another icycalm quote,
when asked by rohrer why he doesn't make games himself if he cares so much about game design:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=16752.0
But to answer his question:
I find game design boring. Playing games is more fun than making them: and this is no mere opinion, but a philosophical truth of the first rank -- as I will one day get around to explaining. An intelligent Insomnia reader should have already figured out the reason anyway. I've pretty much already given it away.
The only way game design could be redeemed is if one saw it AS A GAME. As a creative activity, demanding skill and effort, etc. Seen in that light, though still inferior to other forms of game-playing, it can be redeemed. But I ALREADY AM engaged in a creative activity that demands skill and effort: and indeed the most demanding such activity that a human being can engage in. So I am all sorted out in that respect. What I look for in videogames, then, is to enhance the enjoyment of myself on my downtimes: to brighten up an evening, for example, after a hard day's surfing. Or thinking and writing. Or travelling and reading. Etc. etc. Which by the way is the only healthy way to engage in videogames, or any other artform for that matter. Not looking for "meaning" in them, but for enhancing the enjoyment of your downtimes, your rest periods from the serious business of life: which is war.