Ed Catmull, excerpt from Creativity, Inc.:

For all the care you put into artistry, visual polish frequently doesn’t matter if you are getting the story right.

I have always said I’d lose it the day we lost Robin Williams. The man’s work always seemed to help me make sense of this world.

As Genie, he taught me that anything was possible. As Peter Banning, he taught me to never grow up. As John Keating, he taught me how to look from a different perspective. As Sean Maguire, he taught me the importance of companionship.

Growing up a child of divorce, I never saw my father as often as I’d liked. My father is a child at heart and I can never get enough of his company. When he wasn’t around, I was able to find his humor and guidance in the performances of Robin Williams. I will never be certain of how I made a connection between my father and Robin, but losing Robin feels a lot like losing family. 

RIP, Robin Williams. My thoughts go out to the Williams family.

I had the fortunate opportunity of seeing Ed Catmull, president of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, DisneyToon Studios, in a moderated conversation today.

During the Q&A, an audience member asked Catmull if there exists a current icon who fills the roll of Walt Disney, a man known as a figure who focused on the impact of technology on human experience and story and delivered his message to the public via TV broadcast. While my head went straight to Neil deGrasse Tyson as a viable figure, Cutmull’s answer was quite interesting.

A bit of Catmull’s reply, paraphrased by yours truly:

You can’t make another Walt or another Steve or another John. I think this is a problem the games industry faces. They make great experiences but have a hard time telling great stories. I think we have yet to see who will make that happen.

He deliberately went out of his way to focus on the games industry. He had also made reference to the games industry earlier in the discussion; however, the context is now escaping me.

A fun piece cataloging the impacts of the technology used in video games on urban planning, PTSD, education and more.

Daniel Nye Griffiths, The Guardian:

Games are incredibly successful training systems – but all they usually do is train people how to play within fictional worlds. As the tools employed to make them evolve, the potential is there to engage with the real world. In this way, video games offer the power to capture, comment on and change lives.

Pediatrics:

Low levels (3 hours daily) of game engagement was linked to key indicators of psychosocial adjustment. Low engagement was associated with higher life satisfaction and prosocial behavior and lower externalizing and internalizing problems, whereas the opposite was found for high levels of play. No effects were observed for moderate play levels when compared with non-players.

It took me a second to wrap head around this. I wish the clearly defined moderate play. My interpretation:

• Less than 1 hour of play (low): Positive effects
• 0 (non-players) or 1-3 hours of play (moderate): No change
• More than 3 hours of play (high): Negative effects

Update: The BBC offers more clarity.