Kill Screen: Philip Glass says a performance is best understood after 20 performances. How many then for games?

killscreendaily:

In an NPR interview with his cousin/This American Life host Ira Glass (!), Philip Glass mused on the nature of repetition and how it informs his understanding:

I consider the first 20 performances just learning the piece. Think about it this way: If you think about a pianist who plays a Schubert sonata through his whole lifetime — if you listen to Rubenstein or Horowitz playing their repertoire later in their life, you understand the richness with which they play that music, and how differently they must have played it when they were younger. … I think it’s only after about 20 performances that we begin to understand what the dynamic structure of the piece is.

The argument then goes that a game like Skyrim or Mass Effect 2 should be played as many times to truly understand their greatness. But that seems impossible given their length.  Then it seems that iPhone games like Fruit Ninjaand Jetpack Joyride would meet Glass’ requirements more easily?

-Jamin Warren

PS. Twitter commentor @SparkyClarkson points out: “It’s possible that this tells us more about Philip Glass than about the nature of artistic understanding.”

I don’t know of any phone games that I think would qualify, but I think this theory applies perfectly to the best arcade games. The level of understanding that comes from playing a game like Battle Garegga for many hours is totally different from how one comprehends the game playing it for the first time.

While I think that the same thing could be said of aspects of games like Mass Effect, a major difference is that, like music, most arcade games are pure execution. Very few, if any, mistakes are acceptable when performing.

(via killscreendaily)