Generalism

I like games. Good games can be a lot of fun (when you win). But I always feel a bit of a geek talking about them. Whether it’s board games, card games, computer games, or sport, they all engage, but serve to keep me sounding like I’m one gnat’s leg away from a trip to computer camp. At the age of 35.

But games seem to be shrugging off their nerdy overcoats and hitting the limelight this week. The BBC aired an interesting, if brief, article this morning on how games are made, currently sat in video form on their website

. It’s great to give some air time to a great industry, though next time I hope they focus as much on the energy, creativity and just plain fun that can be had working on games, as they did on, well, animation and car design.

The UK also used to be a world-leader in games development, but it seems we are having to face up to stiff competition from all sides, and a growing shortage

of people with key-skills required to do the development, particularly those good at maths. I remember from my Hogs of War days just how intense some of the 3D work can get; certainly not for the arithmetically challenged.

I am encouraged by the overall upturn in the games industry though, despite the current global belt-tightening, and apparently games now bring more money into the UK than films. Quite some feat. And with Sony and Apple

pushing ever more dynamic content onto their ever more powerful and popular handsets, things are looking pretty rosy. And not just for back-closet loners; Second Life and World of Warcraft both continue to enjoy flourishing social scenes online, and the improvements in wireless technologies means that soon such social scenes will soon be accessible in public areas, in the proximity of other real-ilfe human beings.

Perhaps now is the time to start standing up and being proud of our geek-dom? Might even serve to cure some of this gamer-butt…