Jeff Vogel Soapbox Thread

[rusty_shackleford]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

 

[J1M]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is, and the AAA community kind of proved his point when they elevated cinematic video games as examples of art. Casuals go crazy over a game like the Last of Us because of the cinematography and voice acting. So what they are praising is a movie embedded in a video game. Turn-based games emulate board games and tactical tabletop games, so at best they emulate the art of war.

However, sometimes when I play a game I do get a strong sense of pathos and that's when I do believe a video game steps into the realm of being art. I am on the tail end of Dark Souls 3 (after playing through Demon Souls and the prior two Dark Souls games) and I get a feeling of dread that has little to do with any of the movie cinematics of the game or any of the dialogue. It's just this crushing sense of decline and decay that permeates through the game and begins to have an emotional effect, which is helped by its lack of details of the overall plot and veil of mystery. It's a feeling of nihilism that keeps with you even after you put the controller down and walk away.

I wouldn't consider a game like Mass Effect the same sort of art, since it relies heavily on the medium of cinema versus the gameplay aspects that make it a video game. But the Souls series would be art, in my own humble opinion, since the feelings and ideas it conveys is incorporated into everything from its visual design to its core gameplay loop. As you play you wonder why your character is even fighting so hard with everything so decayed around him. What does it matter if the cycle of fire and dark is unending and humanity cursed? Why not submit to the entropy? And then when you go to bed you can't help but dwell on the human condition and things like the inevitable heat death of the universe.

Roger Ebert, really? Why go to him and not other famous people who don't play games to form your opinions?

Games can induce a flow state that is orthogonal to passive forms of entertainment. While games are certainly capable of displaying art (since they are a multimedia experience) they also offer a distinct and valuable experience that goes beyond simple 'art'.

 

[Bad Sector]

I am a firm believer that Art is not precious. It can and SHOULD be criticized. The problem is there are just too many devs who think their shit doesn't stink. Too often, devs and hell many other creatives create this strawman gestalt of an impossible to please audience.

It is impossible to please everyone and for some types of games it is even desirable to not try and please everyone - but since, as you wrote, art can and should be criticized that doesn't stop those who weren't pleased to "communicate" their criticism and how that lead to their displeasure, a criticism that is often of low interest to the developers as these people weren't really part of their target audience. And since you have to perform some minimal processing of feedback to see if it'd be of interest to you, after some point when developers become popular enough to have a large volume of feedback, it can be much more efficient and practical to ignore all feedback - good and bad - and start relying on other metrics, like sales.

Which i think is the point where Jeff Vogel is at.

 

[JarlFrank]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

 

[Contagium]

That seemed to be the case on anything violence or horror related. Such a wuss.

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

 

[Tacgnol]

I remember how butthurt Ebert was at Usual Suspects because he didn't see the twist coming and was angry the whole movie was a "lie".

Whilst he did sometimes have good insight, more often that not he was a pretentious drama queen.

 

[Rincewind]

I remember how butthurt Ebert was at Usual Suspects because he didn't see the twist coming and was angry the whole movie was a "lie".

Whilst he did sometimes have good insight, more often that not he was a pretentious drama queen.

Pretty much the only movie reviews I used to read were from James Berardinelli at www.reelviews.net
He's just a regular guy so the reviews lack any pretentiousness. His review of the Conan movie is quite fair and balanced, in comparison. Basically, he says it's good at what it tries to do.

The plot is broad and adventurous, with plenty of the elements that have made Conan popular: voluptuous women, brawny men, a vile wizard, grotesque monsters, faithful sidekicks, and plenty of violent, bloody battle action. Those who have an inherent distaste for this sort of entertainment will appreciate Conan the Barbarian's impeccable production values without enjoying the story; most everyone else will be swept away by the film's spectacle. Conan is not designed to have broad appeal. It is a well-made motion picture, but it is constricted by the constraints of the genre.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Movie criticism is for 110 IQ lit studies majors who digest media the way their intestines digest a plate full of beans. First they ingest the movie, then then they let it sit in the bowels until it's fully decomposed, then they release it to the world in the form of a random string of words which is a testament to their intellectual, that is intestinal, prowess. Their careers are a continuous bowel movement and they rank each other according to the quantity of gas they produce, some of them producing large, impenetrable clouds which many deem highly prestigious. Fortunately you can spot, or smell them from a thousand miles away.

