyadopter
http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog/2011/03/05/holding-the-bag-how-i-gamed-gdcs-top-social-game-developers/

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arkitaip
The rants session at the GDC conference had an element of gaming in it so it
seems silly of the panelists to arbitrarily change the rules because it was
not what they had imagined. But then again the author of the article could be
seen as having to broken an implicit social rule don't lie, don't cheat - that
permeates most societies. No wonder they labeled him as a cheater.

"We like to brag about how the games industry brings in more money than the
film industry, but as soon as someone like Zynga makes enough money to trigger
our envy, we invent interpretations of the game rules to say it’s not okay."

I seriously doubt that the criticism against Zynga were due to game developers
being envious of Zynga. Frankly, this is a straw man and avoids the valid
concerns people have about games and their addictiveness. It's not about rules
that have been broken, but what responsibilities game developers have.

"Meanwhile, we are breaking the very same rules: the addictive qualities of
Facebook social games can be found throughout all our games."

Maybe it's not a question about if games should have addictive qualities but
rather how much and where you draw the line? Games can have a profound effect
on a individual and affect their behavior and if the gaming industry doesn't
routinely discuss the various ethical and psychological effects of gaming,
they risk being seen as irresponsible or oblivious towards the well-being of
gamers.

"Jane McGonigal bent the rules to bring her buddies up to share her rant time,
but her shenanigans were sanctioned by the industry guard."

McGonigal was "sanctioned" because conferences, like most other IRL
interactions, need order to function. Maybe the conference panelists were
unnecessary strict and actually caused a loss by stopping McGonigal from
talking, but many interactions would become difficult to participate in simply
because people gamed them to their benefit.

~~~
xenophanes
Maybe customers should decide for themselves what they want.

~~~
arkitaip
There are industries - alcohol, cigarettes, gambling - whose products can have
a major negative impact on the lives of people. So major that most societies
have created strict regulations and a system of abuse prevention and treatment
to protect people. To some small extent the same applies to gaming. We have,
for instance, laws that prohibit resellers from selling violent games to
minors. Do you then think it's so improbable that societies in the future
treat the addictiveness of gaming as the addictiveness of alcohol or
cigarettes? I can, for example, imagine a future where game boxes have bright
and imposing stickers about the dangers of excessive gaming.

So what I am saying is that the industry must keep having serious discussions
about the ethical, social and psychological implications of gaming - otherwise
populists and crooks will set the tone and agenda.

~~~
iwwr
If future societies treat so-called game addiction like they treated alcohol,
cigarettes or drugs, they would have learned nothing from the past. Not only
would there be a backlash against it and further disregard for the law, but if
it becomes illegal to be gaming or sell games, this will create a new criminal
class.

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mhlakhani
Mirror here:

[http://www.untoldentertainment.com.nyud.net/blog/2011/03/05/...](http://www.untoldentertainment.com.nyud.net/blog/2011/03/05/holding-
the-bag-how-i-gamed-gdcs-top-social-game-developers/)

(although the images are broken)

The article is well worth reading.

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j4pe
'Winning' was his priority, so Creighton found a way to win. Congratulations
to him. Taking a risk like that in front of people you respect is tough,
especially when it results in everyone in your industry remembering you as
'that guy'.

Edit: Better mirror, courtesy of reddit user FunkyFreshFlow:
<http://rorr.im/reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/fya4n/>

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timerickson
A brilliant and insightful read.

Game developers should embrace and reward players that think outside of the
box and subvert the game to add their own rules. I can recall MissingNo. from
the original Pokémon games as a great example of players subverting the game
and in essence creating a cult following to this "cheat".

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overgard
Having been there, I can vouch that this is what happened (though perhaps a
bit exaggerated). It was pretty entertaining. I was pretty shocked that the
panelists voted against him -- I thought what he did was exactly in the spirit
of the entire thing.

I also have to say Jane McGoningal's "rant" was incredibly lame "rah rah we're
changing the world" stuff. I wish they had given this guy more time --
honestly the panelists have mostly been the same people saying the same things
the last few years, it'd be nice to hear some new voices.

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Groxx
Thumbs up. I thoroughly approve of both the strategy and the resulting rant.

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pnathan
Now that's a hacker.

People like that are the true gamers. (cue a grumpy Scotsman).

The ability to see the rules, see past the rules, and see into the structure
of the question, then deal with that are the real hallmarks of what makes the
hacker culture great.

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Androsynth
As someone who works in the industry, my thoughts during the first half of
this essay were 'this is normal, Players ALWAYS find ways around the rules'. I
was shocked that the designers didn't instinctively get this and pronounce him
the winner.

~~~
Dylanlacey
Yes, I was surprised this wasn't exactly what they wanted. I would have been
delighted with the kind of outcome.

I think he also made a deft mind flip, turning it into an example for his own
talk. I'd have thought the entire thing pre-staged, if I'd been in the
audience, it's so brilliantly full circle.

I guess it's a good example of human behavior in general: If someone doesn't
play how we want them, as "Owner" of an event or product or game, we get
pissy. And then, from outside, it just looks sad. Of course the author could
simply be an unreliable narrator.

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heresy
Play to win.

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sucuri2
503 - Service unavailable? Copy anywhere?

~~~
mhlakhani
[http://www.untoldentertainment.com.nyud.net/blog/2011/03/05/...](http://www.untoldentertainment.com.nyud.net/blog/2011/03/05/holding-
the-bag-how-i-gamed-gdcs-top-social-game-developers/)

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The_Igor
Lost me at "It was exactly like this, except that i had pants on. …. and i
have a much bigger cock. "

~~~
xsmasher
Did you read the article cached, or with images? It makes more sense in
context.

