Clint Hocking lecture

Last night I got to go see Clint Hocking on this Click Nothing Tour present his lecture, "The Territory is not the Map: Hyper Realism and the New Immersion Paradigm." I have been looking forward to this as Clint is one of my favorite lecturers. Since I missed GDC this year I was not going to miss this opportunity.

As expected, the lecture was thought provoking and incredibly insightful. Clint's presentation style is unique. He seems a bit unsure of the things he is saying. He couples this with seemingly disparate topics and references right up until the point where you feel a bit lost and suspect that he is rambling. At that moment, he brings it all back to a salient point and you are left not only pondering the point but wracking your brain to recall the tapestry of movie clips, literature references, graphs and stories that led up to it.

The talk summarized what the current generation players refer to as "immersion" and addressed that the next generation of players will have a different definition of the term. Game developers need to be aware of this and be prepared. Ideas of linear technological development will not be the answer. An amalgamation of social media and disruptive innovations will lead to this new definition of immersion.

I encourage anyone in the game design discipline to read his lectures (Design Materials on the right-hand side)