Transcript: Will Wright

A Gamer Scan reader was at Will Wright's BAFTA talk in London last week, and has been kind enough to share rough transcripts of the speech and following Q&A session. Aside from Spore, Wright delved into issues such as social impact, emotional involvement, the links between games and science, and the philosophies behind his own game designs. Here's his response to a question about negative influence:

"Watching someone play is very different to actually playing. Someone watching a kid play an FPS sees explosions and blood. To a spectator it’s violence. To the kid who’s playing, it’s sport. He’s experiencing a lot of teamwork and community building.

"Games are a powerful medium, and I’m not denying that they can have bad effects, but when I see someone playing an FPS I don’t think it’s that different to kids playing cowboys and indians. They’re building models of the world, and the game doesn’t make them want to kill each other."

by MacNN Staff