I up in Northern Ireland, right up in the very, very north end of it there, where it’s absolutely cold. This was me running around in the back mid-summer.
(Laughter)
I couldn’t pick a career. In Ireland the choice is the military, but to be honest it actually kind sucks.
(Laughter)
My mother wanted me to be a dentist. But the problem that people kept blowing everything up. So I actually went to school in Belfast, which where all the action happened. And this was a common sight. The school I went to was pretty boring. forced us to learn things like Latin. The school teachers weren’t having fun, the sports were very dirty or very painful. So I cleverly chose rowing, which got very good at.
And I was actually rowing for my school here until this day, and I flipped over right in front of the entire school. And that was the post right there.
(Laughter)
So this was extremely embarrassing. But our school at that time a grant from the government, and they got an computer — the research machine 3DZ — and they left programming manuals lying around. And so students like myself with to do, we would learn how to program it. Also this time, at home, this was the computer that people buying. It was called the Sinclair ZX80. This was 1K computer, and you’d buy your programs on cassette tape.
Actually I’m just going to pause for one second, because I that there’s a prerequisite to speak here at TED — you had to have a picture of yourself the old days with big hair. So I brought picture with big hair.
(Laughter).
I just want to get that out of the way. So the Sinclair ZX80 came along the very cleverly named Sinclair ZX81.
(Laughter)
And — you see the at the bottom? There’s a picture of a guy homework with his son. That’s what they thought they built it for. The reality is we got the programming manual we started making games for it. We were programming in BASIC, is a pretty awful language for games, so we up learning Assembly language so we could really take of the hardware. This is the guy that invented it, Clive Sinclair, and he’s showing his machine. You had this same thing America, it was called the Timex Sinclair1000.
To play a game in those you had to have an imagination to believe that you were playing “Battlestar Galactica.” The graphics were just horrible. You had to have an better imagination to play this game, “Death Rider.” But of course the scientists couldn’t help themselves. They started making own video games. This is one of my favorite here, where they have rabbit breeding, so males choose lucky rabbit.
It was around this time we went from 1K to 16K, which was quite leap. And if you’re wondering how much 16K is, this logo here is 16K. And in that amount of someone programmed a full flight simulation program. And that’s what it looked like. spent ages flying this flight simulator, and I honestly believed I could fly airplanes by end of it.
Here’s Clive Sinclair now launching his color computer. He’s recognized being the father of video games in Europe. He’s a multi-millionaire, I think that’s why he’s smiling in this photograph.
So went on for the next 20 years or so making a lot of different games. Some the highlights were things like “The Terminator,” “Aladdin,” the “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.” Because I was from the Kingdom, they thought the word ninja was a little too for children, so they decided to call it hero instead. I personally preferred the version, which was “Tortugas Ninja.” That was much better.
(Laughter)
Then last game I did was based on trying to get the game industry and Hollywood to actually work together on something — instead of from each other, to actually work.
Now, Chris did ask me to some statistics with me, so I’ve done that. The game industry in 2005 became a 29 billion dollar business. It every year. Last year was the biggest year. By 2008, we’re going to kick the of the music industry. By 2010, we’re going to hit 42 billion. 43 of gamers are female. So there’s a lot more female than people are really aware.
The average age of gamers? Well, it’s for children, right? Well, no, actually it’s 30 years old. And interestingly, the people who buy most games are 37. So 37 is our target audience. All video games are violent. Of course the love to beat on this. But 83 percent of games don’t have mature content whatsoever, so it’s just not true.
Online gaming statistics. I brought some on “World of Warcraft.” It’s 5.5 million players. It about 80 million bucks a month in subscriptions. It costs 50 just to install it on your computer, making the about another 275 million. The game costs about 80 million dollars to make, so it pays for itself in about a month. A player in a game called “Project Entropia” bought his own island for 26,500 dollars. You have to remember that this not a real island. He didn’t actually buy anything, some data. But he got great terms on it. This included mining and hunting rights, ownership of all land on the island, and a castle with furniture included.
(Laughter)
This market is now estimated at over 800 million dollars annually. And what’s about it is the market was actually created by the gamers themselves. They clever ways to trade items and to sell their accounts to each other so that they could money while they were playing their games. I dove onto a couple of days ago just to see what was gong on, typed in World of Warcraft, 6,000 items. I liked this one the best: a level 60 with lots of epics for 174,000 dollars. It’s like guy obviously had some pain while making it.
