The Game Developers Conference is traditionally a place where devs gather to get excited about the potential of games. But what are the hard limits to how far games can go?

At GDC 2012, game dev Margaret Robertson explained how, in what might be the hardest game design challenge ever, UK studio Hide&Seek was asked to make a documentary game about the discovery of a corpse in a busy London block of flats: a woman had lain dead for three years without being found, without ever having been reported missing. She was 37 years old.

How does someone fall through the cracks, despite having family, friends and neighbors? And how do you make a game about a real woman's death without producing something crass, simplistic or libelous? Robertson told the story of how she and her colleagues tried and failed, and of the fundamental contradiction that they discovered at the heart of gamification.

It wasn't as bleak as it sounds, and it offered a lot of interesting one-of-a-kind insights into the nature of games and why people play them. 

It's an insightful talk that's worth watching, so developers shouldn't miss the opportunity to do so now that it's freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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