‘Dreams’ Won’t Realize Its Full Potential Without Leaving Its Walled Garden
Credit to Author: Ricardo Contreras| Date: Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:56:22 +0000
With Media Molecule's Dreams finally out to a wide audience after a long beta period, we're starting to see just how wild some of the creations can really get. And while the currently Dreams is a walled garden, where those creations can only be experienced in the game, it was originally pitched to have an export functionality. Maybe someday we can all experience high definition food, but for now, Twitter will have to suffice. We discuss Dreams, Rob's trip to catch an early look at Baldur's Gate 3, and more on this week's Waypoint Radio. You can read an excerpt and listen to the full episode below:
Austin: You know, obviously, Mickey Mouse killing Goku is not necessarily going to have that crossover appeal. But you can conceive–
Patrick: But it's in that same spirit you know? In the venn diagram–
Austin: Exactly, and I wish–
Patrick: If I shared that Goku clip on Twitter, I could get thousands of likes over that.
Austin: 100%! You know what fucking sells on Twitter. But you know what I'm saying, is that like–
Patrick: Yeah, it's Mickey Mouse killing Goku! We all know it's baby pictures and it's–
Patrick and Austin: Mickey Mouse killing Goku.
Austin: That's it. And it's dunks on Mike Bloomberg, those are the three. Or it's Rubio saying "What, everyone wants to smoke free weed?" And everyone's slamming that retweet button and being like "Yeah, you know it! Let's go!"
Patrick: "Oh you want to go to school funded by the government? Ahhh!"
Austin: Anyway! My point is there's a vision of Dreams in which someone comes up with something that can make a splash. Something that could be super creative and super worth the time of people who aren't just inside of Dreams. And it's so easy to imagine the world in which that gets exported and then put on Itch or Steam because they pitched it that way!
This is not me, this is not communist Austin being like "I think dahdahdahdahdah, platforms and walled gardens." They said this five years ago and that dream was eradicated by the desire to lock down an ecosystem and maintain that value inside of that space, because the player is the product/
This transcript was edited for clarity and length
Discussed: Baldur's Gate 3 1:25, Dreams 33:22, Candyman trailer reaction 1:11:38 (Content Warning for the sounds of horror movie violence from 1:14:34 – 1:17:05)
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This article originally appeared on VICE US.