 

[visions]

That seemed to be the case on anything violence or horror related. Such a wuss.

He did like Nosferatu (1922) at least. But then again it's more artistic than a typical horror movie I think.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

I am a firm believer that Art is not precious. It can and SHOULD be criticized. The problem is there are just too many devs who think their shit doesn't stink. Too often, devs and hell many other creatives create this strawman gestalt of an impossible to please audience.

It is impossible to please everyone and for some types of games it is even desirable to not try and please everyone - but since, as you wrote, art can and should be criticized that doesn't stop those who weren't pleased to "communicate" their criticism and how that lead to their displeasure, a criticism that is often of low interest to the developers as these people weren't really part of their target audience. And since you have to perform some minimal processing of feedback to see if it'd be of interest to you, after some point when developers become popular enough to have a large volume of feedback, it can be much more efficient and practical to ignore all feedback - good and bad - and start relying on other metrics, like sales.

Which i think is the point where Jeff Vogel is at.

Good. Then actually ignore the criticism and get on with your shit. As opposed to belittling that same audience and insulting their intelligence when they don't like your overwrought bullshit. If any devs actually want to do that, then come off twitter. Come off the social media in general. Just knuckle down and get on with making games. Accepting that any work put into a public space will be criticized. Publicly stating that gamers "don't like complex themes" is an emotionally charged dig and fallacy towards people who didn't accept your "genius". It is, as the kids say "cope and seethe."

 

[Null Null]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

Conan was directed by John Milius, one of the vanishingly few conservative directors in Hollywood--he also did Red Dawn. (Clint Eastwood is the only other one I can think of; some say Christopher Nolan but he hides it better.) The frankly Nietzschean (he gets quoted directly in the opening) themes of individualism and strength were against the critics' tastes.

A lot of people try to drag politics into everything, but I think it really is relevant here.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

Conan was directed by John Milius, one of the vanishingly few conservative directors in Hollywood--he also did Red Dawn. (Clint Eastwood is the only other one I can think of; some say Christopher Nolan but he hides it better.) The frankly Nietzschean (he gets quoted directly in the opening) themes of individualism and strength were against the critics' tastes.

A lot of people try to drag politics into everything, but I think it really is relevant here.

Conservative is certainly one way to put it. I openly advocate for throwing commies out of helicopters and he's to the right of me.

Walter in the big Lebowski is actually based on milius.

 

[Old One]

He also wrote the screenplay and came up with the title for Apocalypse Now (1979).

 

[fantadomat]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

Why people see film making as an art ? I never saw it as something more than cheap entertainment for the masses and a podium for liberal propaganda. I can't see me self having a strong emotional or awe inspiring moment while watching a film. Certainly it lacks the acting talent of theatre or opera,since it is just a collection of cut moments,film actors don't need the skills to do the whole thing in a one take,all they do is look right for the role. A film won't make me spend half an hour contemplating the glory of a painting,nor will make me spend the evening drinking a nice rakia and searching for the meaning of a good book,nor will inspire my emotions to come up to the surface as a good meaningful song.

People that seriously think that films are art,should be exposed more to actual art.

 

[Acrux]

Art is supposed to communicate a desire or emotion. Roger Ebert stated that video games could never be art in the way that the cinema is

are we going to pretend that there are more than a handful of decent movies that exist?

Not to mention that Roger Ebert was a pretentious wanker who wouldn't recognize a good movie if it hit him in the balls.

That faggot thought Conan the Barbarian, one of the greatest movies ever made, was juvenile trash. LMAO his opinion is completely worthless.

Conan was directed by John Milius, one of the vanishingly few conservative directors in Hollywood--he also did Red Dawn. (Clint Eastwood is the only other one I can think of; some say Christopher Nolan but he hides it better.) The frankly Nietzschean (he gets quoted directly in the opening) themes of individualism and strength were against the critics' tastes.

