I can't stand anonymity in the gaming industry

As I searched for something to talk about today, I came across this article from Joystiq featuring a discussion by Will Wright about Spore and the gaming industry.

For those of you who don't know Will Wright, he's not only the creator of Spore, but he's also the creator of the Sims franchise, and arguably one of the greatest game developers of all time.

And yet, I'd venture to say that at least some of you reading this have never heard of Will Wright before. I'll bet you've played the Sims and may even know about Spore, but you had no idea who Will Wright is.

If that's true, the blame shouldn't be placed on you and you certainly shouldn't be expected to perform research just to find out who develops a specific game. Instead, the blame should be placed squarely on the video game industry, and more specifically, major companies like Take-Two and Electronic Arts, for creating an environment where anonymity is not only accepted, but expected as well.

And if you ask me, that's just wrong.

This culture of anonymity reminds me of the old days of film. Back then, studios were under the impression that if actors and directors remained anonymous, no one would know who they were and they wouldn't ask for more money, thus allowing the studios to rake in more of the cash. But after awhile, the studios found out that people were more willing to spend money if they knew who the stars were or who directed a particular film and started rolling the credits.

Although we roll the credits in video games now, does it even matter? For major titles like MGS 4 or Spore, we know who the creators are, but what about other titles like Halo or even GTA IV? We know the companies who develop these titles--Bungie and Rockstar, respectively--but we don't have the name of their creators on the tip of our tongue. Certainly one person had to think it up and act as the creative director, right?

More often than not, developers talk about "the team." Unlike the film industry where we focus on the directors and celebrities, the video game industry seems to love the idea that a team created a game and not one person stood above the crowd.

But is that really the best idea?

Let's face it--most people care about Spore because Will Wright created it. if a no-name developer came up with this idea, we'd certainly hear about it and there would some reports about its progress, but not nearly as many people would care and random stories about it would all but disappear.

Realizing the value of having a celebrity creator, why aren't more video game developers trying to put them into the limelight? When you think about the best video game developers, three names usually jump to the forefront: Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, and Will Wright. There may be a slew of better developers in the wild, but if we've never heard of them, we'll never know.

The idea of "teams" may have served the video game industry well years ago when it was nothing more than a niche industry, but today, it's a major industry in the entertainment business and it needs to start acting like it.

I don't want to dig for a creator's name, I should know it as soon as the game starts. Much like a Metal Gear Solid title, each and every game should feature who wrote, directed, and starred in it as soon as the gameplay begins.

If the video game industry wants to be included in the same conversation with films, it better start acting like the movie business.

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[BankAdmin]

YAAAWWN... search harder next time.

[SRobertRoberts]

"The idea of "teams" may have served the video game industry well years ago when it was nothing more than a niche industry,"

You've got that backwards, Lots of people knew who made the games back in the 80's and early 90s when games were written by one or two programmers. Nowadays people don't know the individuals because today's games need large teams to create them. Just like all modern major pieces of software - you don't know the main guy behind Outlook, why would you know the man guy behind [insert game title here]?

[freemarket--2008]

Ever stop to think that maybe game developement is more of a team effort than movies are?

[WinstonHobbes]

While I agree with the premise of lead designers receiving due credit, it should be remembered that this has was done to ill effect, specifically in the late 90s and early millenium. Anyone remember American McGee's Alice? Or John Romero's outspoken peddling of the Daikatana flop? Recognition is grand, but putting a rockstar developer's name ahead of a product has a historical basis for disappointment.

I agree fully. I find it offensive that every singly pee-on involved in making a movie has his name listed somewhere in the credits, but that some of the infinitely more contributory programmers and creators of software hardly get any recognition. I think this is a societal problem - collectively, we still don't respect nerds.

