tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914704121785534405.post1682290328332682819..comments2023-01-15T03:51:07.486+00:00Comments on The Dead Pixel Post: Drugs, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and why the industry should grow up...Rowan Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02137939957745137293noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914704121785534405.post-18242458250234110142008-08-22T11:57:00.000+01:002008-08-22T11:57:00.000+01:00It is certainly an idealistic vision. To see it as...It is certainly an idealistic vision. To see it as something wholly achievable is unrealistic because nothing else in the entertainment industry lives up to those sorts of expectations and you can't expect it to when money is still to be made in that way. You will always have cynical executives pushing bad product in all industries, especially cinema.<BR/><BR/>As long as there is significant enough change in the industry perspective then I will be happy. And to be honest I think there really are some big changes happening. Look at Valve -one of the biggest developers in PC gaming- are dedicated to providing their customers with quality content. Team Fortress 2, Portal, Left for Dead are all from mods that the company have picked up on as being original, tightly designed and worthy of promotion and throwing as much money at them to get these concepts realised that would never otherwise see the light of day. The quality level for Valve, as far as I see it, is unparalleled in the industry. Spore is also so starting to convince me that we could be on the verge of a new mindset in the creation of games.Rowan Davieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02137939957745137293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7914704121785534405.post-44614266107502694362008-08-21T00:09:00.000+01:002008-08-21T00:09:00.000+01:00I think Blow's major emphasis in that talk was on ...I think Blow's major emphasis in that talk was on the ethical responsibility of the games-designer. He astutely points out that the games people play and the manner in which they play them can have an affect on their lives. In some cases this can be extreme - he cites the obvious WoW deaths as examples. The success of a game should not be measured by how addictive it is, which currently seems to be the case, but rather in the positive effect it can have on its players. This ties in with Blow's suggestion that modern developers/publishers approach to games design and retail is akin to drugs (it's not hard to see similarities to monthly subscription charges and other dependencies).<BR/><BR/>What saddens and concerns me most is that I'm not entirely sure whether this moral goal is achievable in the current financial structuring of society. In his talk, Blow makes draws parallels between the growth of the film and the games industries. Now, by his own admission, this is not an entirely accurate approach, but it does allow us to make a few assertions and hypothesis regarding the future of games. Unfortunately, as far as I am concerned, the Hollywood approach to film-making is not designed to consider its ethical grounding in society, it's built to mass-produce and turn a healthy profit. While Hollywood has created some truly special films, the majority of its output is total bilge. Integrity in commercial art is often heavily compromised. For each person who watched something the Diving Bell and the Butterfly last year (or better yet, read the book), I'll give you a hundred who watched Norbit instead.<BR/><BR/>I truly hope that Jonathan Blow's astute desires are carried out by an industry willing to make some changes, but I'm not holding my breath :(Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12246362831814727434noreply@blogger.com