A lot of people try to drag politics into everything, but I think it really is relevant here.

Conservative is certainly one way to put it. I openly advocate for throwing commies out of helicopters and he's to the right of me.

Walter in the big Lebowski is actually based on milius.

He's also, you know...((())).

 

[Sizzle]

This hasn't been posted yet? https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/thoughts-on-freedom-of-expression

Thoughts On Freedom of Expression, From Some Random Guy
Rediscovering the basic values of our society that make it function. How fun!

3
You did this. YOU.
I have a pair of interesting role-playing exercises for you. A pair of moral puzzles for your enjoyment.

If you release any words or art in a public space, even if it’s just one picture or drawing or Twitter joke, the issues below should be of some importance to you.

Situation Number One

About 15 years ago, I wrote a humor piece called, "Helpful, Non-Threatening Quiz: Am I a Serial Killer?" This was when there was a craze of serial killers in popular media, and I wanted to make fun of it. I thought this piece was very funny (if really dark), and I still do.

Not long after I put it out there, I got a very upset email from a young woman. She told me that one of her friends was killed by a serial killer, and my smart-ass article greatly upset her. (I believe her email and her stress were genuine.) She asked me to take it down.

Put yourself in my shoes. What would you do?

Situation Number Two

I write computer fantasy role-playing games. Every one of my games has spiders in it. They're a nice, classic bad guy monster, and I think spiders are cool.

However, I have gotten many sincere complaints over the years from people with severe arachnophobia. The spiders in my game are upsetting to them. I've been asked to put in an option in settings to have a different graphic for the spiders. This would be effort and expense, but not a lot.

Put yourself in my shoes. What would you do?


I think this comic and the UNENDING debate is inspired was patient zero for modern Internet hypersensitivity. I know people who would be really upset by the comic. I also think it’s really funny. The solution to this conundrum? I suggest you get mad at me.

Spoiler

And Don't Be Glib About it

I've told people about these situations, and I've gotten this response: "Who cares? They can just get over it." Which, sure, is a possible answer.

But I ask you to not be so glib about it. Whether this is the best response or not, my work did hurt or upset people. It's kind of different when you're the one responsible. I write humor and video games to make people happier, and I'm not a sociopath. I don’t write to hurt people.

So take a moment and think: What would you do?

What Did I Do?

Well, it should be pretty clear from the fact that the article still exists. And I'm still writing games with spiders in them.

For situation #2, I give permission for people to mod my games to take out the spiders, and I help them do it when asked. But I didn't change my games. There are spiders in them because I wanted spiders to be in them.

For situation #1, I sent the lady a very nice email apologizing for the sadness I caused her and wished her well in the future. That was all that was required. When people send you messages like that, they don't usually want you to actually delete your work. They just want to feel heard. But I didn't take it down, and I will continue to not take it down.

In the end, I didn't change. I make the art I want to make. Then I release it. Then I listen to feedback. Then I repeat the process.

That's how I will handle being a public communicator in the crazyhouse that is 2022. And that, at last, brings me to the point.


Humans are social creature. We’re pack animals. If you are a remotely normal person, being yelled at is always upsetting, even if the people doing the yelling are doofuses.

If You Want To Talk Today, You Should Have a Code

If you write anything online today, and yes I mean ANYTHING, you have to be prepared to answer for it before the world.

If you write a blog or even a single tweet, you are putting your words out before the entire world.

If you sent someone an ill-considered private message when you were 15, some vengeful stalker might sneak a copy and drag it out years later to wreck your life. (And the New York Times will celebrate it.)

This is the world now, and we're still adjusting to it. Alas, I don't think the people setting the rules now are particularly wise, empathetic, or kind. So I'm tapping my tiny spoon against my tiny cup in my tiny corner of the internet. I only get one vote, but I might as well use it.


Remember, anger on the Internet is a PRODUCT. Rageposting produces pleasing dopamine and adrenaline hits and false sensations of moral superiority and productive action.

