Will Wright
Gaming Reality: Compressing Possibilies in a Box
Date 9/24/01
Affiliation Game Designer, The Sims and SimCity
Abstract
The Sims and SimCity are examples of the expanding genre of interactive games and environments that depend on the interactions between their players. These "possibility landscapes" have enormous potential as a new artform but pose new challenges to web designers and net artists. Wright will describe the history of his own systems and how techniques and principles from artifact and non-linear design are relevant to new art forms.
Bio
Wright is one of the most successful designers of interactive entertainment in the world. He released the game SimCity in 1989; it has since won 24 domestic and international awards. The Sims, which puts players in charge of the lives of a neighborhood of simulated people, was released in February, 2000. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide and is regularly extended, the newest version will allow the community of players to make and go out on dates with other simulated players.
-- As of 9/24/01