Indies, the last hope...

#1 You know, maybe Men are from mars and women are from Venus after all - but I just can't figure out what the heck Brenda Laurel is talking about.

#2

Quote:My thesis is that we are contributing to the damage that the spectacle does to human beings by suggesting that interactivity of a joystick is real agency.

She's basically saying that game makers are training the young to accept virtual rewards as a substitute for real rewards and the dreams of a dying culture as a substitute for real dreams.

#3 Im sorry Alan, but could somone brake this down for me even further? What is the end result of her message?

#4 That we're unwitting pawns of the patriarchal corporate structure that is strangling the planet. We're programming the youth of the world to believe that real change is impossible, and that as long as you can get a rush out of a virtual world, there's no need to do anything to fix the real one.

Frankly, she annoyed me.

--Dave

#5 I think she had some interesting ideas at least worth looking at. She could have come at the industry with a proper feminist critique and rightly ripped it apart. But she didn't. She came with a pro-videogame, pro-masculinity look at what we're doing and what we might do better. She finished her rant with this:

Quote:We have a responsibility.

and I don't think that can be said enough. We have a responsibility not to make soulless garbage. We have a responsibility to make something of value.

#6

Quote:
She could have come at the industry with a proper feminist critique...

What would that be?

#7 A critique from the feminist perspective? I use "proper" in the sense of "formal." You can analyze something from the feminist perspective just like you can from the Kantian perspective or the Aristotolean perspective.

#8 Not EVERYTHING can be free, it just isn't posibble. Unless we all become psychotic morons that never fight eachother and form one big country called 'Peace', and become enlightened and careless to earthly objects, then, MAYBE, it would work. That is VERY far from the truth.

...

#9 I have to be honest, I don't think there was a respectable comment pretty much anywhere in any of the "rants". Sure, they were rants, but there really wasn't any real content in there anywhere...it really just seemed like a whine session to me :(

Note: I wasn't there, but I've read several versions of transcripts, including the "offical" one.

#10 I thought it was very good actually. They were whining but with good reason this industry could use some change ... it needs balance.

#11 Her comments were unfounded, and had little substance. That is what I see here. but that Spores presentation was amazing.

#12 I'm not saying the whines/comments weren't appropriate--I'm saying that they didn't have any content. All of the things that were whined about we know, and didn't need to hear more complaining about. What we need are solutions, or at least input towards solutions.

It's easy to say that something is wrong--I would have been pissed off if I paid to hear that discussion, since many of us already know what is wrong--we want to hear solutions!

#13 Well, I thought there were some implicit solutions in her rant. Don't make games glofifying only certain things. Make games that expand and glorify other aspects of life ... not just blowing stuff up, skateboarding, and stealing cars.

Additionally, I don't think these discussions are supposed to offer free and clear solutions. They are merely supposed to inspire people to create their own.

#14 With all due respect, as soon as she brought politics into her discussion about games, she lost all my attention. I didn't even bother trying to comprehend the rest of what she said--it was muddled enough as it was!

I just cannot understand how bringing up the name of a president--current, past, or future, has anything to do with fixing problems in the game development industry :)

#15 Physics ;)

#16 I'd rather someone spend their effort working on something to better the industry than point a finger in our face and remind us that we need to :)

#17 Actually I found the whole thing very reassuring. The whole point behind it is that people can just get up there and vent about something that is bothering. It it comes across whiney, it doesn't matter. They don't have to provide solutions to these problems, maybe they can't even. I mean who are a few developers to challenge a system that the world is built on.

I thought they made some really valid points, and in terms of content, it's nice to see the people who are working in this industry, who are an integral part of it, share the same concerns that a lowly gamer like me has. I think there is a big change coming, and I am going to enjoy watching the giants stumble.

Ian

#18 Maybe I've read the Sword of Truth series too many times but I'm a strong beleiver in focusing on the solution and not the problem

#19 Well thats very noble, but you are all missing the point. The idea is to hear what these people think about something that is bugging them in the industry. It's called a rant because they can get up there and say whatever they like, just talk like a normal person. It's not a presentation, it's not going to usher in world peace or solve all our problems. It's just insightful.

Ian

#20 True and I do understand the point. The one redeeming factor to me is that it was the title of the GDC session... like you said "Rant." Again like you said, I would concur, at points it is "insightful"... but one thing to keep in mind, something you find progressive and "insightful" someone else might find a waste of time... are you right, are others wrong, are they right and you wrong ? In all reality it doesn't come down to anything that simple other than the fact we all have different opinions on different things...

Personally I have no problem with a rant; however, I would think an entire session at GDC would be better focused on something other than a rant.

I think the right place for a rant is hanging out with your team at dinner, or grabbing a drink, playing a game together, or in a team meeting (or general group meeting).
I'll even go with some sort of unofficial session that is scheduled... though to me I just see a "Rant" at GDC being wasted money and time. People pay good money to go to GDC, they pay good money to present at GDC... its a once a year opportunity to either get your name out or do something productive for the industry... and quite honestly the only rants I think that should go on are after hours...

Again this is just my personal opinion, not right, not wrong, just what I think.

I do agree you have a point... though to me I often see people fall into two actions, a lot of talking, or a lot of action...
(note: design discussion and design meetings are a lot of action in my book... rants, though sometimes needed, fall under talking and I think should be done sparringly because you cross a point where you -at least to me- have to consider if your time is better spent doing something rather than talking about doing something)... and though I've only had a chance to skim over the ran (missed it at GDC) It seems nothing they state is revolutionary or new, in fact most of it we all know.

It just feel to much like a group of whiners getting together talking about how bad things are but too affraid to do something serious about it (I may be mistaken and I hope they prove me wrong)...

again I like to focus on the solution rather than the problem