Interview with Joseph Olin, President of AIAS

 

During E3, GameOn was able to catch a short time with Joseph Olin, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science (AIAS).

 

AIAS was founded in 1996 and is a non-profit organisation that is dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the interactive arts. The 16,000 strong memberships of the AIAS have a mission to promote and advance the worldwide interactive entertainment community, by recognising outstanding achievements in the interactive arts and science. AIAS have also hosted award shows like the Interactive Achievement Awards and the D.I.C.E Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate and Entertain).

The AIAS board of directors is made up of senior executives from the leading video game companies, ranging from Microsoft Gaming Studios to THQ, Ubisoft Entertainment to Electronic Arts and even a member of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

AIAS hosted the ‘Into the Pixels’ at E3, an exhibition of the Art of the Video Game. Sixteen works of video game art were selected by the AIAS as a showcase of fine art and video game artistry. Joseph Olin was originally the Vice President for marketing and business development of EIDOS Interactive, and was part of the team that created Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise. Amongst AIAS, Joseph sits on the advisory boards of FMX, AnimFX, GC Asia Conference and UCLA/CRESST Game Research Center. 

The Interview

(Answers by Joseph are not direct quotes, but are instead more of a general point of the discussion)

Could a person make a living playing games, much the same as a 9 to 5 job?

Joseph theorised that “With the gaming industry having such a volatile nature and being so hard to commercialise, it wouldn’t be possible in large groups. Fatal1ty (Johnathan Wendel) being an exception as he has won over $500,000, but maybe in 10 to 20 years there will be just as many professional electronic sports players, much the same as any other sport.”

This lead into a question of revenue for the industry, and as the nature of games are a product, he believes that the best way forward would be for the industry to become more like a service. There are such companies trying that approach, like GameFly and Amazon, but the impact has yet to be seen.

“The recession has affected the gaming industry on all levels, but not as dramatic as other industries. According to MPV data (Market Price Validation), there was just as many PS2 sold last year as Xbox360, which could mean that the consumer is looking for more bank for buck, since a PS2 system and games are far cheaper than an Xbox360.”

This brought up the subject of developers being stuck with the same concept of game and unable or unwilling to move forward. Joseph believed, however, that a company wouldn’t continue a franchise that’s been a proven winner, just to keep revenue up. He believes that if there is an audience for those games, then the developers will continue to make.

When asked what he would constitute as a good game, Joseph confessed that he is more of a casual gamer and “Prefers a spur of the moment type of play. Even though I am less of an RPG player, watching some of them like the Final Fantasy series, became very entertaining.”  As for which games he owns and has enjoyed, Little Big Planet, Fallout 3 and GTA3 were mentioned.

But with GTA3 being a rather graphic and violent game, he defended playing them by stating “About half of the movies released are R rated and less than 20% of games produced are R rated” (viewers under the age of 17 need an accompanying adult). Joseph goes on to saying “The media has a skewed perspective on things and has not taken the time to talk to the game developers and have not collected enough information to make an informed view.” Although he did make a point of being strict by the ESRB coding and doesn’t allow any of his kids to play an older game, but he does admit to it being tough to follow. 

All this lead onto his opinion about using games as a learning device, especially with regards to morals and world lessons. “Games can be used to encourage the brain, but it’s hard to know where the cut off point is. A well crafted game is a good way to explore worlds, teach valuable lessons and learn all about failure and rewards.”  

He also believes that they can help in the development of children as long as the risks are known and avoided. Joseph was very open with opinions, giving rather refreshing and honest answers to the questions asked.