“Well, I guess it’s a matter of taste.” With phrases like these, we manage to avoid many exasperting arguments over what’s “better,” instead leaving room for individual preferences and aesthetic leanings. But deep in the privacy of your own heart, late at night, don’t you sometimes suspect your enemies of having BAD taste? Or worse still — of having NO taste at all? What are we talking about when we talk about taste, particularly in games? And whose fault are matters of taste when they go sour, anyway? Naomi Clark conducts a quasi-scientific investigation.
Naomi Clark joined the NYU Game Center faculty this past summer, and is a game designer, teacher, and scholar who has been making games since 1999. She has contributed to over three dozen titles in various roles, including designer, producer, artist, writer, and programmer. Naomi’s experience spans from developing games for well-known companies such as LEGO to smaller-scale independent and experimental work. She has co-authored two recent books about games, Microcultures: Gaming and A Game Design Vocabulary. For our 2014 No Quarter exhibition, she created Consentacle, a cooperative card game that explores complex themes of sexuality and consent which has gone on to earn many accolades, including the Impact Award at IndieCade 2015.
Poster art by Eleanor Davis. Get this poster and more Game Center art here.