thread: 2005-05-27 : This is My Blog - Social Agenda
On 2005-05-31, pete_darby wrote:
Ben:
I'd say the big model holds best when the social agenda is to achieve the "best game possible", much in the same way that Ron's preferred analogy of playing in a band works if the point of the band is to play as well as they can.
If the point of the band is just to hang out, or feed the ego of the band leader, or make money, then the analogy breaks down a bit, because the quality of play will be peripheral (maybe helpful, but not central) to the reasons for play.
But... is it synedoche to say that bands that aim just to play as well as they can are the kind of bands make the best music?
Moving back to games, this is why, while recognising that "making the best game" is not going to be the social agenda of all groups, for the purposes of looking at good games design and play, I'm wasting my time looking at groups who are using the game for the purposes of hanging out, or social dominance, or dysfunctional escapism (as in denial of real world problems).
Also, I think in any functional group, quality of play is going to be a pretty strong subordinate agenda at the very least; just as in a band out to make money, they'd better not be demonstrably incompetent in performance, or the leader out to feed his ego would find that difficult if the bass player can't even replicate the line from Simple Minds' "Waterfront".