So as far as of games, what do you think these people are here? It turns out they’re actually in Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles listening to L.A. Philharmonic playing video game music. That’s what the show looks like. would expect it to be cheesy, but it’s not. It’s very, very epic and a very beautiful concert. the people that went there absolutely loved it.
What you think these people are doing? They’re actually bringing their computers they can play games against each other. And this is happening every city around the world. This is happening in your local cities too, you’re probably not aware of it.
Now, Chris told me that you had a timeline video a few years ago just to show how video game graphics have been improving. wanted to update that video and give you a new look at it. But I want you to do is to try to understand it. We’re on this curve, and the graphics getting so ridiculously better. And I’m going to show you up maybe 2007. But I want you to try and think what games could look like 10 years from now. we’re going to start that video.
Video: Throughout human history have played games. As man’s intellect and technology have evolved too have the games he plays.
(Music)
(Applause)
David Perry: The thing again I want to think about is, don’t look at these graphics think of that’s the way it is. Think about that’s where we right now, and the curve that we’re on means that this going to continue to get better. This is an example of the kind of you need to be able to draw if you wanted to get a in the video game industry today. You need to be really an artist. And once we get enough of those guys, we’re going to want more artists that can create places we’ve never been to before, characters that we’ve just never seen before.
So the obvious for me to talk about today is graphics and audio. if you were to go to a game developers conference, what they’re all talking about is emotion, purpose, meaning, and feeling. You’ll hear about talks like, can a game make you cry? And these are the kind of topics we really actually about.
I came across a student who’s absolutely excellent expressing himself, and this student agreed that he would not his video to anybody until you here at TED had seen it. So I’d like play this video. So this is a student’s opinion on what his experience of are.
Video: I, like many of you, live somewhere between reality video games. Some part of me — a true living, breathing — has become programmed, electronic and virtual. The boundary my brain that divides real from fantasy has finally to crumble. I’m a video game addict and this my story.
(Music)
In the year of my birth the Nintendo Entertainment System also into development. I played in the backyard, learned to read, even ate some of my vegetables. Most of my childhood was spent playing with Legos. But as the case for most of my generation, I spent a lot of time in front the TV. Mr. Rogers, Walt Disney, Nick Junior, and roughly a million commercials have undoubtedly left their mark on me.
When my bought my sister and I our first Nintendo, whatever inherent addictive quality early interactive electronic entertainment possessed quickly took hold of me. some point something clicked.
(Music)
With the combination of simple, interactive stories and the warmth the TV set, my simple 16-bit Nintendo became more than just an escape. It became an existence, my virtual reality.
(Music)
I’m a video game addict, and it’s not because of a certain number of I have spent playing, or nights I have gone without sleep to finish the next level. It is I have had life-altering experiences in virtual space, and games had begun to erode my own understanding of what is real and is not. I’m addicted, because even though I know I’m my grip on reality, I still crave more.
(Music)
From an age I learned to invest myself emotionally in what unfolded me on screen. Today, after 20 years of watching geared to make me emotional, even a decent insurance commercial bring tears to my eyes. I am just one a new generation that is growing up. A generation who may much more meaning through video games than they will through the real world. Video games are an evolutionary leap, a point where game worlds will and feel just as real as the films we in theatres, or the news we watch on TV. while my sense of free will in these virtual may still be limited, what I do learn applies my real life. Play enough video games and eventually you really believe you can snowboard, fly a plane, drive a nine-second quarter mile, or kill man. I know I can.
Unlike any pop culture phenomenon before it, video games allow us to become part of the machine. They allow us to into the culture of interactive, downloaded, streaming, HD reality. are interacting with our entertainment. I have come to expect this of interaction. Without it, the problems faced in the real world — poverty, war, disease genocide — lack the levity they should. Their importance blends into the sensationalized drama of prime TV.
But the beauty of video games today lies not in the graphics, the vibrating joysticks or virtual surround sound. It lies that these games are beginning to make me emotional. have fought in wars, feared for my own survival, my cohorts die on beaches and woods that look and feel real than any textbook or any news story.