What Should NOT Be the Rule

Some say that the rule for appropriate communication is: Total harm prevention. If someone is hurt or offended by what you say, you should not have said it. I have had people seriously describe unwanted words as Actual Violence.

(No. This is insulting to anyone who has been a victim of Actual Actual Violence.)

I reject total harm prevention. If you want to put any words out anywhere now, you should bear this in mind: Anything you say, anything, will upset someone. Maybe you accidentally prod an old wound. Or a fear of spiders. Or any of a countless array of potential triggers. This is a sad side effect of human communication.

If you can erase art, erase thoughts, because someone was hurt by them, it turns the joy of art and debate and human communication into an eternal war of all against all. Everyone is a censor. Everyone is a cop. Everyone is subject to the rule of the most sensitive and most perpetually aggrieved among us.

And you can't create under those circumstances! Creation requires a mental looseness, a sense of freedom. If you sit down to work and immediately try to figure out how to avoid offending Everyone In the World, weighing every thought and every syllable against the whims of unseen billions, you will quietly go mad.

So that is how I make my peace with my words upsetting people sometimes: It is inevitable. And the alternative is worse.

But I'm speaking the language of principles. Which is so Boomer of me. Public communication in this century isn't about the expression of principles. It's about the exercise of raw power. I have some principles. But this is a very outdated thing to do, and I don't recommend it.


Doing free image searches for “angry mob” is actually pretty fun.

What Are My Principles?

To be an artist is to communicate with the world. When I create, I am using my flawed, finite mind to make a picture of what the world is like. Then I share this picture with you. Hopefully it will provide you with interest and entertainment.

Whenever I create something of any substance, it will upset or anger someone. When this happens, they can communicate with me. We can talk it over. Sometimes, this changes my point of view, and then I create different things.

But. The bar to delete something that has been created is very, very high. To erase a work of art, even a crappy one (like mine), is to steal something from humanity. Destroying art makes us all a little dumber.

I Feel Dumb Writing This

Of course, I'm not saying anything smart or unique here. Twenty years ago, these sentiments would have been thought so obvious and universal that stating them would be wasting everyones' time.

All I am talking about here is Freedom of Expression, one of the founding and most valuable principles of my civilization.

Note that I am not talking about Freedom of Speech, a part of the Constitution of the United States of America. I am talking about Freedom of Expression, a universal moral principle, an invaluable tool for improving human society, and, to my people, an unalienable right.

I believe that, in this neurotic, pandemic-crazed, shouty mental environment we are trapped in, you need principles. They are the compass that guides you when fog covers everything. I say let everyone speak, and then argue about it.

 

[Tacgnol]

This hasn't been posted yet? https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/thoughts-on-freedom-of-expression

That's a surprisingly sane take from Jeff.

 

[OSK]

I can understand being afraid of real spiders, but I don't understand being afraid of this:

 

[Infinitron]

The latest late-to-the-party take from Jeff: https://bottomfeeder.substack.com/p/there-are-too-many-video-games

(Actually, I think he's mentioned this topic before)

There Are Too Many Video Games
Let's marinate in some hard truths. Dissect what is in front of our eyes.


The numbers in question.

Now that my title has savagely baited your click, let's talk about the weirdness of the game industry and the big mess we're all in.

If you don't want to read my words, just look at the chart above. A good long look. Let the absurdity sink in. Make your own conclusions from there.

I've been working continuously making indie video games longer than, let's say, anyone. I was one of the first to correctly describe the indie bubble, writing blog posts that got many views and got me sweet gigs working for free giving talks at conferences. (The GDC free lunch was lousy, but hey, it was free.)

This is only the latest article in my ongoing saga, The State of the Indie Game Industry, and things have gone absurd.

So let's get to it: There are too many indie games. If my country was healthy, stable, and on a sustainable path, most of them would not exist, including mine. That they do exist is a symptom of misplaced priorities, crappy opportunities for ambitious youth, and ongoing damage to our society.

Do I think you should keep writing your dream game? Sure. Why not? I'm not slapping the mouse out of your hand. Let us, however, take a minute to look at the world you are sending your baby into.


