Level Up

A couple years ago I wrote this article about the nature of 'inner experience' and how it related to video game technology. The basic conclusion was that video games, even in their current relatively unrefined (at least in terms of communicating meaning) state leverage all of the tools humans have used throughout history to communicate and share experiences. Namely, ritual, art and myth.

At the time my knowledge of spiritual traditions was limited to a failed attempt at a Bar Mitzvah, and Taoist phase I went through in high school. The past few months, while this blog has been resting, I've immersed myself researching human development and a variety of views on spiritual growth. This new understanding has shifted how I look at my own video game use, and how I envision games evolving to take on goals beyond entertainment or real world skill training...

I have been shocked again and again by the connections I uncover between video game design and frameworks for personal and spiritual growth. In short, the driving forces in human development map directly onto the design of narrative video games. If you've read any Joseph Campbell, this might seem like an obvious point. The hero's journey, some form of which appears in nearly every video game and movie, is an allegory for the primary cycle of human development and spiritual growth. Jung would argue that it's not an allegory, but that the human experience and memory is intrinsically narrative -- in other words, that we are all (or at least all have the potential to be) heroes when we look back on the events of our lives.

I still hold these ideas as a deep truth about the power of story telling, but my new insights surprisingly relate less to narrative and more to the underlying mechanics of games. In reading some integral system theorists like Sri Aurobindo, and Ken Wilber, I've begun to understand the importance of looking at the whole system (at least as whole as you can) in every context. I was lucky to recently spend a week down in Austin, TX, with Integral Psychologist and game designer Moses Silbiger, brainstorming possible applications of this in game design. I'm hoping that applying a more integral approach to understanding video game design will reveal the full potential of the medium and the opportunity to shape our world for the better while still blowing shit up and having a darn good time doing it.

So, I think it's time for this blog to level up. Time to start talking about the bigger picture. I hope you stick around for ride.