During his presentation at Pop!Tech 2006 on Emergent Arts, Will Wright (Creator of The Sims) discussed his feeling that complexity is achieved by the accumulation of very simple, basic elements. That is the premise behind his much anticipated game (about 3 years worth of anticipation) Spore.

Popular Science has an in-depth interview with Wright where the gaming innovator discusses Spore , Wii, Second Life, the value of failure and getting back to the metaphorical “sandbox”.

On Spore as an educational tool, Wright says:

“I think more in terms of deep lessons of things like problem-solving, or just creativity–creativity is a fundamental of education that’s not really taught so much. But giving people tools…what it means to be human is to learn to use tools to basically expand your abilities. And I think computer games are in some sense a fundamental tool for our imagination.”

There is also a quote that stood out in the article that resonated with the Pop!Tech ethos. Wright discusses his plans for a more “relevant” gaming experience in his next endeavors–games that play on cultural parameters such as:

“politics and economics and environmentalism, all these things as these horrendously complicated things with a million variables. But yet there is a limited level of understanding of the climate, of politics, of economics, that we could take anybody and make them five points smarter in any one of these dimensions. And just making everybody in the world five points more educated on each of these dimensions I think would have a tremendous impact on the system as a whole.”

If you missed the sneak peak of the game presented at Pop!Tech, you can see more images here at the Spore Image Gallery.

The game is slated to be released in the Spring of 2007…(fingers crossed).

AND

Don’t miss the Popular Science Podcast with Pop!Tech’s Official Balladeer Jonathan Coulton and Spore designer Chaim Gingold here.