This took a long time to write and will earn me a lot of shouting online. But if I can crush just one young person’s dreams, it will all have been worthwhile.

Spoiler

Let's Look At The Absurdity

The chart at the top is the number of video games released on Steam each year, the vast majority of them indie. That's over 43000 titles in 5 years. A full 23 a day. (Over 30/day in 2021.)

(And that's just Steam. Add mobile and itch.io and homebrews and so on and the figure gets even crazier.)

If I lose you below, if I seem dumb or confusing, just come back to this figure. It's the North Star.

It's absurd! I keep using that word, but if the shoe fits ...

Want to know what is being written? Here is a great site to see the newest games on Steam. Take a look. A key point: Most of the games you see aren't ripoffs, aren't cheap or thrown together. Most of what you see took real work and investment, even if only in our precious and irreplaceable time.

What does this number imply?

Well, nobody wants this many games. Nobody. We have hard sales figures to prove it.

Almost eight billion humans on this planet, and you can't find anyone who cares. Most of these games sell to the writer's immediate friends, and nobody else.

Maybe you are in this business to make money. Maybe you want to bring people joy. (Cash is not the only measure of value!) By either measure, most of these titles are failures.

If you are happy that only 10 people play your game, fine, I guess. However, you should ask if you can't be bringing more people happiness with your limited time in the one life you get on this Earth.


Yeah, I know. I know. Just 3 paragraphs to go lol.

Let’s Provide An Exit Lane From this Post Now

Actually, I can make one point now and you can just skip the rest of it. These numbers are the key fact about the video game industry. Do you know an ambitious, fresh-faced, hard-working youngster who has a dream of writing the next great computer game?

Take this chart and shove it in the kid's face. A good looooong look. If a kid wants to write games (let alone, God help us, going into debt studying gamedev in college), you have a moral obligation to do this. They might keep at it, but they need to be warned.

That's all I have to say! Goodnight!

(pause)

Still here? Then let's dive deeper.

This is such a huge amount of product it's really hard to comprehend it. So much effort, so much ambition, most of which will vanish forever into a hole. In a world where human energy and ambition is very finite. (And I'll get back to this.)

Why did this happen? And is it good? Is it even sustainable? (Remember, everything that is not sustainable MUST end.)


The story of a rat with the ability to keep his family from ever being horribly killed by poison, but he blows it off to get a job selling $300/plate tweezer food to rich assholes. A perfect representation of American values.

It's Not Just Vidya, Of Course

An aside: I am fully aware this phenomenon isn't just video games.

Spotify now gets over 60000 new songs a day. Amazon now has millions of books. My country has over 550 scripted TV shows in production. And then all of the blogs and podcasts and Twitch streams and webcomics and YouTubers and VTubers and on and on and on ...

Yeah, I'm saying there's too many songs. And I know, musicians are the most precious and valuable and significant people there are. I know this because it's what musicians keep telling me. But 60000 a day? Sheesh!

Our children are taught to dream of nothing grander then adding to this indigestible mountainous hoard of distractions. Most created alone. Almost all consumed alone in a room in our atomized society. Seeking wheat in chaff. Mountains of chaff. OCEANS of chaff.

I'm getting ahead of myself. All I want to point out is that if there is a problem here, it's way bigger than video games. But I know video games. So I'll talk about that for now.


One main character only cares about playing jazz (!?) music and nothing else. Other main character only cares about eating as much food as possible. A perfect repres … Oh, never mind.

Where Is All This Stuff Coming From, Anyway?

Who is making those 30 games a day in 2021? I don't think anyone really knows. Are they young? Old? Where do they live? Are they hobbyists or aspiring professionals? I'm very interested, but I'm mainly focused on one question:

Why make art that nobody wants?

Because one thing I'm sure of about the people who make these games: They aren't dumb. They know how bad the odds are. Even if they dream of breaking out and getting a huge audience with their first game (or book or song), they will be under no such delusions while making their SECOND one.

Why create in the face of such mountains of unwanted content?

And don't give me homilies about "All art is valuable." "All creation is precious." "All babies are beautiful." "All our children are above average." None of these things are true.

