SXSW: Playing at ScreenBurn
Entrance to the ScreenBurn Arcade at SXSW 2009.
SXSWi is officially wrapping up today. At the convention center, it was obvious that the hordes were descending for music as the percentage of asymmetrical haircuts rose sharply. I’ll be helping out at the Austinist day show tomorrow, and I’ll definitely pop by the convention center for the American Apparel Factory Flea Market and, of course, Flatstock.
I spent a very small amount of time at ScreenBurn over the weekend, and, while I think it’s a really cool event, and I love that it’s open to the public, I’m always a little disappointed by the set up. A lot of this results from the very real limitations of trying to set up a fun play environment in a convention center, but I always wish the whole thing felt a little more inviting. The corner of the room that had been taken over by Mountain Dew had a series of vaguely grimy living room scenes set up complete with couches, televisions, and old-school home consoles. It was by far the most approachable of the available play spaces.
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about “classic” arcades, I think part of the issue is not just that arcades as I knew them as a child are essentially obsolete, but that there is a vague discomfort about thinking of video games as toys. The presentation of games at ScreenBurn makes most of the games feel profoundly un-toy-like. Instead, they feel alternately like technological marvels, tradeshow spectacles, or sports arena gadgetry. While the effect is decidedly slicker, it makes the games seem impenetrable to less than seasoned players. And, while the event likely caters heavily to the already initiated, I’d love to see something more approachable on display. The conference had multiple panels troubling over girls and gaming, and asking if gaming might be a key to getting more women into tech-related career fields, but the gaming content set up to hook the general public seemed to be all swagger and bravado, and the effect seemed pretty predictable: even when I stopped by the Girl Gamer booth, the players on deck were all men and boys.
ScreenBurn is relatively young, though, so it will be interesting to watch how it grows and changes. The game design competition held this year included a category for casual games, and a number of the finalists were women designers, so I’m pretty optimistic about subsequent years for ScreenBurn.