FiringSquad - Consolitis Editorial

Dhruin

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Ubbax sends in this article at FiringSquad - which is not specifically RPG-related - on the subject of "consolitis". I don't agree with all the points but it never hurts to have discussion. A snip from later in the article:
Because the big companies are so focused on catering to the lowest common denominator and trying to emulate past successes, creativity has taken a nose-dive. Making money should be a side effect of game development, not the reason for doing it in the first place. While production values and advertising budgets for AAA games have skyrocketed in recent years, innovation and overall quality have come way down. Unfortunately, deficiencies in the latter are often covered up by overcompensating with the former, which is especially effective in the eyes of a consumer that cares more about outward appearances and celebrity endorsements than actual substance. The sweet irony of it all is that a genuinely good game with virtually zero budget and publicity can be as financially successful as, if not more so than, a AAA title. Corporations have corrupted the industry with their greedy habit of minimalizing risk, and if they don’t change their ways, they will come crashing down in the wake of the indie game revolution.
More information.
 
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... And this is called "Capitalism".

Or, as an author of an article in today's newspaper put it :

"In capitalism, money becomes the center [of our deeds]." (Quoted from my memory.)
 
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Corporations have corrupted the industry with their greedy habit of minimalizing risk, and if they don’t change their ways, they will come crashing down in the wake of the indie game revolution.

Oh, i doubt it very much, although it`d be a sight dear to my heart :) It`d be nice to see some EActivisons going down like it`s the end of Fight Club, yet it`s rather unlikely.

Hollywood/music companies/TV/other media are spewing out constant stream of crap since forever, and people are only happy to swallow. There`s indies in all of them too, and yet no revolution threatening the big cats ever happened.
 
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The article is contradictory, in my opinion, which makes it worthless.

Underwhelming graphics: All console hardware is outdated. That’s why they’re affordable to the consumer and that’s why the manufacturers can turn a profit. It also means they just aren’t capable of keeping up with the advancements in visual effects afforded to the PC by constant improvements graphics technology.

The sweet irony of it all is that a genuinely good game with virtually zero budget and publicity can be as financially successful as, if not more so than, a AAA title.

I'd be interested in which "virtually zero budget games" meet his criteria of not having "underwhelming graphics", which he notes as a sign of consolitis.
 
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… And this is called "Capitalism".

Or, as an author of an article in today's newspaper put it :

"In capitalism, money becomes the center [of our deeds]." (Quoted from my memory.)

And look where capitalism got are country today.Let me list the problems.

1. A Economic Crash
2. Millions of unemployed
3 Overpaid CEO'S who caused the problems
4 Lobbyist who block any legislation to fix problems
5 Jobs and Company's moving overseas

So is it really worth it.It depends on who you ask. From the look of it the corporations will be are next masters they have us by are balls.
 
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What is there not to like in this article ? I think the author hit the proverbial nail on the head several times.

I am a PC gamer.

I am not "jealous" of the attention console gamers get. I even enjoy to play old console games on emulators (yes, I have a legal ROM).

I just wish that console game designers would stay the hell away from my PC games.

If the PC market no longer supports million €/$ AAA games, with the now mandatory Hollywood voice-acted superproduction as introduction cinematic or cutscene, I am willing to accomodate to that.

Just give me creative, intelligent, and fun (EDIT : preferably RPG) games that accomodate to my PC, like before, not to a console.
 
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Our economic system is not capitalist. It is corporatist. Corporatism is highly greedy and exploitative. Here is some cited evidence:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sSg0xjzIec&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/user/RTAmerica#p/u/45/W1DchGc07TY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GQ1NPLU2eQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5dNdBt4204
http://www.aapsonline.org/brochures/fascism.htm

Please know the many differences between capitalism and corporatism. Yes corporatism is effecting the gaming industry in many ways.

For as long as we think capitalism is the cause of our problems, we'll continue to perpetuate the mess we've been in for many decades by not properly diagnosing it.
 
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Very good article. I agree that the creativity has been in the dumpster for the big pc games past few years.

I'm not sure its all due to consoles, but they definitely have a big influence of the trends.

It seems complexity in games, and especially rpgs, has been come to be viewed as a bad and undesirable thing. The more simple the game elements, the better seems to be the philosophy.
 
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People are ignorant by nature, and greed is just another aspect of that.

In fact, the key problem is ignorance - and not the system.

That said, when you combine ignorance with capitalism - you get opportunism, which is largely responsible for much of the misery of the world.

But we should consider a system that doesn't facilitate greed quite so efficiently. But greed in itself will prevent a change - at least until we're at the brink.

So - all we can do is wait until the system collapses entirely. Well, that and speak our minds about it.

The fortunate thing about the greed race, is that there are only a handful of people at the top. Such people can only hold power for so long, and ultimately power is an illusion based on a mutual agreement between holders and givers.

