Puzzling News / May 2000


	SCOTT KIM’S PUZZLING NEWS / MAY 2000 Games for the Rest of Us

This month I'd like to tell you about a major shift in the computer game industry. It's good news for people who enjoy puzzles.
     Traditionally, computer games have been written for computer game hobbyists: boys (and men) with high end computers and lots of time on their hands. The games are about combat, racing and sports, with emphasis on action and realism. I call these games "games for gamers". There are many wonderful games for gamers, but they tend to intimidate casual players who want a gentler gaming experience.
     With the advent of low-priced computers and the web, computers are no longer the province of male technophiles. Young kids, older folks, men and women are all using computers. And they use them more casually, to get other things done, not as a primary hobby. This new, larger group of players wants quick, familiar games like Jeopardy!, Hearts or The New York Times crossword puzzle, not big immersive experiences. I call these games "games for the rest of us".
     With the rise of games for the rest of us, the computer game industry is going through wrenching changes. Sony Playstation already pitches its platform to an older adult crowd. The Total Entertainment Network started off as a high-performance online service for Gen-X gamers playing Duke Nukem and the like. When that failed, it morphed into Pogo.com, which hosts popular board, card, word and trivia games. Traditional computer game publisher Electronic Arts recently signed a deal to take over the AOL games channel. We'll see how well they can manage the cultural shift.
     Puzzles work particularly well on the web. Puzzles are fast to download, inexpensive to build, take up little screen real estate, and are quick to play. They can be delivered daily or weekly, like puzzles in a newspaper, to keep people coming back to a site. And they can be used for contests that engage participation and highlight products. I've got one weekly puzzle on the web now, and plan to have more this year.
REFERENCES

For more about the trend towards casual gaming, see my paper "Games for the Rest of Us: Puzzles, Board Games and Games Shows", originally presented at the Game Developers Conference.

For an example of a web puzzle, see my monthly puzzle Brain Candy on the NewMedia site.

Here are some of the leading game sites for casual gamers:

Bezerk. Featuring the hit online game show You Don't Know Jack.

Yahoo! Games. Featuring classic card, board and word games.

The Sony Station. Featuring web versions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

PlaySite. Featuring my favorite online game Tangleword, a multiplayer game based on Boggle.

Uproar. Play trivia game shows for prizes.

Pogo. Classic games from Backgammon and Hearts to Keno and Bingo.

Shockwave. Games, cartoons, music, greeting cards. Excellent puzzles.

PuzzleZone. An enjoyable daily collection of word puzzles on AOL. Keyword: PuzzleZone.

And two heavy hitters that will be launching soon:

EA.com. Now a promotional site, will soon become the AOL games channel.

Games.com. A potent blend of PlaySite's technology and Hasbro's games.

WHAT’S NEW MAY 2000

Inversion of the Month: Tessellating Alphabet. Every letter tiles the plane.

NewMedia Brain Candy. Tangled Tale and other Flash puzzles.

Discover Magazine Boggler. May: The Logician is In. Based on my puzzle Order Form from the Obsidian web puzzles.

Recommended site: Exploratorium An imaginative online science museum, with many enlightening games.

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