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Why you should be playing games
Games are important to keep an eye on today, regardless of whether you consider yourself a "gamer." For one thing, they're a handy leading indicator of which technology platform will dominate a given market. Windows PCs have always had more games available than Macs, roughly in step with the 90% market share of Windows. But Apple has recently become a haven for mobile gaming, as the iPhone has many more games available than do other mobile platforms. If you're wondering (as many people have asked me) whether Google's Android phones will mount a challenge to the iPhone, just compare the number of currently available Android games to the games in the iPhone App store. So far, no contest.
Just why games serve as a crystal ball for a given tech market is a subject for another time. But consider that one of the earliest uses of mainframe computers (on the PDP-1) was a game called Spacewar. In short - where the users are, or will be, the games appear.
Games also give an essential view to the latest advances in user interface and overall design on a given platform. I don't just mean "where is 3-D rendering today" as much as what UI elements are being tried out. Indie game developers in particular take risks and try new things. This is a rare, accurate use of the word "innovation" - you do actually get to see new things tried out in indie games, some of which later become ubiquitous mainstream technologies.
Finally, playing games invites you to consider: is this a good experience, or a bad experience? What makes it so? This is important exercise to become more sensitive to experiences and a better evaluator (and practitioner) in this field.
The good news is that the Internet has made thousands of games available, for little or nothing, to be played at any time - alone or in groups. I've been watching this space for years.
Last weekend marked the five-year anniversary of Good Experience Games, my list of "games that offer a good experience." Almost all of them are available to play right now, at no charge, so you should take a spin through some of them if you're interested. (And check out the newly launched iPhone games page, too.)
Another great post, Mark. Have you tried QRANK for iPhone yet? Free, funky, and fun.
As always, thanks for being out there doing the important stuff you do.