Everyday Shooter creator Jonathan Mak baffled attendees of the Game Designer's Rant when he didn't use his segment of the panel to complain about the state of game design, but rather to play some catchy music and release a number of balloons into the crowd.
After much head scratching, rumination, and consulting of the I Ching, we've come up with three possible explanations for his behavior:
1. It's a statment about the simplicity of play -- The only instruction the crowd was given was to stand up, yet once the balloons were in the air, everyone was playing.
Not a single balloon hit the ground as impromptu games of volleyball, tennis, and "keep it in the air" sprang up around the room. Perhaps Mak was reminding the room full of developers that the purest forms of play are the most simple, the ones that don't require phone-book sized instruction manuals or hour-long tutorials.
2.__ It's a comment on the rising cost of game development__ -- Between the balloons, the Sharpie he used to decorate them, and the trash bag his assistants used to carry them into the room, Mak probably spent all of about $2.95, yet managed to put smiles on virtually everyone's face, just the same.
Grown men and women were grinning and laughing as they happily batted balloons back and forth, instantly joined together in
Mak's free-to-play MMOG (minorly multiplayer offline game). As one participant put it, "This is the happiest I've been all week."
3. He's just messing with us. -- My college American Lit professor once warned my class against trying too hard to see meaning in an artist's work. Sometimes what you see is really all there is to see. "And sometimes," she cautioned, "they're just fucking with you." It's quite possible that Jonathan Mak is simply fucking with us, giggling behind his hand as we play Monday morning quarterback and try to decipher the message behind his madness.
Maybe the guy just likes balloons or has an obsession with 80s one hit wonder Nena, I dunno. What I do know is that after everyone has forgotten just what the other ranters had to say, people will still remember Jonathan Mak and his bag of balloons.