The people who create these games are smart. know what makes me scared, excited, panicked, proud or sad. Then they use these emotions to dimensionalize the worlds create. A well-designed video game will seamlessly weave the user into the fabric the virtual experience. As one becomes more experienced the awareness of physical control away. I know what I want and I do it. buttons to push, no triggers to pull, just me and the game. My fate and fate of the world around me lie inside my hands. I know violent video make my mother worry. What troubles me is not video game violence is becoming more and more like real life violence, but that real life is starting to look more and more like a video game.
(Music)
These are all outside of myself. I, however, have a problem very close home. Something has happened to my brain.
(Music)
Perhaps there is a single part of our brain that all of our gut instincts, the things we know to do before we even think. While some of instincts may be innate, most are learned, and all of are hardwired into our brains. These instincts are essential for survival in both real and worlds. Only in recent years has the technology behind video allowed for a true overlap in stimuli. As gamers we are living by the same laws of physics in the same and doing many of the same things we once did in life, only virtually. Consider this — my real life car has about 25,000 miles it. In all my driving games, I’ve driven a of 31,459 miles. To some degree I’ve learned how drive from the game. The sensory cues are very similar. It’s a funny when you have spent more time doing something on the TV than have in real life. When I am driving down a road at sunset all I can is, this is almost as beautiful as my games are.
For my worlds are perfect. More beautiful and rich than the real world around us. I’m sure what the implications of my experience are, but the for using realistic video game stimuli in repetition on a vast of loyal participants is frightening to me. Today I believe Big would find much more success brainwashing the masses with games rather than just simply TVs. Video games are fun, engaging, and leave brain completely vulnerable to re-programming. But maybe brainwashing isn’t always bad.
Imagine a game that us to respect each other, or helps us to understand the problems we’re all in the real world. There is a potential to good as well. It is critical, as these virtual worlds continue to the real world we live in, that game developers realize they have tremendous responsibilities before them. I’m not sure what the of video games holds for our civilization. But as virtual and real experiences increasingly overlap there is a greater and greater potential for other people to feel the way I do.
What I have only recently come to realize is that the graphics, sound, game play and emotion it is the power break down reality that is so fascinating and addictive to me. I know I am losing my grip. Part of me is just to let go. I know though, that no matter amazing video games may become, or how flat the real world seem to us, that we must stay aware of our games are teaching us and how they leave us when we finally do unplug.
(Applause)
DP: Wow.
(Applause)
I found that video very, very thought provoking, and that’s I wanted to bring it here for you guys see. And what was interesting about it is the obvious for me to talk about was graphics and audio. But you heard, Michael talked about all these other elements well. Video games give an awful lot of other too, and that’s why people get so addicted. The important one being fun.
The name of this track “The Magic To Come.” Who is that going to come from? Is it going come from the best directors in the world as thought it probably would? I don’t think so. I think it’s going come from the children who are growing up now that aren’t stuck with all of the that we remember from the past. They’re going to it their way, using the tools that we’ve created. same with students or highly creative people, writers and like that.
As far as colleges go, there’s about 350 around the world teaching video game courses. That means there’s literally thousands of new ideas. of the ideas are really dreadful and some of them great. There’s nothing worse than having to listen to someone and pitch you a really bad video game idea.
(Laughter)
Chris Anderson: You’re off, you’re off. That’s it. He’s of time.
DP: I’ve just got a little tiny more if you’ll indulge me.
CA: Go ahead. I’m going to stay here though.
(Laughter)
DP: This is just a cool shot, because this is students coming school after class. The school is closed; they’re coming at midnight because they want to pitch their video game ideas. I’m sitting at the of the class, and they’re actually pitching their ideas. So it’s hard to get to come back to class, but it is possible.
This my daughter, her name’s Emma, she’s 17 months old. And I’ve been asking myself, is Emma going to experience in the video game world? as I’ve shown here, we have the audience. She’s never to know a world where you can’t press a button and have millions of ready to play. You know, we have the technology. She’s going to know a world where the graphics just aren’t stunning and really immersive. And as student video showed, we can impact and move. She’s never going to know a world where video aren’t incredibly emotional and will probably make her cry. just hope she likes video games.
(Laughter)
So, my closing thought. Games the surface seem simple entertainment, but for those that like look a little deeper, the new paradigm of video games could open entirely new to creative minds that like to think big. Where better to challenge those minds than at TED?
Thank you.
Chris Anderson: David Perry. That awesome.