The world is changing. Maybe it's time that we as gamers change with it.
I have always seen video games as works of art, someone's creative vision that I feel blessed to experience. But as the game making industry has progressed, something very unfortunate has been occurring. Video games have become corporatized, turned into products for consumers to buy instead of works of art. I mean, look at mmo's. Where before you had games like Ultima or Everquest, which stayed true to their vision, now you have literally dozens of mmo's looking to become the next WoW. Even WoW keeps changing to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We are losing something special when we make games for casual gamers.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I'm against making games for casual or non-gamers. The more people that can be taught to love this special thing we have her, the merrier. It's a symptom of the problem. And I'm not saying art is dead in video games. That's impossible since it is still and always will be the artists creating the games. But the artists don't hold the purse strings, and I lament that they have to prostitute themselves to corporate publishers so that their art can be experiences by the public. This has been a necessary evil as costs for game development have increased dramatically over the year and most developers don't have enough money to fully fund the creation of a new game on their own. But all that can change.
Indeed, it already is. Small internet browser games have become a major player in the industry, and things like xbox live and steam are allowing indy game developers to produce the bold and often quirky games they want to make and get them into the hands of gamers without the help of major publishing corporations.
So far though, the egalitarianism of internet distribution has mostly benefited small developers of small games. What about larger developers with grander artistic visions? How would we get to plat games like Skyrim without corporate publishers financially backing the expensive and lengthy development process?
One of my favorite games is called Mount and Blade, made by Taleworlds, a small Turkish developer originally consisting of a husband and wife duo. I found this game when it was in version .520, so about half way through development. They were offering early access to the beta for 20 dollars to offset the cost of development. After playing the demo, I was hooked. Through this strategy, Taleworlds gained an underground cult following from gamers fortunate enough to find the game. Many became modders for the game and some of those modders were hired to help complete the game. Since then Taleworlds has released an expansion and an independent spin-off.
My point is this; let's cut out the middle man. Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo already exist for people to gather funding for their creative projects from people like us who fall in love with their visions. Let me draw your attention to the Oculus Rift. It's a new virtual reality project created in some dudes garage. They have already attracted 1.3 million dollars to their kickstarter as of this writing. We don't need the corporations any more. Let gamers directly fund the games they want to play.
Power to the Gamers!
I have always seen video games as works of art, someone's creative vision that I feel blessed to experience. But as the game making industry has progressed, something very unfortunate has been occurring. Video games have become corporatized, turned into products for consumers to buy instead of works of art. I mean, look at mmo's. Where before you had games like Ultima or Everquest, which stayed true to their vision, now you have literally dozens of mmo's looking to become the next WoW. Even WoW keeps changing to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We are losing something special when we make games for casual gamers.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I'm against making games for casual or non-gamers. The more people that can be taught to love this special thing we have her, the merrier. It's a symptom of the problem. And I'm not saying art is dead in video games. That's impossible since it is still and always will be the artists creating the games. But the artists don't hold the purse strings, and I lament that they have to prostitute themselves to corporate publishers so that their art can be experiences by the public. This has been a necessary evil as costs for game development have increased dramatically over the year and most developers don't have enough money to fully fund the creation of a new game on their own. But all that can change.
Indeed, it already is. Small internet browser games have become a major player in the industry, and things like xbox live and steam are allowing indy game developers to produce the bold and often quirky games they want to make and get them into the hands of gamers without the help of major publishing corporations.
So far though, the egalitarianism of internet distribution has mostly benefited small developers of small games. What about larger developers with grander artistic visions? How would we get to plat games like Skyrim without corporate publishers financially backing the expensive and lengthy development process?
One of my favorite games is called Mount and Blade, made by Taleworlds, a small Turkish developer originally consisting of a husband and wife duo. I found this game when it was in version .520, so about half way through development. They were offering early access to the beta for 20 dollars to offset the cost of development. After playing the demo, I was hooked. Through this strategy, Taleworlds gained an underground cult following from gamers fortunate enough to find the game. Many became modders for the game and some of those modders were hired to help complete the game. Since then Taleworlds has released an expansion and an independent spin-off.
My point is this; let's cut out the middle man. Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo already exist for people to gather funding for their creative projects from people like us who fall in love with their visions. Let me draw your attention to the Oculus Rift. It's a new virtual reality project created in some dudes garage. They have already attracted 1.3 million dollars to their kickstarter as of this writing. We don't need the corporations any more. Let gamers directly fund the games they want to play.
Power to the Gamers!
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