Entries tagged with “video games” from Tools of Change for Publishing

The Confusion Between Content and Containers

Mac Slocum
October 6, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

The digital realm allows content and containers to exist separately, but their old bond is still tough to break. An article in yesterday's New York Times education section illustrates this point:

Spurred by arguments that video games also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate video games in the classroom...

... But doubtful teachers and literacy experts question how effective it is to use an overwhelmingly visual medium to connect youngsters to the written word. They suggest that while a handful of players might be motivated to pick up a book, many more will skip the text and go straight to the game. Others suggest that video games detract from the experience of being wholly immersed in a book.

The problem with this thinking is that it only assigns "literacy" value to books. Certainly, books are an essential learning tool and students should be exposed to them early and often, but if the goal is to improve literacy -- i.e. "being able to read and write" -- then the argument against games falls apart. A game-based project that boosts reading and writing skills in even a small percentage of children is still worthwhile, especially if it's one initiative amidst a broader literacy effort.

The anti-game contingent noted in the Times piece is falling into a familiar trap: assigning value to a container instead of content. The container trap was innocuous in years past because the audience (consumers, students, etc.) was limited to passive acceptance of a few choices. Now that digital delivery empowers audiences to naturally gravitate toward material they deem worthwhile, shoehorning people into a particular form diverges from bigger goals. If you want to accomplish something -- be it literacy improvement or creation of sustainable revenue streams -- you need to go with the audience grain, not against it.

(Via Shelf Awareness)

Related Stories:

• The Media Industry's Perspective Problem
• Do Publisher Brands Still Have Relevance?
• Target, Serve and Adapt: A Simple Model for Audience Development

"Spore" Backlash: Is DRM Officially Bad for Business?

Mac Slocum
September 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | Listen

Update 9/24/08 - Responding to consumer complaints, Electronic Arts has relaxed the digital rights management restrictions on "Spore."

If the backlash to Electronic Arts' new game "Spore" serves as a sign of things to come, strict digital rights management (DRM) restrictions are transforming from consumer annoyances into full-fledged business mistakes. From Forbes:

In just the 24-hour period between Wednesday [9/10] and Thursday [9/11], illegal downloaders snagged more than 35,000 copies, and, as of Thursday evening, that rate of downloads was still accelerating. "The numbers are extraordinary," [Eric] Garland [CEO of Big Champagne] says. "This is a very high level of torrent activity even for an immensely popular game title."

Electronic Arts had hoped to limit users to installing the game only three times through its use of digital rights management software, or DRM. But not only have those constraints failed, says Garland, they may have inadvertently spurred the pirates on.

On Amazon, "Spore's" one-star customer rating is driven by anti-DRM sentiment rather than analysis of the game itself. It's likely only a small percentage of "Spore's" potential customer base knows or cares about DRM, but Amazon's star-system shorthand makes no distinction between reviewers passing judgement on the game and those engaging in DRM activism. Deserved or not, a one-star rating averaged from thousands of reviews is the very definition of caveat emptor, particularly for casual shoppers who encounter "Spore's" listing down the road.

The combination of "Spore's" long history on the gaming world's radar and the publicity push surrounding its release will undoubtedly lead to good sales in the early going (anecdotal evidence suggests this is already the case). But "Spore" is one of those hyper-immersive games that's shaped by its users, and this DRM flap may ultimately limit adoption and future product opportunities.

Related Stories:

• ReadWriteWeb: "DRM Helps Spore Make History as The Most Pirated Game Ever"
• The Consumerist: "Want More Than One Account On Your 'Spore' Game? Buy Another Copy"
• Pirates Convince Game Developer to Drop DRM
• Charting the Pitfalls of DRM