So, when the people at the top step over the line - which they always do, being ignorant and greedy, there will be an opportunity to do something about it - because the real power is with the majority. Sadly, the cycle mostly just repeats itself and a new minority will take power promising change.

We're in for a long wait :)
 
There was an opportunity couple of years ago when the banks collapsed. Oh wait -they didn`t, because their government proxies quickly flooded them with cash. Cash that generations will have to pay off.

It`s not the first bubble that burst and nothing was done about it. All back to "normal", move along, your debt is now 865128735818890.213 more.
 
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I don't agree with all the points but it never hurts to have discussion.
You meant to write flame war.
face.gif
 
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I'd say consolidation is the root problem here. That, and founders that sell for quick cash from big corp. Nobody seems interested in long-term investing and ownership of small-medium businesses. Instead we get these bloated mega-corporations that vacuum up any independent talent (I'm looking at you Bioware doctors). Left are these mega-corporations who only seem to attract scorched earth driven execs.
 
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There was an opportunity couple of years ago when the banks collapsed. Oh wait -they didn`t, because their government proxies quickly flooded them with cash. Cash that generations will have to pay off.

It`s not the first bubble that burst and nothing was done about it. All back to "normal", move along, your debt is now 865128735818890.213 more.

As I said, greed in itself will prevent a change until the collapse is total.

It's human nature to keep what you have, no matter what it does to other people. Especially when so many people worship money in itself as a worthwhile achievement - directly related to the amount, instead of the need for it.

Basically, in this world, people tend to look at what you have when they decide what you've achieved as a human being.

We use laws as a comfort blanket in terms of when you step over the line. So, as long as what you're doing is legal - or can be made legal - it's OK.

Disturbing, but that's ignorance for you.
 
The sweet irony of it all is that a genuinely good game with virtually zero budget and publicity can be as financially successful as, if not more so than, a AAA title.

I think the author was thinking of MineCraft.
 
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but it`s humans that are ultimately greedy. Hence other system`s failing too.

I agree to this statement.

I believe that current democracies have not yet developed sophisticated protection mthods to hinder might-/power - greedy and materialistic greedy people from entering so high positions within "the system" that they are able to exploit the public with it.

Just look at Egypt and a several African countries : The so-called "elite" there isn't interested in democratic structures AT ALL,
ALTHOUGH they might have come to power by simply using these structures. Or Belusconi, for example. Or Mugabe. Or Lukashenko or how he is spelled in English language.

They all just USE the democratic system as a tool to install themselves - and to stay there, until they die.

And - interestingly - they are all patriarchs. There might be power-hungry women at the top of similar "systems", as well, but not many.

Our current democratic systems imho actually need some more fine-tuneing. They are not perfect. They can still be used to install a "parallel society" which is controlling the rest.

You can see that a democratic system fails if "the system" uses its powers to retain itself (Wackersdorf, for example, or currently Egypt).
 
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I'd say consolidation is the root problem here.

Anything to swipe at the ol`consoles, eh ? :)
Joking, you`re of course right sir. Since suits have seen the crazy revenues from GTAs/CODs/WoWs and such, videogames are no longer considered some minor bumbling biz - the Mordor like gaze of big players, equities and hedges has fallen on the industry and here we are in merry 2011.

Still, like Dhruin says, this article was rather weak - too much generalising & contradicting itself. Consolitis is such a nice catch-all term, sure to make PC diehards go up in arms. But, like I argued elsewhere, our problems are not consoles fault but devs and publishers.
 
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Consolitis exists because people buy console games way more than pc games. And for higher prices even. Most people dont want pc games.

"Making money should be a side effect of game development, not the reason for doing it in the first place."
.
Console sales fund development of pc games too.
And look where capitalism got are country today.Let me list the problems.

1. A Economic Crash
2. Millions of unemployed
3 Overpaid CEO'S who caused the problems
4 Lobbyist who block any legislation to fix problems
5 Jobs and Company's moving overseas

So is it really worth it.It depends on who you ask. From the look of it the corporations will be are next masters they have us by are balls.
Sickness that is companies like Goldman. Once the next war start they should be headshotted first behind the sauna. Once enough killing is done somone will invent a better system out of desperation.

http://www.ultrabodyandmind.com/2010/03/goldmans-great-greek-swindle-and-the-american-blowback-686
 
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Making money should be a side effect of game development, not the reason for doing it in the first place.

not sure if this is a lie or just plain ignorance on how the industry has worked over the past 35 years. When I personally talked to David Crane he was certainly content at being an Atari employee selling millions of cartridges and getting 12k a year in the late 1970's. [/sarcasm]

Let me check how many great games came out of Russia in the Soviet Era..hmm, Tetris. That was given over to the brotherhood of man for all to enjoy wasn't it?
 
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