Tweet
I've been replaying Depression Quest recently. The sudden passing of Robin Williams put depression on the agenda in a big way, and the game is free on Steam as a result, and developer Zoe Quinn has found herself the subject of scrutiny elsewhere, too. It's obscured some of what she achieved with her game, which is well worth returning to.Depression Quest is an important game, and one that's brought into focus a nagging thought that has been buzzing around the back of my mind for months, like a wasp forever out of the corner of your eye. Namely, that I wished game developers were more selfish. That's the wrong word to use - too emotive, too negative - but the sentiment feels right. Game design, particularly at the commercial end of the scale, has become so player focussed, so obsessed with ensuring that every game appeals to everybody, and that everybody can understand everything intuitively, that it risks becoming faceless and infantile.
We're going to skirt dangerously close to the "games as art" debate here, but it's something we need to grapple with. Games shouldn't be afraid of that three-letter word, just as they shouldn't be fixated on it. Games are a creative medium, made by creative people. They are, by nature, capable of being art. They're just not very good art, most of the time.
Read more…
More...