In this essay originally posted on the What Games Are blog, and reprinted in full with his permission, UK-based game designer and Gamasutra contributor Tadhg Kelly explains why he believes there's no such thing as a player character, and analyzes what's really going on when most people play games in context.
Tadhg Kelly: "We hear that EA is going all in on microtransactions and consider this an omen. We hear that studios are moving towards mobile over console, and this augurs something bad. These may sound like histrionic ideas, but I encounter them every day."
Do games have to be fun? What if the point of the game is to take agency away from the player? Is it still a game? The Indie Mine tries to find the answer. Tadhg Kelly, Will O'Neill, and Leigh Alexander weigh in.
Interesting article, but it doesn't try to "find an answer", it just recognizes that there are at least two sides who disagree on the answer, and then talks about their positions.
If you want someone actually tackling the question, you might instead want to try http://www.youtube.com/watc...
EDGE - Speaking today at Edge Presents: Changing The Game ahead of the Evolve conference inLondon, videogame designer and Edge columnist Tadhg Kelly called on developers to reassert their position in the wider media world. Too often, developers are beholden to the standards of mainstream media such as literature and TV but, he warned, this desire to become part of the media institution means that games will never mature on their own terms.
