Design Outside the Box

This is the video of Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jesse Schell's presentation to the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit of video game executives on February 18, 2010:

http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation/

It's 28 minutes long, but it's really fascinating. He starts off talking about Facebook games, but don't be put off if you're not familiar with them (I'm not, myself) or about the other examples he gives, because he ends up imagining a wild future where everything we do is, basically,... a game.

And the dollar amounts he tosses around - the amount of money currently being made by visionary people - should certainly catch your attention. This is big business right now, and it's only going to get bigger.

Still, the most fascinating part of his presentation is at the very end, where he imagines how this could end up. It's not just about making a great deal of money, although that's probably the part that excites these video game executives. Game theory can also show us how to motivate people to improve their lives. OK, in the real world, it's probably going to be mostly about the money, and I probably won't like the majority of the results, but there's the potential here for good, as well.

It really is an interesting talk. I wish I'd had a professor like this when I was in college! It's not that I didn't have some good professors, but this guy's enthusiasm is contagious.

PS. My thanks to Jim Harris (see the link to his blog, Auxiliary Memory, at the lower right here) for the tip. He said this was "major science fictional," and he was certainly right!

Edit: FYI, here's a related post.