Scariest presentation you will ever see
Jesse Schell, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and CEO of a computer gaming company, presents his “vision” for the future of computer games at DICE 2010, a popular gaming conference.
Schell’s presentation is slow going at first and seems like a typical boring conference but stick around for his “vision” for future games and how they will impact our lives. For those that want to skip ahead, the fun begins at 17:30 into the talk, where Schell decribes how gaming techniques are creeping into the real world and points/perks are used to reward desirable behavior.
Of course, Schell, true to the techno-optimist agenda, is confident this point-based invasive control technology will usher in a golden age of entrepreneurial opportunity for making the world a better place. He even proposes that a toothpaste company could create a toothbrush that detects when you’re brushing your teeth and award you points in your global life-game account based on the fact that you’re not only practicing good hygene, you’re also helping the company’s bottom line.
In fact, with the ubiquitous sensor system Schell proposes, eventually any behavior could be detected and rewarded such as riding the bus, eating the right food, or even thinking the right thoughts — anything our programmer-masters view as desirable behavior.
It seems Schell’s best idea for our future is to turn us into point-chasing, gamebot automatons that are manipulated into performing whatever actions are desired by the controllers of the global game system. The scariest part of this presentation for me is not the Orwellian world Schell conjures up but the fact that he seems to think this is all desirable and wonderful.
As I sat dumbfounded watching him gleefully describe a world where someone gets ads inserted into their dreams, and gets points for tatooing electronic ads on their body, I wondered what kind of a man is Schell? Is he such a believer in the technocracy’s version of progress that he is completely blinded to it’s negative consequences? Or is he just resigned to that fact that the locked down world he envisions is just an inevitability so he might as well be happy about it. I guess I’ll never know. I just chalk up his one-sided optimism to the tunnel-vision and short-sightedness of academia and the techno-industrial complex in general. Still, it’s always amazing to me when someone so enthusiastically praises the bars of their own prison.
As for his vision of the future: No thanks! I think I’ll just keep playing the game called Nature. At least, that one is neutral toward it’s players and not just another trick used to the line the pockets of an wealthy few. And besides I trust the Programmer of that game.
There is no Programmer to Nature. Everything evolved over hundreds of millions of years.
“Had Mother Nature been a real parent, she would have been in jail for child abuse and murder.”
– Nick Bostrom
Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau;
Mock on, mock on; ’tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.
And every sand becomes a gem
Reflected in the beams divine;
Blown back they blind the mocking eye,
But still in Israel’s paths they shine.
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newton’s Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.
–William Blake
lol. upon receiving negative feedback schell backpeddled over his nwo enthusiasm. he realized that not everyone is a braindead bot. thanks for the heads up schell, as if you’ve said anything new.
Very nice article, thanks! I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed. Please keep up posting.
Being a blogger is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum.
Sent from my iPad 4G
My wife and I both are gamers in the role playing genre. We don’t live it, but we enjoy it. Games have definitely come a long way since we began on Frogger and Donkey Kong.
Nicro-transactions in MMORPG’s can be big chunks of wasted money if one is not careful.
I really prefer the old days of earning that special item rather than shelling out cash for it.
From a developers point of view, it works out good I’m sure, but for the company, it’s a windfall.
My wife and do not purchase anything beyond the initial monthly fees, and since I play a Oblivion on the console, I pay nothing for my gaming
who are you trying to convince?
Awesome, thanks for sharing this. I like some of the humor he uses and the mario coin effect was perfect.
He later rescinded such one-sided optimisim at GDC in March: http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-10-schell-we-re-heading-toward-brave-new-world-166715.phtml