Ah, flying. There was a time when flying was sold as this glamorous, slightly exotic adventure in which beautiful people sat next to each other and made sparkling conversation as they jetted across the skies.
That time is firmly past now. The romance and excitement are gone, and in their place resides a plebian efficacy, a perfunctory bustle that makes the moniker AirBus oh so appropos.
It makes me wonder though, as I wait for a stewardess to come chide me on my continued use of my BlackBerry during takeoff procedures (don't worry, I switched the wireless off shortly after boarding) whether all experiences are not doomed to eventual perfunctory-ness, and what that means for us as game designers and game developers. Most games today boast about the amounts of content they offer - content which I, casual gamer par example, hardly ever see - which, I must assume is a function of an industry-wide price/performance balance that has evolved over time. It appears to be quite effective for more hardcore gamers, but I can't help but wonder if there isn't a better one that works for casual gamers as well.
A there a content packaging/bundling approach which realizes that most experiences eventually become tedious? Is the onset of boredom universal? Are there statistics on how many gamers don't finish games?
One of the sessions I'll be attending is on "The Future of Content Delivery," so maybe this question is interesting to others besides me. We'll find out on Wednesday.
Signing off from the friendly skies above... Well, somewhere.
