Why I do it.

I get asked a lot "Why do you want to be a game designer?" this isn't as easy a question as one would assume. It's one of those questions that when asked out of the blue, I was often stunned by the sheer absurdity of the question. I would think to myself "Duh! Cause it's my dream job." or "It just calls to me." Even the ever-famous "Why wouldn't I?!" This question often left me Speaking in undefinables. Recently, I've decided that it's time for me to really sit down and figure out how to describe it. How to break it down and present it in a way that is understandable and conveys why I feel so strongly about the subject.

Before I can even begin to explain it, there needs to be some background. What are games about to you? Are they about wasting time? Are they about having fun? Getting together with your friends? No matter why you play games, the core of the relationship between you and games is likely related to the experience. No, not experience points like in an rpg game, but the experience of playing the game.

Games are a unique medium. They focus around controlling and defining someone's interaction in a way that causes them to make decisions. They make you think. Some games ask you do to this on an instinctual level with quick decisions and reactions, while others ask you to think slowly and come to a decision after considering as much as possible.

I think it's important now to define the difference between an experience and a stimulus. Music is mostly a stimulus. You can listen passively just sit back and just enjoy it. It requires nothing from  you as a listener to enjoy it. Many people find themselves being more engrossed than simply listening, and become involved with the music. This is where music tips from a passive stimulus into a true experience. People rarely experience music when heard on the radio on the way home from work, but when going to a concert, or making the music yourself, or even when that perfect song plays at the perfect moment it suddenly changes into an experience. These experiences are what stick with us as humans. Humans innately remember experiences, feeling, and moments.   

Games don't give you the option to allow them to be stimulus. They require your interaction from the onset. The game provides you with a stimulus through feedback and your reaction is required, this is what makes games one of the most powerful media in the world.

Couple these game requirements up with the ability to share this with another person, and you've suddenly created something far larger and more powerful than a single interaction. You've created a communal experience. This communal experience is something that transcends cultures, languages, and personal differences. It almost becomes a universal language to anyone who's touched the game in any way.

This is the beauty of interactivity. It creates experiences. It doesn't provide you with an. You can't passively consume. It doesn't work unless you're a part of it. I remember in college hearing about how art is defined by the reaction, emotion, or feelings that it creates to its audience. I remember talking about the Mona Lisa's eyes, and how people felt that her eyes followed them around the room. Or how the Sistine chapel makes a person feel like they are looking up into heaven itself. These are more than simply pictures or paintings because they make you interact with them. They make you feel something.

Games do this innately as they require interaction to function. They do this without the need for language or art, but through rules and mechanics. Think about chess for a moment. Chess is a fairly straightforward set of mechanics and rules that has been enjoyed by millions of people for well over a millennia. Two people plucked from different times, languages, and cultures could be placed at a chess board opposite each other and would be perfectly comfortable interacting playing the game. This can be seen in modern gaming communities too, whether it's global tournaments, mmo games, collectable card game gatherings, or the high score board for a single player puzzle game.

Games act as a common language. The game is the interpreter, the referee, it can even be a player at times. A game is a template for an interaction. An interaction is the basis of an experience. This experience, this shared experience, is what drives me to design games. Can my template illicit a pleasurable experience? Can I deliver an experience that someone will remember?

Modern games are more capable of this than ever before. The integration of technology and social availability allow designers to create experiences that are more realistic than ever and widespread enough to reach millions of people simultaneously. The MMO market is booming for these reasons. Today this communal experience can be shared with millions of people in real time. Despite the different languages and regions, every single person in an MMO is connected.

This is why I design. To be part of creating these universal experiences. Games deal in experiences. And their designers broker memories.