GDC 09: The Dating Game

I was fortunate to attend a roundtable session at this year’s GDC, which asked the question: why doesn’t playing a video game make a good first date? They clarified that this date had to be a face-to-face date, not a date in a virtual world. I find this topic fascinating because I’m of the opinion that games are awesome and I want to see their role in society grow.

Their discussion heavily circled around why “a dinner and a movie” makes such a good first date:

• It happens in a neutral space, not my house, not your house.
• It’s hard to embarrass yourself at a movie.
• It gives you a shared experience that you can discus over dinner.
• It’s dark and isolated. People can’t see or judge you, plus you can smooch.

When you break it down like that, it’s pretty clear why games don’t fare well:

• Competition in games creates a high stress, easy to embarrass-yourself environment.
• The only public places to play video games are arcades, which aren’t very private.
• Games generally play the same way each time, which isn’t a discussion starter.

Could we write an iPhone app that would create a good first date? Let’s focus and say two people arrange to meet at a coffee shop, both with this app installed on their phone. Use the peer-to-peer connectivity in iPhone SDK 3.0 to connect the two phones. What next?

How about an interactive story experience? I could be a spy from a foreign kingdom and you could be a wanted pirate; both of us on the run from a tyrant king. Gameplay could be as simple as making a choice from a list of three options; graphics, hand drawn 2D. We approach a blockade of corrupt guards on the road. You choose to lure them away from their post with a funny birdcall. I sneak in and draw mustaches on the wanted posters, obscuring our identity. We escape!

It’s simple but it’s novel, and if it’s witty, I guarantee we’ll fall in love.

- James