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[Column] General: Four Myths about the Video Games Industry
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
If we take a look at the video games industry as a whole, there are three broad groups of actors: developers, consumers, and press. Developers, of course, do the dirty work of creating within our favorite medium (and are often represented by publishers), while consumers shape the direction of the industry by influencing its supply and demand with their wallets. The press mediate between these two, mostly providing enthusiast previews, reviews, interviews, and opinions about the goings-on around town.
Read more of Som Pourfarzaneh's Four Myths About the Video Games Industry.
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Hey, everyone knows if enough people believe in fairies they will come back to life, same with the sub model as well.
Or maybe we just need a few better games worth paying a sub for...yeah,, that might work.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
"If we take a look at the video games industry as a whole, there are three broad groups of actors: developers, consumers, and press."
There is no "press" in the gaming industry. I think you're mistaking "press" for marketeers. You could mention a fifth group as well "broadcasters" but they also fall under the marketeers category for the most part.
" Reviewers are paid by developers for good scores
At least among the top tier of reputable gaming enthusiast websites (present company included), this simply does not happen. "
LoL!!!
I think that this kind of insightful and logical argument, supported by facts, greatly increases your credibility in your counter-argument.
#5 - Video Game developers live the life of luxury, with solid gold t-shirts, steak every day at work for lunch, lobster for dinner, and an on-staff masseuse.
#6 - People in the games industry are clueless and are missing obvious facts right in front of their faces.
Crazkanuk
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Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Of course you're ready and willing to present objective evidence supporting your claim upon request correct?
In other words, put up or shut up. All you have is YOUR opinion and it's just as valid as anyone else who makes a claim without credible support.
Actually #1 does occur and does occur often, more often than most fans would have you believe. Take GW2 for example, they've long been fans of warriors and as such most other classes have suffered for it, it took someone revealing multiple times on youtube and reddit that warriors are the go to class to solo 5 man dungeons and then sell the boss kill group slots for gold for them to finally nerf this class, it took 2 years.
They also have had a tendency to attack without announcement, legit farmer players. Adding things like DR and stealth nerfing well known farming locations, their economist has been relentless in trying to stop the "farmer scourge" yet their game is based around farming for anything meaningful including gold. So there are times when this occurs.
#3 While gaming companies might not receive money directly, it's a proven fact that some gaming companies or even publishers will deny beta access to some members of the press who release anything but stellar reviews. This problem has been proven to happen multiple times but is still denied to this day by the press. It happens all the time, we've even seen it happen to people on youtube. There have also been incidents where people's contracts are suddenly "dropped" mysteriously after coming out with a scathing review of a publishing company. Take the youtube game reviewer called Dontain for example. His contract with his publishing company mysteriously went up in flames when he posted the only negative video on NCsoft and where they were sending the money that GW2 was earning for the company. That's literally all he said, now no one will sign him up on a new contract and he's all but disappeared from his online presence. So tell us again how these things don't happen? yeah...
#4 I think there's another side to #4 that most people forget but are told alot by anyone who's fanboying about a title. We've relied so much on expert opinions that we have lost the ability to think for ourselves about these things. It's an old argument against anything negative about games that somehow people can't recognize a bad deal or all out exploitation by developers when we see it without someone having a degree in game design.
I don't think publishers etc. outright pay people "$5 per percent, another $100 if it's above 90%" or simply "$1000 for a 93%". But on the same time it's highly unlikely that the video gaming industry is completely clean. Most things will be in a gray area just like bribing etc. in other industries. Providing the product to test for free, providing early access, providing the hardware, exclusive interviews, beyond the scenes tours etc.
Even if it doesn't happen with you (the author) doesn't mean it doesnt happen on this site (irrelevant if it actually happens or not), and even if it doesn't happen on this site, doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all.
Besides the general assumption of tpeople who work in the video gaming industry being just as prone to trying and/or accepting bribes as any other, there is also the fact that some games garner miraciously high scores from professional video gaming press, while being recieved absolutely terrible by private gamers.
Either the video gaming press was getting bribed there, or the reviewers should get fired/look for a new job, as they clearly are totally out of touch with the target group.
And some people in the industry admitted that someone tried (or succeded) to bribe them.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
This isn't really about myths at all. For example it's not a myth that the subscription model is best, it's a valid opinion. The article is about common opinions, not myths.
