Pretension +1: Games Are Made By People
Posted by Gus Mastrapa at 2:45 PM Mar 05, 2010
Do you know the names of the people that made your favorite games? If there's one lesson to be learned from the current imbroglio between the makers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Activision Blizzard its that there's a serious disconnect between gamers and the people who make games.
The bean counters at Activision Blizzard know, from experience, that they can cut out creators like Jason West and Vince Zampella. The bottom eventually fell out of the music game market, but before then Activision Blizzard sold Guitar Hero III by the truckload despite a split with Harmonix, the original developers of the series.
The problem is this: the public values video game brands over the creators who make them. It didn't bother the average schmuck that Call of Duty: World at War was created by Treyarch. They didn't notice that Guitar Hero III was developed by Neversoft. And at this rate they probably won't know the difference when another studio tackles Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
The blame is twofold. The consumer should learn more about the people who make the games they love.
When I was a kid I thought I liked Harrison Ford movies. That is, until I got bored to death by Mosquito Coast and Frantic. Turns out I wasn't so much a fan of Ford as I was of movies made by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
The first director I actively sought to learn more about was Sam Raimi. After having my mind blown and stomach churned by The Evil Dead II I decided that I had to find out more about the maniac that made the cult 1987 horror film. And so began my love affair with cinema.
Learning to find out who was behind the camera transformed my experience as a moviegoer -- I graduated from mere consumer to educated connoisseur. And my cinema experience improved ten-fold -- I was no longer blindsided by crappy movies because I could predict, based on the names in the credits, whether I'd be likely to enjoy a movie.
Most gamers would be hard pressed to name even one of the people who made the games they love. Sure, legends like Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto verge on being household names, but most other game designers toil in relative obscurity.
That's the way that game publishers want it. Because they sell games based on the strength of the brand, rather than the popularity of the people who make games.
Fault also lies with game designers who allow their employers to run roughshod over them. The people who make movies organize to guarantee that they get the recognition and treatment they deserve. Unions ensure that directors, actors and producers are credited properly, paid accordingly and treated with a modicum of respect.
It is highly unlikely that game designers will ever form a union -- the market is much too competitive and, to be honest, hostile to the notion. But that shouldn't stop designers -- especially those in positions of relative power -- from demanding better contracts, especially agreements that allow for featured crediting.
Because so long as game designers continue to hide behind brand names and the logos of development houses they will remain invisible to the gaming public. And publishers will continue to treat them like they can be replaced.
Pretension +1 is a weekly column by Gus Mastrapa that throws verbal sabots into the machinery of the videogame industry.
Comments
It's certainly true that most cannot ne a developer. Hell, most gamers don't even watch te credits after beating a game unless there's something specific in it for us.
Then again, most of us never even notice the publishers. We know game studios; Bioware and Blizzard both have loyalty because of the quality that name represents. And when it comes to top-tier talent, the studios rarely survive their departure. Guitar Hero was eclipsed by Rock Band because of the impact the studio had. Neversoft had squandered their name by making a half dozen piss poor Tony Hawk games. And the list can go on, and on, and on.
We'll have to see how the loss of these guys affect infinity ward. We may not know the name, but it will only take one or two subpar games to destroy IW.
Posted 03/08/2010 at 01:43:28 PM