Great essay. I'm curious, why do you see video games as a test bed for other industries? Is there something about them that makes them especially suitable for this?
I loved your concept of "whales". I think I'm a whale in a GAAS game that I've been playing for about 6 years. I spend about $50 per month on it, which I know is outrageous, but yet it provides a lot of entertainment value for me, and the makers update the game monthly with new stuff. The game has nothing about diversity in it; I just thought the whale concept was interesting.
It's not my concept! They are very aware of "whales" and actively seek them. I learned about it from a very cynical presentation a developer was giving sometime in the 2010s.
I think video games are a test bed for other industries because stuff can be implemented with very little consequence and it can also be taken back. You can patch something in, patch it out, etc. But also it's an industry that targets younger people and parents generally are not completely aware of how it is, including parents who played video games in the 1990s. It's a fast-moving industry that the customer generally has to ask to use their parents' cards.
Great essay. I'm curious, why do you see video games as a test bed for other industries? Is there something about them that makes them especially suitable for this?
I loved your concept of "whales". I think I'm a whale in a GAAS game that I've been playing for about 6 years. I spend about $50 per month on it, which I know is outrageous, but yet it provides a lot of entertainment value for me, and the makers update the game monthly with new stuff. The game has nothing about diversity in it; I just thought the whale concept was interesting.
It's not my concept! They are very aware of "whales" and actively seek them. I learned about it from a very cynical presentation a developer was giving sometime in the 2010s.
I think video games are a test bed for other industries because stuff can be implemented with very little consequence and it can also be taken back. You can patch something in, patch it out, etc. But also it's an industry that targets younger people and parents generally are not completely aware of how it is, including parents who played video games in the 1990s. It's a fast-moving industry that the customer generally has to ask to use their parents' cards.
Thank you for the nice comment though!