HEAD BLOG

There was a marvellous article in The Guardian last week featuring Heavy Rain creator David Cage, discussing the potential for very different, challenging stories in the game space. It’s about how age brings with it different desires, and what effect that has on video gaming – something often seen as a young person’s pursuit.

As Cage says:

“look, I’m 40, I’m fed up of writing games where you shoot at everyone”

The fact that this is even an issue is interesting. Gaming, perhaps uniquely amongst entertainment media, really has grown up. An entire generation has stuck with the pastime beyond the childhood period. No other toy has this sort of power. As adults we don’t indulge in the marvellous imagination games inherent in (for example) toy soldiers. I don’t even think (to stick with toy soldiers) that one form of play transforms into its video game counterpart. So whilst we drop one form of play, that doesn’t mean we are “moving on” to video games.

Video game are, in other words, unique. They are a separate form of entertainment which was born as one thing and has now evolved.

As a result it’s not surprising that developers themselves can be heard questioning the relevance of another “space marine” game*. His words may well unite other developers as they begin to pass into middle age and beyond. What they ought to do, however, is prompt publishers to look at potential audiences of this demographic and carry out research into how strong a “grey gaming” strategy could be. I’m sure it won’t be made of up people all wanting games based on thoughtful introspection and arthouse philosophy exercises but it may reveal that a different approach is needed – whether that be in the storylines or in the marketing as we begin to question whether one size really does fit all.

*I disagree that games developers should avoid writing about situations for which they have no experience though. The imagination, rather than personal experience, is still the most vital tool in a writer’s arsenal.

At Head First, something we are always mindful of being is outsiders. It may seem strange to say this when most of our work is taken up with conveying the excitement of being a Japanese Samurai, a rampaging Marine or a MotoGP rider. Who amongst us is not an outsider when it comes to such rarefied pursuits? Certainly those of you reading this as a person uninterested in any sort of gaming outside football or snap! might suggest that the games we are charged with promoting are more akin with simple candy at a store in that children (for who else buys such tartly coloured things anyway?) will be drawn to the biggest buzz or lumbered with the budget title bought for them by a well meaning grandparent.

Somewhere in between all of this lies the duty of the outsider agency. Understanding where that buzz is created (and just how much money it can take to generate) is only a tiny part. In the vast, interconnected web of our consumer lives the real effort goes in knowing the many different faces of the gamer and seeing the product as they would see it rather than how the product manager would.

Yet being an outsider isn’t as easy as it might at first appear. In reality the outsider agency must not only be an outsider, but every outsider. And what a lot of outsiders there are.

A child, a teenager, a father, a mother, a single twenty-something – even that list, quickly generated, can spiral out of control and, in reality, tells us nothing. Take one: the father. Who is he? Why is he looking to play a game? What is he looking for? Does he go to the cinema? Does he buy books? Did he play games as a child and so is familiar with terms and conventions easily as complex as those of the Internet (and there’s a future article in itself)?

A person could sit down to a multiplayer game of Metro 2033 and be paired with a person they would all but despise in real life. The markers that resonate enough for them to choose something as simple as a shirt will be wildly different which leads to choices in design as to what terminology to employ, what nods to make, what visual cues to activate.

In such a world the question of how alien the main player character is takes a backseat. Indeed understanding the intricacies of the product itself can also take a backseat as our audience becomes as alien and unknowable as any blue skinned warrior robot could ever be.

Here, the outsider agency must arm itself with wit and a genuine interest in portraying the open, honest coolness of a product and fire it into the hearts of whoever walks on this strange digital battlefield.