So I promised, a few weeks back, that I would have more to say about Spore come its release in September. Well as it turned out, September is a little too far away, and I'm impatient. Not to mention, I can't be compromising my journalistic integrity by withholding good rantings for too long ;-)
Earlier this week, EA teased out a piece of Spore to the masses - the Spore Creature Creator. Available as a free downloadable demo or a $10 full version purchase, the creature creator lets you... brace yourself... create spore creatures. So far, I've only experimented with the demo version, but, its actually a lot of fun, especially given that the creator creator isnt even the game itself.
I've talked a few times in the past about avatars being a huge bonus in games, and though a Spore creature may not be an avatar of yourself in the traditional sense, it is still something created of your hand, which might make it even more personal in some ways.
But part of what makes Spore so unique is that this customization is not meant to be hoarded, but rather shared among the larger community. And this, friends romans and countrymen, is where it gets hot.
Once you build your little monstrosity, you can take screenshots of it and send out personalized post cards to friends. Not only is it a clear marketing ploy, bu it also pushes a concept of sharing your efforts with others. Not bad. But its been done.
The giddyup comes in Spore's ability push your creations up to Sporepedia - a giant user created creature clearinghouse. From there you can tag it, submit a description, and place it in front of the world.
As you can see, once a creature has been uploaded to Sporepedia, other users can browse it, comment on it, rate it, and most importantly, download it into their own personal Spore Universe.
But it doesnt end there. Because Spore also supports a feature known as "Creature Stories" where users can add more a more detailed background and inspiration behind the creature they've conjured. It adds yet another layer to the community, another layer to the personal connection that can be built within the game.
Ultimately, I think the most salient point that can be made about all of this is that Spore is proving itself as a framework. The true value does not come from EA, Will Wright, or a team of designers, but rather from you the gamer and the community you interact with. As a game, it creates an opportunity to explore "Sim-Evolution" or "Sim-Universe". But as an experience, it gives you the ability to build context around that exploration. Spore is leveraging user generated content and community participation in away that no game ever has before. It is designed to support the meaning that you choose to give it - a unique, completely customizable experience, driven by your creations and the creations of others. And if you consider it in the context of digital storytelling, that is an incredibly powerful idea.
At ETS, there has been a lot of time spent recently trying to assess the value in letting the community drive initiatives and ideas. In a lot of ways, Spore is providing a gaming parallel to such a notion.
If it sounds like I'm over hyping Sporepedia or the creature creator , consider this. In the two days since this small sample of Spore has been out, more than 500,000 custom creations have been added to its database. 500,000 user created artifacts, created by average gamers all over the world, that will ultimately define the Spore experience. In two days
I won't belabor the points I've made here, because this won't be the last time I talk about Spore. But powerful stuff is happening here folks. Stay tuned.
Screenshots taken from Spore.com
Earlier this week, EA teased out a piece of Spore to the masses - the Spore Creature Creator. Available as a free downloadable demo or a $10 full version purchase, the creature creator lets you... brace yourself... create spore creatures. So far, I've only experimented with the demo version, but, its actually a lot of fun, especially given that the creator creator isnt even the game itself.
I've talked a few times in the past about avatars being a huge bonus in games, and though a Spore creature may not be an avatar of yourself in the traditional sense, it is still something created of your hand, which might make it even more personal in some ways.
But part of what makes Spore so unique is that this customization is not meant to be hoarded, but rather shared among the larger community. And this, friends romans and countrymen, is where it gets hot.
Once you build your little monstrosity, you can take screenshots of it and send out personalized post cards to friends. Not only is it a clear marketing ploy, bu it also pushes a concept of sharing your efforts with others. Not bad. But its been done.
The giddyup comes in Spore's ability push your creations up to Sporepedia - a giant user created creature clearinghouse. From there you can tag it, submit a description, and place it in front of the world.
As you can see, once a creature has been uploaded to Sporepedia, other users can browse it, comment on it, rate it, and most importantly, download it into their own personal Spore Universe.But it doesnt end there. Because Spore also supports a feature known as "Creature Stories" where users can add more a more detailed background and inspiration behind the creature they've conjured. It adds yet another layer to the community, another layer to the personal connection that can be built within the game.
Ultimately, I think the most salient point that can be made about all of this is that Spore is proving itself as a framework. The true value does not come from EA, Will Wright, or a team of designers, but rather from you the gamer and the community you interact with. As a game, it creates an opportunity to explore "Sim-Evolution" or "Sim-Universe". But as an experience, it gives you the ability to build context around that exploration. Spore is leveraging user generated content and community participation in away that no game ever has before. It is designed to support the meaning that you choose to give it - a unique, completely customizable experience, driven by your creations and the creations of others. And if you consider it in the context of digital storytelling, that is an incredibly powerful idea.
At ETS, there has been a lot of time spent recently trying to assess the value in letting the community drive initiatives and ideas. In a lot of ways, Spore is providing a gaming parallel to such a notion.
If it sounds like I'm over hyping Sporepedia or the creature creator , consider this. In the two days since this small sample of Spore has been out, more than 500,000 custom creations have been added to its database. 500,000 user created artifacts, created by average gamers all over the world, that will ultimately define the Spore experience. In two days
I won't belabor the points I've made here, because this won't be the last time I talk about Spore. But powerful stuff is happening here folks. Stay tuned.
Screenshots taken from Spore.com
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