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Why Spore Is Special

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the omgreleasenow dept.

The New York Times is running a long piece by Steven Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good For You." In 'The Long Zoom', Johnson describes just what is so special about Will Wright's Spore . From the article: "Despite the fictions, many of the themes of Spore are immensely valuable ones, particularly in an age of environmental crisis: the fragility of life, the connection between micro- and macro- scales, the complex networks of ecosystems and food webs, the impact of new technology on social systems. Spore's players will get to experience firsthand how choices made on a local scale -- a single creature's decision to, say, adopt an omnivorous lifestyle -- can end up having global repercussions. They will detect similarities between one level of the game and another, the complex balancing act of global trade mirroring the complex balancing act of building a sustainable environment. And traveling through a simulated universe, from cells to constellations, will, ideally, make them more curious about the real-world universe they already inhabit -- and show them that they have the power to shape that universe as well."

6 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Please stop the Hype by HappySqurriel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Despite the fictions, many of the themes of Spore are immensely valuable ones, particularly in an age of environmental crisis: the fragility of life, the connection between micro- and macro- scales, the complex networks of ecosystems and food webs, the impact of new technology on social systems. Spore's players will get to experience firsthand how choices made on a local scale -- a single creature's decision to, say, adopt an omnivorous lifestyle -- can end up having global repercussions. They will detect similarities between one level of the game and another, the complex balancing act of global trade mirroring the complex balancing act of building a sustainable environment. And traveling through a simulated universe, from cells to constellations, will, ideally, make them more curious about the real-world universe they already inhabit -- and show them that they have the power to shape that universe as well."

    With such simple, easy to obtain, objective like that I'm sure they will have absolutely no problem living up to people's expectations. After all claiming a compeletly open gameplay experience was easily obtained by Diakatana, and Black and White certainly lived up to people's expectations of a trainable, inteligent agent.

    1. Re:Please stop the Hype by KDR_11k · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes except the difference between Peter Molyneaux and Will Wright is that Molyneaux claims, Wright delivers.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Please stop the Hype by MindStalker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wright never claimed such things this guy claims though. I'm doubting things like industrial global warming will not be simulated to the degree this guy implies. He is setting the bar higher than Wright or any Spore advertising has attempted.

    3. Re:Please stop the Hype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yeah, right. First thing I did with that game was trap people in a room to let them die in a pool of their own filth.

  2. Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
    And traveling through a simulated universe, from cells to constellations, will, ideally, make them more curious about the real-world universe they already inhabit -- and show them that they have the power to shape that universe as well.
    ... or it'll keep them glued to their computers because it's much more conveniently fun than "the real world."
  3. Hippies Go Home! by ectal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't think Will Wright is trying to make a statement about the Earth Goddess or the fragility of life or whatever. I remember some interview where he talked about how much fun it is to blow up planets in Spore. Maybe there's a P.C. option switch that allows you to change your UFO's weapon so that it distributes tofu and peace pamphlets to aggressive planets, but I doubt it. This game seems to be as much about the fun of destruction as the fun of creation.

    All Sims games have had that. Who hasn't hit earthquake 10 times in a row in SimCity 2K? Or removed the ladder from the pool in the Sims and watched the little buggers swim around until they die?

    What's going to be profound about Spore? The fun, man. The fun.

    --
    http://nerdcartoons.com/