EPT![[image loading]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/thereisnosaurus/makeagamelogo.jpg)
It's been a big couple of days for me. A couple of months ago I got a message that RMIT, a local uni was accepting games related PHDs at a new lab. I had graduated from another uni the year before after a rather traumatic honours year that landed me with upper second class honours, missing first by two marks. That put me in the unenviable situation of having a design theory centred games degree with little chance of academic progression, in australia where the only games jobs going are production ones. Even if I'd lived in Vancouver or Tokyo it would have been problematic. The modern games industry does not as a rule recruit games designers, strange as that may seem. Design jobs are earned by years of production work, like an architect getting the position for being a bricklayer for half a decade. That's not the only requirement, of course, but it is generally a pre-requisite.
When I got this message I was in a bit of a rut, and I had ten days before the cutoff date. For anyone who's unfamiliar with PHD applications (probably most people), it's similar to a job application only you need to pony up a five page plus formal outline of your PHD project, breaking down what you're going to do, how you're going to do it and why you're not completely insane for trying. So I had ten days (less really) to come up with a project that fitted in with the goals of the position, was worth three years of my life, and sell it so well they'd overlook my less than stellar honours marks and be infatuated with the crazy ideas I came up with.
Yesterday I found out I pulled it off.
For someone like me, who's been struggling to study the massively complex area of games and games design theory with integrity and rigour, it's hard to describe the pride that comes from having one's proposal for the importance of research justified. Games are important, in a way I think few people appreciate. The increasing complexity and penetration of various kinds of digital interactivity all over the world is of massive significance, and in many ways creating a similar cultural shift to the one we experienced upon the advent of mass broadcast media. In some ways, we're actually reverting to older social behaviours- interactivity and social play were the main leisure forms before the advent of one-to-many, non interactive media like the TV or radio. Now they are once again coming into prominence as digital media becomes capable of intuitively mimicking the social leisure forms of previous centuries- card games around a table with friends, a tennis match on saturdays, hanging out watching a bout at the local hall. These are not gimmicky, trendy things, and the digital games industry is at the heart of this social transformation. Whether it be online poker, esports, farmville, MMOs or mobile games, the design of social interaction and play is looking to be the core leisure industry of the next century. Perhaps even more significantly, interactive multimedia provide an environment for learning and personal development far more efficient and enjoyable than any classroom. They suit the natural way people learn- through trial and error, experimentation, imitation and repetition. Everyone has learned things from the videogames they play, even if they're not conscious they're applying it in 'real life'. The potential such media has for education and civil development is insane and is still not fully appreciated, even by the people making those brilliantly terrible 'edugames'
Trying to approach this fast-paced, sprawling morass of potential is incredibly intimidating, not least because there is little structure to prior work. For all their success the games industry, and by extension academia surrounding it is incredibly naive. There are no core theories that are reliable enough to base study on without deep critical awareness, let alone the rigorously tested body of evidence that supports any of the hard sciences. Ideas must stand on their own, bringing first principles with them. There are massive financial and political interests at play, from the multi-billion dollar online gambling industry to the brutal rhetoric of meaningless pleasure that the AAA games industry operates under. I'm still coming to terms with the ethical requirements a PHD brings, of pushing our understanding further than it has ever reached before. It's a lot to take in.
On the other hand, I wouldn't have applied if I wasn't determined to do it. I am ecstatic that I have a chance to try my hand and spend years digging into one of the most fascinating areas of research at this time. It's literally a once in a lifetime opportunity and one I intend to grab onto as hard as possible. I'm one of those weird guys who is more interested in reading and writing than clubbing to try and pick up girls, so the opportunity to actually achieve something of use while failing to get a girlfriend my mother can fawn over is brilliant. As can be evidenced by this post, I'm a little giddy with the feeling. In that spirit I'd like to thank teamliquid in general and a few special Tlers in particular for keeping the flame alive through the last couple of years- MiketheTV got me interested in further research and has been a great friend to me since we met here, Pachi is one of the chillest dudes I've ever met and a quiet achiever around here. SluggaSlamoo has been a delightful sparring partner and critic at times. Thanks as well to everyone who has put up with my occasional volcanic rants on the state of the games industry and why your game is bad and you should feel bad, even more thanks to those people who have engaged in discussion. It's been great, and I hope it continues. Perhaps a bit less explosively though :D.
To finish, my thesis is an investigation of the designed and emergent mechanisms through which the instinctual gestures and rituals of play can be expressed both within a game and around it, creating the environment in which we can have 'fun'. Communities like this will actually be one of the environments I draw from for this research, as they are one of the primary mechanisms through which social feedback flows, so don't be surprised if you hear more about this in future.
Thanks for listening, thanks for being such an amazing community and I look forward to see what the next few years bring.
Stefan
