Lately
there have been many speculations, theories and discussions about the
ongoing “creative crisis” in the interactive entertainment industry.
While many of these models offer valuable insight, very few address the
often-overlooked fact that the building blocks of every industry, group
or organization are basically individual human beings with thoughts,
feelings, ideals and aspirations of their own.
I
believe that our so-called crisis is rooted at this very personal and
individual level, and it's essentially spiritual in nature: it's a
deeply shaken confidence in the basic set of core values we used to
have faith in. This erosion of confidence is only amplified by the
rather skewed, sensationalized perception of interactive entertainment
presented by the mass media, as well as the ripples generated by the
massive structural changes that swept through the industry during the
last couple of years.
We
are basically that proverbial little kid who just got hit by the big
ugly reveal about Santa. A fitting illustrative example of this could
be the alarmingly rapid emergence of something that could almost be
classified as a new character stereotype: the veteran game industry guy
with two-digit years of experience under his belt, all disillusioned,
cynical, skeptical, viciously sarcastic, and devoid of all passion and
sense of purpose overall. (I'm sure most of us can recall at least one
particular person who fits into this category.)
What's
wrong with these guys, you ask? Most of them could be considered pretty
successful by anyone's standards: they generally have solid
track-records, the respect of their peers, financial stability, et
cetera.
Back
when the entire game industry was making its first baby-steps these
guys were already there, driven by the idea that they are making
something pure, fun and exciting, using technology to entertain people
in innovative new ways nobody has even dreamt of before.
Well,
let's just flash-forward to the present and take a quick look at what
we've got here: yet another media barrage about yet another
“videogame-inspired” juvenile crime, yet another lawsuit, legislative
action, retail restriction or ratings controversy, yet another research
study supporting the notion that videogames make children violent,
dumb, hyperactive and fat, and yet another article whining about a
“creative crisis” in the industry.
Whether
these allegations have merit or not are beyond the scope of this
article, but nevertheless, they still have the ability to get under the
skin, no matter how well-justified or thickly sugar-coated they are.
When more and more game industry professionals get admittedly
uncomfortable allowing their own kids to play videogames, we've got a
pretty solid indicator of an ongoing conflict of conscience.
As
mentioned before, another contributing factor is the side-effects of
the dramatic, sweeping structural changes the industry has gone through
since its inception. Many of these changes were useful, logical or even
unavoidable, but unfortunately quite a few of them have penetrated way
too far - what started off basically as a garage-development subculture
is now an inch away from being about as corporate-flavored as mutual
fund management, and I'm completely convinced that a game
industry-related Dilbert cartoon is already in the works.
The
resulting symptoms are nothing new to write home about: executives with
business degrees surrounded by committees of lukewarm conformists are
sweating over far-reaching creative decisions, content and direction is
dictated by licensors, focus-test results, and marketing-research data,
while armies of middle managers are working hard to distribute
accountability and responsibility as thinly as the laws of physics
permit.
Needless
to say, this situation is far from ideal: every inherently creative
field which attempts to anticipate current trends and satisfy current
needs instead of trying to aim high, invent, introduce new ideas,
provoke thoughts, and invoke emotions, merely ends up catering to the
basest instincts of some sort of artificially conjured-up “average
consumer” (a.k.a. the dreaded “lowest common denominator”) and
inevitably becomes faceless, thoughtless and soulless in the process,
dragging everyone down with it.
In
addition - since computer and video games are so closely tied to
incredibly fast-moving generations of increasingly more sophisticated
technology - the danger of them becoming regarded as irrelevant,
momentary throwaway-entertainment is very real: if a game fails to
leave a lasting impression in people's minds and transform into a
fondly remembered gaming memory, it is essentially gone and completely
forgotten, forever. I would like to think that gaming as a whole
deserves a better fate than that.
As
a direct result of all these combined elements a growing number of
industry professionals either chooses or is driven into adopting an
“it's-just-a-job” mentality to serve as a padded layer of protective
insulation between themselves and their deep-seated doubts about the
general direction our profession is heading toward. Consequently this
attitude produces technically competent, but less and less
inspired/interesting new titles, which in turn deals damaging blows to
the precious trust and support our audience has granted us.
There
are similar existing examples out there we could learn from, most
notably the case of the movie industry: its slumping performance and
fading reputation should be a cautionary tale for us about the
potential effects of going against our own better judgment, and at the
end of the day not having anyone else to blame but ourselves.
All
in all however – even though it may seem that quite a few things have
gone awry somewhere along the way – the state of things is nowhere near
hopeless, quite the opposite in fact.
I'm
confident that this situation is not only temporary, but it's also sort
of an evolutionary transitional phase which carries a more or less
guaranteed, built-in solution to itself.
The
underlying infrastructure to support a paradigm-shift is already being
built in the form of the ceaseless pursuit of various new management
and development philosophies, funding opportunities, publishing venues,
and alternative distribution channels.
These
will hopefully serve as “replacement parts” for some of the more or
less broken, creativity-hampering components of our industry, and as
soon as a sufficiently large critical mass of talented but
disillusioned people regains their faith and passion, great things are
bound to happen.
