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As famed developer Warren Spector pointed out in his opening keynote at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), gamers have won the attention of the mainstream. Gamers were no longer a subsection of society that gathers late at night around a card table or glowing monitor. Instead, gaming is the largest entertainment pillar in the world and gamers, in various forms, are everywhere you look.

The folks that descended on Seattle were a motley crew, indeed made up of tabletop players, teams of pro Halo players, costumed fans of franchises from the Far East, and t-shirt clad console gamers looking to get their hands on the next big things in gaming. Funnily enough, though, despite the diversity, the most evident feeling from the show floor was the stunning sense of normalcy.

Forget badges, achievements, connections, engagement, and all those other gaming mechanics you’ve seen across countless media blogs and marketing presentations. Today, we’re going to talk about the most important part of the gaming toolbox. The one thing that you cannot forget about when appropriating the gaming space and all the tools and tricks that lay within.

You can never, ever forget about The Fun.

Reflecteur 65 looks into new and exciting ways digital culture brings us together and sets us apart, whether its the data from social media sites mapping our mood and location, markets catering to a specific person’s need online, or separating our social feeds by friends and ex-significant others. Also, fingerpainting with an iPad and Denuo’s foray into social gaming, via FarmVille and organic foods.

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Did you know yesterday was a national holiday? Yesterday, work was shunned and responsibilities shuttled to the backburners because of Blizzard’s release of Starcraft 2. The game’s release has been long-anticipated by gamers, but also by the industry in general. In the face of a downturn in retail game sales, as well as the shift toward social gaming and other, industry-shaping trends, Starcraft 2 embodies a lot of the changes the gaming industry is seeing. From digital distribution to pro gaming, Starcraft 2 may be the prime example of a shifting games industry.

Plus, it is so awesome.

FarmVille has long been the focal point for social gaming, what with its millions of users, socially-relevant gameplay, and showcasing the gaming potential in Facebook. However, its recent foray into branded experiences in and around the game have introduced a whole new level of possibilities on the virtual farm, something that General Mills‘ organic food brand, Cascadian Farm, saw as a perfect fit for promoting their products.

Denuo was brought on board to help Cascadian Farm extend the already awesome idea to put organic crops into the game outward into both the Farmville community and Cascadian Farm’s community. Since both communities were made up of dedicated, passionate, and extremely vocal folks, the challenge was bringing these two groups together without alienating either side.

We considered the changing gaming space and how folks are playing with each other these days and, using three key things we know about gaming culture, built a couple of ways to mix the groups together to equally enjoy this unique experience.