Why create just for the sake of creation? Let’s discuss.


I am in LOVE with this illustration from the WikiHow page on getting over your fear of sharks. She kind of looks like she’s hitting on the shark, and the shark feels like its boundaries are being seriously tested.

Creation Gives Life Meaning and Satisfies the Drive to Improve the World

I have enormous sympathy for young people and the world they face. I got kids, and I'm old enough to remember when things were (a little) better.

There are many people who are built with talent, drive, and energy. With a desire to make, to build, to change the world, a passion for positive power that will not be quenched. It's a beautiful trait of humanity. When you see it in a kid, it's amazing.

Making art satisfies those urges. The world gives increasingly fewer ways to do so.

(Everything from here on will be focused on my country, the United States, but I bet people everywhere will find some of it familiar.)

If a young person is driven to improve the world, what outlets do they have? Social atomization (with an assist from Covid) has drained charities, social groups, and fraternal organizations. Church has been forgotten. Charity has been ineptly taken over by governments. An increasing number of jobs are simply meaningless. Politics is venal and controlled by the oligarchy, determined to crush any spirited opposition.

The passion to build and create, if given no proper outlet, will curdle into bitterness. It will drive you mad.

Thus, many create art. A thousand novels, a million songs, all heaped upon the compost pile. It keeps the suicide rate down.

Let me make one thing clear: If you need to make art, do it. If you want to put a game on Steam, do it. I'm not a bully. I'm more on your side than you could ever imagine.

But at some point, you have to stop and see what is in front of your eyes.


The cost of a video game development degree at DigiPen, offered without comment.

Time and Energy Is Finite, and Things Ain't Lookin' Good

If a society produces nothing but dysfunction and art, it has a problem.

If my Empire wants to go full Bread and Circuses, that is fine. However, you DO have to make sure you can provide the bread before you get to make the circuses.

This is a whole another blog post, so I'll paint with broad strokes for now. My city, Seattle, is crumbling. We don't have the energy to maintain the roads, and our bridges are literally falling apart. We can't even maintain what our grandparents built, let alone make any grand new projects.

The days of the Moon Landing and building the Interstate Highway System are behind us. All our dreams now are small. The glorious projects that could feed the ambitions of the young just aren't happening.

Plus, my city of Seattle doesn't have a road without a big pothole in it. Fixing potholes is actual work. It's tiring, and it's dirty, and how could doing something that actually benefits people ever compete with Living! A! Life! In! Art! (tm)

If you want a job with actual meaning, that ACTUALLY makes peoples lives better, there is plenty that needs doing. The problem, of course, is that jobs that actually have meaning involve actual work and thus SUCK.


The least popular pony is Applejack. She is also the only one who has a real job. This is, of course, a coincidence.

I Don't Know How To Fix a Pothole. Do YOU!?

Time is a zero sum game. If a bunch of people expend their energy making games, and a larger group of people waste their time playing them, and nobody steps up to do the things that need doing, well, that's bad right?

(Note: If you want people to do these jobs, you do need to pay a living wage with benefits. Otherwise, you just get more video games.)

Writing a game nobody plays discharges your energy and creates the feeling of achievement, but it's all empty calories and then your car falls into a sinkhole. If your game succeeds, it’s even worse. Your customers are now also expending all of their energy too, playing your game alone in a room. Meanwhile, sinkholes.

THAT is why I say there are too many indie games. They aren't sustainable. There is too much time wasted, and that will be true until time is applied to making the world work and bridges not fall down and food be in stores. Probably your time.

Hell, forget full-time jobs. If you volunteered at a food bank for one afternoon, you would do more good than spending 20 years writing games nobody plays. And I bet you'd feel more satisfaction too. And you'd get out of the house and maybe even make a friend.

Yes, you can call me an old Boomer and be angry at me for observing all this, if it makes you feel better. No, it will not make it less true.


You should definitely totally pwn me with your groovy Simpsons memes. Ageism is the hip new bigotry all the cool kids can get in on, deadass, no cap.

