Speaking at GDC Next yesterday afternoon, mobile developer and Ouya second party developer relations lead Tadhg Kelly suggested an approaching technological singularity was already here -- in the form of single-player games. Riffing off remarks by fellow GDC Next speaker Raph Koster, Kelly argued that from a historical design perspective, single-player games are a recent -- and passing -- phase. "An aberration," said Kelly. "Before we had single-player video games we didn't know that they were a thing that could exist... This is a fundamentally different thing that has largely created our industry." Supposing this was true, Kelly said, it also didn't represent an end-point for games. Another singularity -- this one for multiplayer games -- was still on the horizon.

A pervasive future

The larger issue Kelly wished to address with his talk was the techno-futurism behind 'pervasive play.' In a world of increased connectivity as well as mobile and wearable computing devices, he said, computer games have become less a 'holy ritual' of the home and more something that players take with them. Despite this, Kelly said, the actual level of engagement experienced in many 'social' games was despairingly limited. "If you really sit down to analyze how you play Farmville [for instance], a lot of it really is a single-player game. You keep single-player up until you have to stop [and interact with others]." These interactions are what Kelly terms codependency loops, an idea derived from Dan Cook's Loops and Arcs model. Feedback loops with other players which became barriers to enjoyment, Kelly said, were a significant reason people stopped playing. "The belief that [the single-player game] is doomed says more about us than it," Kelly argued. "The multiplayer singularity [will come] when presence and codependency no longer block everyone enjoying multiple play as much as single play."

Spectatorship as pervasive play

Furthermore, Kelly went on to say, games as a mass cultural form may not necessarily mean that everybody plays, or plays equally. He drew on comparisons between video games and sports to suggest that, rather, spectatorship would play a key role in the pervasiveness of games. "There are [already] certain parallels between how certain games and sports works," said Kelly, noting the increased visibility for eSports through games like Dota 2, League of Legends and Starcraft. More broadly, Kelly saw a connection between how sports fans create narratives and legends -- Muhammed Ali, 'The Shot Heard Round the World' -- and how video game players produced memes through spreadable media -- such as World of Warcraft's Leeroy Jenkins. "These are cultural lodestones," Kelly said. "Maybe what we should be trying to build [rather than 'social games'] is very, very good spectator technologies... Involve our audiences in a way that isn't necessarily mechanical, but aspirational and inspirational." Kelly foresaw a future of play marked not necessarily by MMOs with rich systems like WoW, but by the growing prevalence of passionate, proactive fanbases, star pro players, and streaming services like Twitch. "These are questions less about tech and more about people," Kelly said. "A lot of multiplayer games do form really deep cultures." The task, he said, was to make the barrier for entry into those communities more accessible, something which included "using that spectator activity to derive legends."