International Front

[In honor of April 15th, this seemed like an appropriate title.]

I started playing Rock Band (guitar) on expert recently. This is no major accomplishment, as YouTube is full of clips of 9 year olds beating expert songs at 98%+. It is, however, a pretty mean feat for me. When International Front purchased Rock Band at the end of November 2007, I was a middling medium player - certainly couldn’t complete Green Grass and High Tides to finish the tour. Given the skill of my coworkers at GameSpy, a weak medium was nothing to be proud of.

Now, however, I’m rocking the casbah and fretting three note chords with a reasonable success rate. I could say that I worked hard to improve my game (the same way people work hard on their golf game), but this of course would be lying. Rock Band (and Guitar Hero) have engaging gameplay, a fun cooperative mode (especially RB), effective reward systems to encourage frequent practice, and a sharing/bragging/viral component that takes the game beyond the console (see YouTube, above). Everything about the games encourages you to get better at them. It never feels like work.

Dance Dance Revolution offers similar gameplay, with a similar cooperative/competitive aspect, yet over all the experience isn’t as sticky as Rock Band. Credit Harmonix (see “My love affair with Harmonix”, elsewhere) for getting the formula just right. Yet, Rock Band (and GH) and DDR are on to something. These games engage, encourage, enthrall… and have the player DO something. And you get better when doing it. When you dance frequently, you get exercise along with entertainment. You have fun. You share the experience. The Wii fit offers exercise too (though perhaps with less fun). You don’t even realize that your practicing (and exercising!).

I think these games are the future. Why aren’t there more games like these, that educate and entertain, so much so that you’re not aware of the labor? A couple of years ago, Penny Arcade featured a strip about Photoshop Hero (Sweet flare!). Why not Photoshop Hero? Screenplay Writer Hero? Tax Accountant Hero? Project Management Hero (Scrum Hero)? Any skill that can be taught can be taught better through play!

Here’s my list of ‘Heroes’ that someone needs to create:

1. Housetraining Pets Hero
2. CAD/CAM Hero
3. Credit Management Hero / Balance Budget Hero
4. Foreign Language Hero
5. Carbon Footprint Hero
6. Small Business Management Hero
7. Rabbi Hero
8. Sandwich Maker Hero
9. Network Support Hero
10. Barista Hero

/Ron