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Watch Randy Pitchford's "Video Games Are Magic" D.I.C.E. Keynote
Randy Pitchford is the CEO and president of Gearbox Software. More recently, he's taken on the identity of "that guy who tweets Borderlands 2 Shift Codes at 5 a.m." But before he became a name in the game space, he was a magician, performing shows regularly at Hollywood's Magic Castle, the same venue he used for his wedding.
For his D.I.C.E. 2013 lecture "Video Games are Magic," Pitchford drew parallels between a magician's interaction with the audience and a gamer's interaction with a game. He said that a magician's job is to take the audience on a journey that concludes with "a broken set of logic -- the impossible happens." The game developer's job is to take gamers on a journey that ends with a sense of gratification. "Both are about the creation of joy and happiness," he said. "We're purveyors of pleasure."
Pitchford's details the steps both game creators and magicians must make to establish credibility and hook the audience. He also kicks off his speech with a magic trick and the technique behind the illusion.
Check out the video below to watch his entire keynote.
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