For our latest Studio Lunch, we visited game studio Area/Code. Vice President and Senior Producer Kati London was nice enough to talk to us about her work applying game mechanics to a wide range of client problems. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Kathleen Watkins, a great designer here in New York who’s working with us on our latest project.
Area/Code’s mission is embodied in its name; the work they do lives at the intersection of physical spaces and the digital realm. So while they’ve built games that live exclusively on the screen, and a couple that involve no technology at all, the majority of what they create bridges the two interests, and maps a virtual world of play onto a real, familiar locations.
Many companies are approaching social gaming as if it’s a new and unknown space to explore. But Kati reminded us that in the history of games, the lone player is the exception rather than the rule. Board games, card games, or sports; these activities almost always involve at least two participants. Computers have made single-player games possible (though the computer usually takes the role of the other players,) but when push comes to shove, these games can end up feeling hollow. Social games like Parking Wars are new in that they can involve thousands of players at a time. But there’s a good case to be made that they are in reality are closer to the games played hundreds of years ago than single-player video games. Fundamentally, this is at the heart of how Area/Code approaches games - they’re not only entertainment, but social instruments.
Some of the most interesting work Area/Code is engaged with currently deals with using games mechanics for behaviors that people might not immediately recognize as games. A sport that teaches financial skills, for example, or a “treasure hunt” of sorts that encourages people to step outside their familiar social groupings and work collaboratively to help businesses in their communities. These efforts have been successful in large part because game mechanics often connect with intrinsic human motivators. Foursquare (the product of a former Area/Code associate) makes that point clearly; many people aren’t sure what the ultimate point is, but that doesn’t keep them from battling for virtual mayorships and badges.
All in all, it was a great conversation, and before we knew it, we’d nearly made Kati late for her next meeting. Sorry about that, Kati, and thanks for another great Studio Lunch!
P.S. Congrats to Kati on being named an MIT Technology Review 2010 Young Innovator.
