March 25, 2010: Points For Toothbrushing

The D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit is an annual gathering of video game professionals. This year, Jesse Schell gave a particularly interesting speech.

The digital game design blogs are all calling it "the one everyone is talking about." I'm not one for just reposting links because "everyone" says you should, but this one is chock-full of things to think about. A virtual plant "game" in the new Ford hybrid? The cycle between "I'll pay for it because I've been playing it" and "I'll play it because I've paid for it" that generates so much capital for casual games? The elastic velvet rope?

Whether you're a game designer, a game consumer, or something in-between, this presentation has something for your brain to chew on. For me, it was the idea that future mainstream marketing campaigns could be patterned after games -- thus the "points for brushing your teeth" of the title. Toothbrush manufacturers may be hiring a game designer sooner than we think.

-- Paul Chapman