Fortunately, This Doesn't Apply To You

Sure, indulging ourselves in endless creation while the world crumbles is bad. Fortunately, that doesn't apply to your game. Your game is great! (And so is mine.) Your blog post is fine! (And so is mine.) Don't worry. The problem will always be the other guy's fault.

Still, I can't tell you to not make games. I can't say, "Give up your dreams of the easy life sitting and making art indoors." Sure, at some point, we will need more people doing work that it isn't getting done. Yet, I have a POWERFUL mental block that keeps me from saying you or I should do it.

Art is what we teach our kids is the most valuable thing. The Disney movie Coco is about a boy from a family of shoemakers who wants to blow them off and be a musician. Disney will never, ever make a movie about a musician who dreams of making shoes. Even though, well, try going a week without music and then a week without shoes and see which is more necessary.

And All This Applies To Me As Well

You are entirely entitled to ask why I keep writing video games. (And blog posts.) It's fair. Am I part of the problem? Yes. Of course. This is the sort of problem that makes us all complicit.

I'm more than happy to tell another guy to fill potholes. Everybody wants to go to Heaven, nobody wants to die.

Fortunately, there is good news for us all.

At this point, you might be thinking, "Well, if there is a problem, what is the solution? What do we need to change?" What makes you think it'll be your decision? The answer is, if anything changes, it will be because the world changes it for us. Changing this sort of problem is generally forced from outside, and it hurts. The machines we make run until they break.


Just an aside, but … Did anyone note the exact year when the heroes of movies stopped being regular humans without wizard powers?

Will the World Carry Us Forever?

It should be pointed out that being able to create such an absurd amount of art nobody wants comes from great wealth and privilege. These tens of thousands of games are being made, for the most part, by affluent children of Empire. The poor don't have that much time to waste.

Don't blame capitalism for these problems. Capitalism is the instrument that made the surpluses that made it possible for you to write art nobody wants in the first place.

The reason a young, enterprising indie dev can churn out product is because that person is surrounded by cheap products made overseas in punishing conditions by people we never see. These are the delicious fruits of Empire.

Why do they do it? Why do these unseen masses make all my junk for me?

Well, they do it to get dollars. (That our government is devaluing as quickly as it can.) And they do it because we have a powerful military that keeps world order. (Even though we can't keep our carriers from burning down to the water line.)

I'll write all the games I want, while I can. BUT. Suppose the rest of the world starts saying, "Um, actually, we don't want to bust our humps making crap for debt forever. We're tripling our prices." Then my whole world goes to pieces.

I HOPE I'M WRONG. I look at the way things are actually going right now, and I see the end of a lot of stuff we got too used to. Our artist paradise is only one of them. I want to be wrong, very badly. I'm sending kids into this world, and I don't want it to suck for them.

We won't be able to afford spending this much time making things nobody wants. And you know something? We never could afford it.

We don't need to debate if I'm right or not. The world will decide the issue for us. If that day comes, well, all this "Any amount of art is valuable!" nonsense will be the least of the cherished illusions you'll be forced to surrender.

It’s hard to look back at your life’s work and wonder if you took the wrong path. If you want to explore the fruits of my misspent youth, they are all available on Steam and pretty fun. As always subscribing to my unnecessary blog is free …

 

[Zeriel]

He's even made the same point before in his blog. Old man's starting to lose it.

 

[Tyranicon]

If you volunteered at a food bank for one afternoon, you would do more good than spending 20 years writing games nobody plays. And I bet you'd feel more satisfaction too. And you'd get out of the house and maybe even make a friend.

I think he's depressed.

 

[Tombo]

Feels like a weird enrichment of Pony memes. Is that a known thing of his that I missed?

 

[Taluntain]

ITT Jeff Vogel tells them kids to GET OFF HIS LAWN.

 

[JarlFrank]

I can understand being afraid of real spiders, but I don't understand being afraid of this:

I have genuine arachnophobia and the only game that ever made it kick in is Northern Journey.

 

[Grauken]

ITT Jeff Vogel tells them kids to GET OFF HIS LAWN.

His problem is only old fucks play his games these days, no kid is interested to be on his lawn