INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE | BETA
this user generated content that may turn into something else over time within the game’s community. Are there any other opportunities available to UK developers? RW: The UK also has an advantage in the education market. We’re the second most popular destination for overseas students looking to learn about games development, which when you consider our funding is really extraordinary. Tiga research has put the amount of UK developers making serious education games at approximately 20 per cent, which is very high.These games aren’t their main focus, but being able to play a game while learning seems to make people take games more seriously. I think there is a huge opportunity in that. Geoffrey McCormick, Consultant, TheAlloy (Brand consultants working with CIKTN): When you think about the way that the education sector leveraged opportunities like broadcast TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s with things like the Open University, you have to wonder if we are making proper use of opportunities available at the moment.
this area, you come across something that maybe the games industry isn’t very familiar with at all. How do you manage the huge amounts of data, and in particular private data, which this generates? There is an opportunity here. If a player has certain preferences in terms of brands or the
A lot of trouble comes from the word ‘game’. There are connotations that aren’t positive. There needs to be a redefining of what the word means. John Cass, Director, CIKTN way they like to play, I can customise that experience to their particular ‘sweet-spot’. Potentially there is a huge amount of data that could be needed in order to deliver those things, and a tsunami of issues that
could appear over how companies access, trade and store that kind of information. It’s like the Old West in the technology industry at the moment. There are no rules, and it’s international. You had all that stuff with the UAE and Saudi Arabia banning Blackberry use because data is stored outside of their jurisdiction. There aren’t any clear norms, its just a lot of really implicit ‘stuff’. So that is the reason for the third and final provocation. With one and two you open up a world where you actually become very responsible for very different types of relationships with your customer. They need to have a complete knowledge of exactly what it is that you are doing. There is a steep learning curve there and some people are lagging behind a bit.
Geoffrey McCormick, John Cass and Richard Wilson (left to right)
GM: Privacy as a commodity is so powerful that there is a bit of fear about it, that we could be opening a can of worms to our detriment. I think it could be hugely powerful. If it is handled in the right way, if people are aware of the transaction and accept it, it is a transaction that could really benefit lives. All of these things could, and should, transform the gaming industry forever.
JC: When I suggested this to university researchers and lecturers, they were entirely against it. They don’t like the idea of migrating away from current systems. That’s the biggest barrier. A lot of trouble even comes from the word ‘game’. There are connotations that are not necessarily positive. There needs to be a redefining, or at least a clearer understanding, of everything that the word means. Other people are using games for education purposes already. If we don’t, I believe that our credibility and our heritage will become less relevant. What will the games industry look like in a decade? JC: The future of games doesn’t lie in the finished, shrink-wrapped game on the shelf. It’s in casual games, online games and the like. People know this, but when you get into DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
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