Beep Studio were lucky enough to be invited to FutureFest, a weekend of talks, experiences and debates about the future, run by the UK innovation foundation Nesta
The weekend kicked off with a keynote speech from author Will Self, who provided good value as always. Anecdotes about life in and around the city were enlivened by a brisk flow of ideas delivered with the 'keep up!' attitude of a cane-weilding professor. Jokes and provocations spiced things up, and nuggets of obscure vocabulary kept the audience off balance. A great start to the day.
The Future of Computer Gaming panel was encumbered somewhat by its title. Where ‘Electricity’ and 'Internet' would once have been commented on as novel features, these are now taken so much for granted that we only notice them by their absence. We don't ask 'Do you have the internet’ but ‘What’s your password?’. Similarly, the word ‘Computer' is fast becoming redundant. 'The Future of Gaming' might have been a little wider, but might also perhaps have thrown up some juicier tidbits.
Also of note, the panellists were selected from within game culture. As shown by car design, where whizzy designers have their whizzy tastes indulged to tedious effect, it's hard to innovate when you're deeply embedded in a culture. Perhaps for this reason, much of the discussion revolved around technological novelty rather than the wider socio-cultural impact that is just around the corner.
It's far easier to innovate from outside. A position of blissful ignorance giving you the freedom to state the obvious and make silly mistakes.
Games rely partly on technological innovation, but at their core are abstract concepts that are irreducible, appealing, and can be translated into many different media and mechanisms.
So - what are the questions we should be asking? Looking at the games which have had the widest cultural impact Cultural impact vs. great games
Can washing up ge ramified? Can our lives be improved by game thinking?
Pokemon was dismissed as laughably old hat as a demonstration of Augmented Reality gaming - however the critics the key point of pokemon is its social impact.Thelabel and medium are les interesting , less significant than the fact that as a game it gets groups of people interrelating in the real world.
What are the games that will engage a new audience? What is this audience?
The really difficult thing with games is explaining what makes them exciting
Women in work
Childcare
Big business model comes from the starting point of the nuclear family - father working, mother at home. Not set up for modern parents. Beep tudio is unusual in haven been set up to accommodate children.
Construction after de-skilling, de risking has meant that the heavy lifting jobs requiring a phalanx of burly blokes is no longer appliccablil.
There is still a culture of burly beer drinking blokes, but thos is changing faster than one migexpect.
For example, robotically control requires skill, not brawn. Suggests the construction industry will be more accessible to a wider set of people, irrespective of physical strength.
Caroline Lucas and Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia.
Weatherill spoke passionately about changes wrought in Australia by mobilising communities. By contrast, Caroline Lucas' passions were directed at the political status quo in the UK, and her as yet unrealised hopes for change.
