PlayFirst Grapevine

You know when you feel it, the zone where time melts away and you're totally absorbed with playing. It's just about then when your two minute warning comes up! So what's happening? Why does it feels so good to play? Well lot's of people have theories. When you get that feeling of being in the zone, you've achieved Flow. Look at Diner Dash for example. The first levels are really easy. They are so easy that you begin to develop a rhythm where you can seat people, get their order and bill them without much thought. But if it stayed that easy you would get bored. So to keep your interest we make it a little harder without having you re-learn everything. The balance of challenge and ease makes flow possible. So if Flo get's you in the Flow, now you know why.

Continued from Part 1.

I'm going to knowingly use a flawed metaphor and compare games to written fiction stories. Some games are epic. Vast, sprawling play where you can spend weeks worth of time finding every last corner of the world, collecting every last McGuffin, defeating every opponent, no matter how paltry or overwhelming. That's the novel of games. Like novels, they have a heft to them that tells you that it's a thick, meaty trip. So with those, if it takes a little while to get interested, that might be acceptable.

There's probably a lot of exposition and character demonstration needed to set the stage. It's boring, but if you're playing that kind of a game, or reading that kind of story, you accept that trade off.

But a casual game, that's more like a short story. Some of them are even like flash fiction. They have to rush up there, get in your face, and give you a reason to care. If they don't, they've failed. They're wasting your precious time. So I'm telling you to quit them. Because the way the game seems at first is probably a pretty fair representation of what it's going to be like for the entire span of it.

If a casual game doesn't grab your attention in the first ten minutes, drop it, move on. Just like you would a short story. If it's not fun, move on.

Speaking of which, you're still here. Good for you. Because the final installment to this series is coming up.

When I was growing up my friends all lived in my hometown. I met them at school or church or one of the other activities I participated in. As I got older and was able to travel, I met people from far away. In both cases, I met the person in the flesh before considering them a friend.

The online world has changed that. I have friends in the United States, Germany, and Australia that I have never met. I think of these people as friends even though I have only read lines of text they have typed.

Occasionally, online and real life do cross. This past holiday, my husband and I traveled to Dallas, Texas to visit an old friend from our University days. While visiting with him, I made a side trip just north of Dallas to meet an online friend in person for the first time. While we had talked on the phone and exchanged family photos several times, it was different to see my friend in real life.

We had a wonderful chat over lunch. Our goodbyes were said with many hugs and tears. Now when we chat online, I hear her voice in my head. I can imagine her facial expressions as she "speaks" through her typed words. Meeting my friend in person added to our existing relationship, unlike pervious decades when meeting her in person would have been the first step.

How has online technology changed your life?

I don't make resolutions for the new year. I'm perfect just as I am. It seems that other people make them. They even keep them, for a while. So right now the gyms, public transit and all-you-can-eat salad bars are jam-packed with people.

Maybe you're one of those people. If you are, more power to you. Keep it up. In fact, you're excused from reading the rest of this. Go do something to advance your goals of personal improvement this year. But before you go, maybe bookmark this for later in the year. For when the gym turns out to be a hassle to get to as often as you'd like, your nose hurts from pinching and you've reached a compromise with yourself that a plate of French fries really is an acceptable vegetable.

Because I'm going to talk about quitting.

I'm going to talk about why being a quitter isn't the worst thing in the world. It's not even a bad thing. I consider it a virtue.

Maybe you've heard about the First Law of Bad Management:

• if something isn't working, do more of it

The same principle applies to playing games. If you start playing a game and ten minutes in, you're not digging the game, you can pretty safely assume that twenty minutes later, you'll still not dig it. If you strapped yourself down to your chair and made yourself play it for two days straight, you'd still be bored by the game. You'd also be hungry and maybe need a re-upholstery job on that chair.

Don't go like that.

So what should you do? Find out in my next post.

In addition to announcing the Power-Up Award winners, we've asked a few of our producers to share their favorite games of 2006. Take a look - they're a good-looking bunch!

While you're still here though, tell us what your favorite game(s) were in 2006!

It's hard to narrow my favorites to just one so I'll share my top 3 with you:

• Pirate Poppers - I have a soft spot for this one because it was the first game I got to work on at PlayFirst and everyone loves pirates!
• Mystery Case Files: Huntsville - I have to thank my boss for introducing me to this series because now I'm seriously addicted!
• Sandscript - Ok, I confess. I'm a bit of a word nerd and SandScript just hits the spot.

What are your picks of 2006?

It seems everyone has a favorite games of 2006, so I figured why shouldn't I be any exception. ☺ But unlike other year wrap-up lists, I actually waited until the year was over to make my picks. I would have to say my top favorite casual game of 2006 was Fizzball by the great team at Grubby Games. Fizzball takes the breakout mechanic I love and mixes it with object collection gameplay and family friendly humor.

Virtual Villagers from Last Day at Work was another high point for me in 2006, with non-level based, exploratory gameplay. Even after finishing the game's 'story', I still found myself wanting to check back on my tribe to see how they were faring.

An "oldie but a goodie" in the Slingo brand came back with a new version late this year. Slingo Quest from Funkitron has the same easy gameplay as the original but adds in some varying board rules. Slingo was one of the first casual games I played years ago, so I have to admit the nostalgia and escapist gameplay brought me back. Now that we're at the start of 2007, here's to hoping that the new year brings casual game fans innovative, imaginative, and ground-breaking casual games.

One of the first tasks PlayFirst employees face when returning from our holiday vacation is the dreaded yearly review. I find the self-evaluation portion very difficult. Highlighting and bragging about my own achievements is at best an arduous task for me. Finding that balance between praise and criticism is something I struggle with every year. But more so than other years, I have been reflecting on the path that brought me here.

I did not grow up playing many video games. My family had an Atari 2600 when I was a child, but it hardly ever came out of the box. Later, my older sister and I could play a handful of games on our Apple IIe. Beyond that, I did not play video games. I did not have a Nintendo, a Sega, or a PlayStation. Video games were not important to me.

So how did I move from one extreme to another? The best answer would be: I took a huge chance. Up until I began working for PlayFirst, I did everything from bookkeeping to research. When I was originally told about the opening at PlayFirst from a friend, I did nothing for almost a month. It took the combined efforts of family and friends to convince me to step out of my comfortable shoes. Much to my surprise my office skills of organizing, tracking, and scheduling were exactly what PlayFirst wanted. I got the job!

Two years later my life is much different than I ever imagined. I am so glad that I pushed myself in a new and unknown direction. If you have the chance to try something new in 2007, I urge you to try. Who knows where your experiences will take you!