Ara Shirinian, a Phoenix based video game designer, will discuss several techniques used in video game development to improve the accessibility, popularity, engagement and excitement experienced in games. While being quite effective at achieving the intended goals, each technique also brings subtle, unintentionally destructive side effects that undermine the potential of video games, not only as effective products but also as a positive a influence on culture. Ara will present these tradeoffs and how such pitfalls can be avoided.
