Saturday, May 22, 2010

The playfulness of google

There is something definitely breathtaking about the occasional playfulness of google.

This morning, many users of google would have waken up to find that the top page logo has been replaced by a Pac-Man stage. First you think it is simply another Easter egg in design, until you realize a few seconds later that it is actually playable.

The Pac-Man was first released in Japan on the 22nd May 1980. The Pac-Man playable logo on the google front page today is apparently given away in celebration of its thirtieth birthday.

As the computer age deepens and matures, it is increasingly becoming clear that the whole thing is about playfulness. When people talk about gaming, they often do not realize that searching for valuable information on the internet is gaming in a sense, mixing the expected and unexpected, serious and joyful, in an interesting balance of contingencies.

In today's world, and in the years to come, the most successful in society would be those who understand the Zeitgeist of playfulness. The whole idea of the internet, connecting people, making unexpected and intelligent links between the here and now and the distant, is about playfulness.

So here's to yet another manifestation of the inherent playfulness of google. We keep playing the great game of life, beyond horizons and boundaries, all the way.


http://www.google.com/

3 comments:

Tak said...

Dear Dr.Mogi-sensei,

I did not notice that the Pac-Man logo is actually playable until I read your post.

Thank you for telling.

砂山鉄夫(Tetsu Sunayama) said...

Only ten years ago, we(at least I) couldn't predict the google's power of today.
I can't capture the potential power of google even now.
After ten years, the playfulness of google will...

Everyone of us might be going to be the witness of history.

Yuzu said...

Dear:Mr.Mogi
I am impressed with your today's qualia journal about keeping to play the game of life, beyond horizons and boundaries, all the way.
Is sounds wonderful, making me so bright to live in this world. I would like to know that this world is fantastic!