Raph Koster lists some important things that web design could learn from video game design, and vice versa:
Depth. Games often provide something that is simple on the face of it, yet reveals hidden unexpected depths. It’s implicit in the models games provide. Yet often, a given web service (or even a new application or tool) has no hidden depths. It is what it is on the surface. There’s more enthusiasm for continuing to interact with software when it keeps revealing cool stuff to you.
One might comment that website designers work with different goals than game designers—and that's true. But it's not necessarily right. Too frequently, the design of websites falls back on a simplistic, functionalist model that strips away complexity in the name of increased efficiency. And certainly there are many tasks for which the user desperately needs a specific piece of information right now. But often—sometimes at the same time—the user's work is part of a larger narrative, one that websites doesn't attempt to address because it's easier to design for decontextualized efficiency. It's possible (actually, common) in videogame design to include aspects that are highly efficient inside of those narratives: Nearly every popular videogame contains both efficiency and narrative: The Sims, Halo, Katamari Damacy, and others all rely simultaneously on users being able to understand changing game contexts and react quickly within them; often, that's part of the narrative itself.
So what would a videogame-influenced, functionalist website be based on narrative? It's not that complicated. Sites like Travelocity already contain the seeds of implied narratives within them—travel to distant places, various activities while there. Even something as brain-damaged as a Blackboard course implies a narrative of challenge, learning, and community. But, as Koster notes, the mindset between videogame design and web design still have a lot to learn from each other.
[via Raph's Website]
Posted by johndanseven at April 15, 2006 05:33 AM