Friday 8 February 2013

Alternative project ideas

I'm continuing to explore the application of nostalgia in game design by focusing on themed games which are based on a specific nostalgic entity.

This has been going on in the background for three months, but I'm aware that I haven't published anything about it and felt it was time to bring it back to the foreground.


Potential subjects


I started by drawing up lists of childhood associations from different eras.  Selected highlights include...

  • Pre-1950s: hula hoop, spinning top, fairground shooting games
  • 1950s: Dan Dare, Meccano, cowboys & indians, pogo stick, model railways.
  • 1960s: Thunderbirds, Scooby Doo, old-style police uniforms (e.g. traffic policemen with striped sleeve bands), Ladybird books, Spangles
  • 1970s: Space Hopper, Chopper bicycle, Rainbow TV show, Jamie and the Magic Torch, spud guns, toy miniature chocolate dispensers, Space:1999, Tonka toys, Lego, fuzzy felt, Stickle bricks, action/war comics, walkie-talkies, Weebles, ViewMaster, Evil Knievel toy, Lucozade, Monster Munch
  • 1980s: Rubiks cube, Transformers, Smurfs, VHS tapes, Trolls / My Little Pony / Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man, Simon electronic game, Big Trak, Gary Numan, Adam Ant, old skool hip-hop, Cabbage Patch Dolls
  • 1990s: Pokemon, Power Rangers, TMNT, POGs, Super Mario & 4th/5th generation consoles, Teletubbies, Tamagochi, Tickle Me Elmo
  • 2000s: Tweenies, Ben 10
The list is endless, and these represent only a fraction of the suggestions available.


Longevity issues

First thing to notice is how many of these items span a number of decades, such as Lego, Power Rangers and Super Mario, and we are still bombarded with advertising images for them.  Their longevity implies that manufacturers are clearly aware of their popularity.  As such there is limited emotional affect attached to them.

Some long-lasting toys are past their peak and maintain a diminishing (often minimal) level of popularity, and are not prominently advertised.  Examples include Space Hoppers or model railways. This provides better scope for emotional reaction.

There is a niche opening for stronger nostalgic reaction when talking about a specific variant -- e.g. for Lego, old-style people (with bendy arms) or original faceless mini-figures (with blank faces and solid legs).


Others have already been rediscovered & resurrected, and are being used specifically for their nostalgic effect.  Examples include Transformers (recent movies earned $2.7 billion collectively at box office), The Smurfs ($560 million), and 'retro' releases of old products such as Super Mario All-Stars or Big Trak.



Thus the long-lasting and the rediscovered products offer limited potential for releasing a strong emotional reaction, due to their existing prominence in the marketplace.


Copyright nightmare


There is a second issue common to long-lasting and rediscovered products, and it is an issue which has much bigger consequences for my research: copyright & intellectual property (IP) rights.

Probably 80% of the items mentioned in my subject list are trademarked or covered by some kind of copyright.  This is far more wide-ranging than most people realise -- some of the most basic, generic toys are still legally protected in some way:
Of course, the answer to this is genericisation: creating an imitation product which is recognisable as the original but different enough (or parodying it, which is protected in many countries) to avoid lawsuits.  There are a few cases where this may prove difficult without losing the defining appearance of the product (e.g. Rubik's cube) but generally this is a good solution to the IP issue.