The Funware Blog @ rmbr

No, I did not make a personal appearance on the Daily Show, but yesterday (6/24/08) saw the show dive into videogames and the political landscape in an unusual and Funware-centric way. Take a look at this Daily Show clip and fast-forward to 4:17:

Jon Stewart (TDS’ affable host) made reference to the McCain Space Invaders/Pork Invaders Game in which you blast pork-barrel spending and can compare the Obama and McCain camps on that issue (I’m sure they readied a Hillary version too). Here’s the game’s embed, for your amusement:

He then proceeded to joke not only about how old the senator appeared to be (by making a lame game, I suppose) but took it a step further and showed us McCain’s abortion-rights game (Pong with fetuses) and Obama’s health care game (FPS with Obama head shouting Yes. We. Can).

Part of the precedence for Funware is the idea that people start - even in jest - conceptualizing games that do more and go beyond the point of pure entertainment. The Daily Show’s satirists took a specific Funware application (the McCain game) and then imagined both how they’d build an anti-McCain game (FetusPong) and a pro-Obama game. They were using game design, though more visual then mechanistic, to get a point across.

The best part: the audience completely understood the meaning that both of the satirical games were trying to convey.

Dean Takahashi, well-respected and insightful reporter at Venture Beat just wrote a fascinating article on Funware, its threat to traditional videogames, and the opportunities for the industry. It also talks a little bit about rmbr and a number of other game industry luminaries who have strong opinons on the subject.

Please to enjoy!

This past year, a number of bloggers have covered a site called I’m In Like With You, a very interesting Funware app that is effectively a social network based on flirting. Many of these bloggers also made the connection between Amy Jo Kim’s work on bringing game design to the web and IILWY, which does some very cool stuff. A great article on the subject was written by Yi-Wyn Yen on the Startup Game Blog.

We’re hopefully going to talk to I’m In Like With You founder Charles Forman in the next little while and delve deeper into their approach to Funware.