The Meme Meme

Darwin's thinking has gone well beyond his original imagination. In Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene he coined the term "meme" to mean a unit or element of cultural ideas and practices, transmitted from one mind to another, much like genes are transmitted from one generation to another.

For example, the very concept of a meme is a meme -- and I have just transmitted it into your mind. If this is the first time you are hearing of it, it has reproduced, and if you find it interesting enough to repeat to someone else it may thrive and expand more.

A game mechanism, like the idea of having multiple lives that are expended in a game and earned through scoring points, is a meme that was established early in the arcade game industry and spread widely from one game to another, with modifications over time. This sort of co-opting of evolution by analogy is rampant throughout the games industry.

It may seem forced to speak of game mechanisms evolving when they are in fact appropriated by other designers swapping (or stealing!) ideas and not truly living and reproducing on their own. But it turns out that some forms of bacteria swap genes with each other in a phenomenon called "horizontal gene transfer".

Often the natural world is more complex and surprising than we realize. And if game design is more like the process of intentional genetic engineering than like natural selection, it still owes a lot to Darwin.

The Origin of Genres

Another example of his contribution is the way we look at game genres that I have been referring to throughout this article. In many ways a game genre is like a biological class or order of living things. Just as people are of the order of primates, within the class of mammals, an MMORPG is an order of the larger class of RPG.

Of course this is only an analogy, but a surprisingly apt one. We often refer to a genre that has fallen out of favor as a "dinosaur", or talk about how the modern concept of first-person shooters is "evolving" to include more sophisticated storytelling.

Certainly games compete on the open market, and something very like evolution happens based on their ability to succeed financially -- and "reproduce" by spawning sequels or imitations. In a similar way, game consoles are said to evolve, adding features, competing with each other.

It's more than just an interesting analogy, since it is possible to use an understanding of the principles of evolution to consider how to make a particular game more viable and competitive in the economic environment.

For instance, the current members of this generation of consoles each have to adapt to the fast-growing demand for inexpensive downloadable content, and the sudden rise in popularity of casual games of many types.

The one slowest to respond, or inefficient at using the new delivery systems will likely "die off" in the next generation of game systems. Of course consoles are not living things, but are built by companies -- but companies also exist in a fast-evolving Darwinian landscape of competition.

I have only touched on a few ways that Darwin's thinking has influenced our industry and game design in particular.

But in doing so I may have planted a meme in your brain that, in time, will evolve into a whole new game mechanism -- or perhaps a new game genre. Happy Birthday, Charlie!