As for the bias in press, of course it's there. I've worked in the published media industry for years, and it happens all the time. Not direct payment of course. One example is Apple simply wouldn't deal with publications that gave it any negative reviews or outright criticism.
This can actually be measured. The companies that are doing well financially is missing obvious clues less than companies that isnt doing well. Like Blizzard is doing well and Funcom isnt doing it good enough.
This is spot on... It may not be in a "direct payment" sort of way like "Here's $1000 to give us a glowing review" but in the way of perks, swag, ad revenue, trips, exclusives.
So no Developers may not hand over a bag of money to a particular reviewer but when the swag fairy shows up with a treasure trove of goodies, that really is the same thing. Or in many TOP TIER sites in ad revenue, splash pages, or worse the indirect manner by giving a crappy game a glowing review because it generates clicks and viewership...
It's like Howard Stern... Some people listen to my show because they like it... A lot more people who hate me listen to my show because they want to hear what I have to say.
For the most part... people are sheep... they believe what they read, they are easily manipulated (herded) and this is why companies like Walmart exist, consumers will bitch about no jobs or shitty economy but they will exclusively shop in a store like Chinamart... "Hey I have no job, but I just purchased a pots and pans set and a lawnmower for under $100"
There should be an article titles Myths that the game developers think about the gamer.
Won't that be a hoot.
What are your other Hobbies?
Gaming is Dirt Cheap compared to this...
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I have a friend in the gaming "press if you will" industry - He took a fruitcake and some plastic forks as a bribe before. He still has the fruitcake to prove it too.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
They gave it to him so he could beat away the angry people.
Developers hate gold sellers and other groups that commit credit card fraud.
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I'd certainly hope that they don't require a degree in computer programming. That's a skill that you can pretty easily pick up on your own if you have the aptitude and interest for it. Convincing people that you really can do it is a different matter--and having a degree in computer science helps there, but hardly proves that you're a good programmer.
Hmm, if I were to name the group of "actors" that make video games possible:
Developers (who write them, QC them, translate them, port them, etc)
Publishers (who package them and make them available retail and digital, and promote them)
Gamers (people who buy them and play them)
And.. hmm... that would be about it. There really isn't a whole lot else inbetween there. I guess you perhaps could lump "Retailers" in there, they are in the chain, but it's a rather ubiquitous point and not many retailers specialize in gaming (Gamestop, Steam, Apple App Store, Google App Marketplace, Amazon App Marketplace, the console online markets are about all I can think of off the top of my head)
Press is important, don't get me wrong. But Press reports on "newsworthy" items. Marketing is a component of gaming, and that largely is the role of the Publisher, but that isn't the same as "Press". Press is not, and never should be, Marketing. Once you accept compensation for reporting, your no longer press - your advertising.
That isn't the same thing as having advertising on your news site. You can sell adverts, news agencies have been doing it for decades. But you can't let that influence your press, or your no longer press, your a marketing shill at that point and your loss of credibility will be significant and irreversible.
If you, as a news site, lose access to a developer or publisher because you refused to publish a pre-written conclusion for a review, then that is news in and of itself. That is probably bigger news than whatever review you would have posted for them anyway. People pay attention to that kind of thing. Maybe not a lot at first, but word of mouth eventually spreads.
I know the reality isn't that right now in gaming, but if we can't even pretend to know what is right and wrong and get our terminology correct, then we are too far off course.
I'm thinking four, developers, consumers, press, and investors. Developers need capital to produce their art. Investors can make the rules and change or rush the game out as they tend to look at games as a business opportunity.
I suppose Investors can have such an impact on the final product that they can be considered developers.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
What kind of myths would we have about investors?
Ah, they are only interested in games like World of Warcraft!
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
As to developers hating a profession or race within the game.
In AoC a developer was really enthusiastic about Necros (you could see it in his forum posts). So the Necro profession he created was really done well and really strong.
At the other end of the spectrum in SWG, Trandoshans couldn't wear head or foot gear because of their shape. The developers refused to change this which meant they would always be short on the stats head and foot gear provided.
Perhaps if the team or person assigned to create a profession had little or no personal interest in that particular profession they may be inclined to not go the extra mile for it.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey