The video of my talk from Interesting North is now online. Well, they beat me to finishing my transcript – which didn’t include the adlibs and diversions anyway.
Things Rules Do is twenty minutes that looks at games of all forms, and the rules and systems that make their skeleton. It’s about the weird things that rules can do, beyond “tell you how to play”, such as inspire mastery, encourage deviance, and tell stories. It was written for a general, interested audience – not specifically for gamers – and covers a few topics close to my heart. You might like it.
And, of course – thanks to Tim and the team for their work in getting this online.
Alex | 28 Jan 2011
Very interesting talk there Tom. It reminded me of playing Project Gotham Racing many years ago on Xbox Live. We created our own game within the PGR rules. We would pair up, one member of the team driving the fastest car in the game (a Zonda or something similar) and the other team member playing as a Mini. The winning team was the first Mini to cross the finish line. The Zondas could either defend their team mate or attack the other team. As far as I’m aware, this game was invented by the players of PGR and wasn’t supported by and points or achievements.