Spore and Player Creativity

Will Wright's soon-to-be-released new game Spore is "going to be a “massively single-player” game, where the universe in which you play is inhabited by the creations of other players — from the level of primitive creatures to the level of technologically-advanced planetary civilizations.... Spore will be a good environment for player creativity... “(V)olunteer” Robin Williams... started using the creature authoring tool and ad-libbing at the same time. Squashing and stretching the spine and the body, adding and subtracting limbs and sense organs and decorations, he kept the audience laughing through a high-speed series of references to pilates, Freud, GMO chickens, anorexia, Paris Hilton, Al Jolson, and so on. He extended the spine so it could kiss its own ass, added three sets of arms, and said, “A creature that makes Darwin say, ‘Hey, I’m not taking acid ever again.’'"/Grand Text Auto/