Jonathan Blow Condems Game Design for Being Too High in Saturated Fats

Game designer and critic, Jonathan Blow, who you might recall us talking about a few months back, has returned to our hallowed halls of news by making waves at the Montreal Game Summit. Asked to appear as a keynote speaker, he bashed the gaming industry, saying its designers “are only producing the videogame equivalent of a McDonald’s meal.” Yowch. Here’s a little more from The Escapist‘s coverage:

He compared criticism leveled at McDonald’s and tobacco companies to the way the videogame industry treats players, suggesting that with the current standards of design, “We don’t intend to harm players but we might do so.”

“In pursuing ever more players the games industry exploits them in an unethical way,” he said. “We don’t see it as unethical, though, because we refuse to stop and think about what we are doing. We don’t have a sense to be ashamed.”

If you’re in the industry or, you know, play games, you might be feeling a little low right now. So we offer you the perfect pick me up in the form of Ernest Adams wonderful report over at Gamasutra on the last decade in game design in “The Designer’s Notebook: Ten Years of Great Games.” Ah, good times.

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