The Times questions casual’s long-term future

In her latest column for TimesOnline, Moran questions the long-term appeal of casual gaming, saying that the main reason gaming has risen to such popularity is the escapism it offers – something that is hard for casual gaming to replicate.

The piece, which refers to a recent Guardian story about the rising popularity of casual gaming, reads: “The general tone seemed to be that this is all a very cheering and positive move towards the future. For too long, the piece insinuated, gaming has been the preserve of the slightly edgy; the fractionally underemployed; the nugatorily virginal and murderous. But now, finally, this is the beginning of games that Stephen Fry, Joan Bakewell, even Barack Obama could enjoy! Now let it be the time of lovely games for lovely people!

“Of course the thing is that should the happy and gentle start playing these new, happy and gentle games, they are merely buying themselves a problem. There's a clear, justifiable reason for playing violent, dystopian games such as Grand Theft Auto, for instance: you couldn't do anything remotely like it in real life.

“Decorating houses, paying visits to friends and trying to kiss them, on the other hand – that's scarcely the taste of an exquisite, unimaginable dream-fruit. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much engaged to the fullest extent in decorating my house, paying visits to friends and trying to kiss them anyway. To engage in this behaviour online cuts fatally into attempts to do this in what one might term The Useful and Productive World.

“So, yes. We might very well see a growth in these lovely games for lovely people in 2009. And people going about and giving each other imaginary kisses is scarcely a terrible problem. But I suspect that, in the end, we'll go back to doing what we always did to while some time away: buying some new cushions in Heal's, rather than buying a cyber-kissing-rota Facebook problem.”

The full piece can be read here.