Posted by
Judhudson on 18 February, 2010 at 9:25 AM
I’m kicking myself for missing the live stream of Will Wright’s presentation at the Games for Learning Institution! Got the times mixed up and took a nap, ended up sleeping right thru it! 
I suppose not all is bad, I can catch up reading and viewing the various bits and pieces that made their way onto the net about his speech. Here’s what I managed to gather so far. If any visitors here made it to his speech, feel free to drop me a link to your thoughts via the comments and I’ll add it to this post!
The most interesting part of the presentation for me, however, was how Wright applied these concepts to his own games. He spoke about the process behind Sim City, how it first seems like a computerized train set, but after heavy usage, the consumer realizes they aren’t just playing with a set of possibilities; instead, they are creating worlds (he compared it to gardening). He designed The Sims to allow people to succeed or fail. He established that failure is just as much part of learning as is success. Therefore, he wants his games to have consequences (if your Sim dies, the people around it realize this and mourn) instead of just a simple restart that allows you to feel nothing.
The audience that packed Skirball seemed to be Wright’s target audience: gamers who understood his points and laughed at his jokes (I’ll admit, some were hilarious). My question is: how can we get this process out into the public? The Sims is one way of doing that. As Wright put it, “The Sims showed people that not only boys liked computer games.” Casual gamers are more interested in games such as The Sims, where they can control what happens, and the designers allow failure while giving very basic guidelines. This is why a game like The Sims, which has a huge following, becomes important and why Wright is as valuable as he is: he is literally teaching through his games.
NYU Local – Will Wright preaches learning and imagination at GLI
There were a few technical hiccups prior to the speech, so Wright offered to answer a few audience questions. When asked about why educational and serious games are typically lame, he replied that this is primarily tied to craftsmanship. Serious game developers are going for the most obvious depictions of real-world crises, but those are rarely the most fun. For example, he suggested that rather than controlling a Peace Corps member trying to prevent the spread of a deadly disease, it might be more fun to put the player in the “shoes” of the virus.
The Rumble Pack – Notes from Will Wright
Getting ready for Will Wright to take the stage. He’s famous for designing Spore, SimCity, SimAnt, SimEarth, and of course, The Sims series. I’m excited to hear what he says about educational games. Many of his titles are considered educational games today, though I don’t believe they were originally marketed as such, with the possible exception of Spore. It’s very odd, but things that get classified as educational games often aren’t games at all. Things in that category usually more closely resemble interactive worksheets than games. There’s often only one right answer, and sometimes the game is only playable if you already know the content it contains.
Ten Toed Inc – Live Blogging from Will Wrights GLI presentation
In a 300-slide presentation to an audience of “computer-savvy” Greenwich Villagers, he advocated using digital games to promote creativity and education.
In addition, Wright focused on making his games relative to both the outside world and the individual.
“The more personal a game, the more emotional investment is put into it,” he said.
Wright’s ability to preserve the human element in his work makes him appealing to a wide range of people.
Katya Hott, a student in NYU’s Educational Communication and Technology program, recalls that SimCity was the first digital game she played as well as her male friends. She was impressed by Wright’s game analysis and sense of humor.
NYU News – Will Wright talks at the Skirball Center
I will not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of his talk, here are a few highlights regarding what stood out most to me:
- Story telling and playing games are crucial activities that support human learning and development.
- Unlike stories told via video or books, games tend to allow people to explore multiple different possibilities.
- Games are currently looked down upon by other media – this is always the case for emerging media.
- Future of media will need to include play, story and branding as core elements (also described as agency, empathy and identity).
- The “magic circle” continues to evolve and expand as new platforms for gaming, such as mobile, become commonplace.
Julio Terra – Will Wright: Gaming and Learning
SimPrograms.com
SporePrograms.com
Will Wright has been hiding his projects coming from his Stupid Fun Club for quite some time, but 
I’ll keep it updated constantly until his presentation is over – so make sure you refresh the page every now and then!
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