[McDover]

I think it would be great for the talented lead designers who really do come up with new game concepts or strategy mechanisms to get their due credit, but it wouldn't be fair to the handful of other key people who make a game great. Designers are responsible for great gameplay, but not the amazing engine that it's played on or the stunning art. You'd have to give credit then not just to the lead engineer or the art director, but those individuals actually responsible for making those things. There are usually a few great animators and texture artists and a few brilliant engineers on a project that end up being overlooked (which is really unfortunate) and put in the masses with the other 100+ people involved in making that game. If the stars of the industry were singled out, the major players would end up losing their best talent in bidding wars, which would be GREAT for the people and horrible for studios like EA who thrive on keeping great talent there by making them feel like maybe they can achieve greatness on the next title.

[totorototoro]

This has been done several times in videogame history. EA made a point to focus on the main developer for their games, including bios and photos on the packaging during the 80s. Anyone who has played C64 or Amiga games knows all the names of the developers, thanks to EA.

Then during the 90s, the PC market went the celebrity developer route as well, as WinstonHobbes notes above.

Come on Don, do some research ;p

[drhowarddrfine]

The "old days of film"? I have as yet to work on a film set where film wasn't used. Yes, digital is making inroads somewhere but, I have as yet to work on a quality production where film wasn't used. Film still is king.

[totorototoro]

Here ya go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts#Sharing_credit

Like ROCK STARS I tell you!

[umbrae]

People who care knows. Some people still don't know who directors or actors are in movies, and the same for Video Games. I do not think the industry goes out of it way to hide this. You even get a splash screen for every little company involved in its creation. Those that care about games will know the creators and developers.

[jrm125]

Don...do you eat stupid pills for breakfast?

Let's consider some basic things:
Video games haven't reached the universal proliferation movies have.
In movies, we SEE people we know. Video games are a mask over those people.
There are some pretty prevalent players that are known, like Kojima.

Video game industry individual will become known when the public takes an interest in them. Till then, getting their names out there doesn't mean anything if no on cares (besides you, obviously).

[Pete Bardo]

Seems to me it doesn't matter who wrote/developed/designed the games. It only matters that the game is fun, challenging and rewarding. I don't know the names of thousands of actors who I have enjoyed watching--and I'm usually wrong about the names I think I know.

[Composer_1777]

The argument that games are more of an team effort than movies is totally ridiculous... Both industries create an end product because of a team. Yes, game creators do deserve to be announced, but like you said: until the benefit of letting game creators become famous is known, companies just don;t want to risk paying more based on popularity. Once developers learn the benefit outweighs the cost, we will start to see some recognition granted to creators.

[meenoo5]

Don,
Normally, i absolutely hate the trash you write- but i'm going to have go against the tide and agree with you here. Its a great idea, although its implementation is probably very tricky.
Thanks for not making me want to pull my hair out today.

[zeroplane]

I sure would love to play this game, I bought the $10 version not the demo. But sadly the software doesn't run at all. I am using windows XP SP3 on a very beefy hardware setup. I am also a very knowledgeable software engineer and have virus, process, and mallware software installed on my computer to protect it from the typical garbage that would make it unstable. To my surprise installing Spore from spore website that I bought lit my detection software up like a Christmas tree.

This software is loaded with SecureROM DRM software that is very nasty. I have heard you can circumvent the security checks it run by running the application in Window 98 compatibility mode. But regardless the software installs SecureROM DRM software. There is no mention of this software in the installation, in the readme documents or on the spore or EA website. By the way once you install the DRM software you can't uninstall it without digging deep into your registry, configuration files, and deleting files from the windows directory and programs directory directly. This is unacceptable! I am going to spend the next few days attempting to clean my computer of this vermin.

I suggest you don't install it unless you are:
A) totally ignorant and don't care that you will be monitored by EA.
B) don't mind that you computer's security and anti virus software will have been disabled making your PC even more vulnerable to viruses and mall ware.

Until the DRM rootkit is not included in this software I won't buy anything from EA from this point on.
BOYCOTT EA!

[the_smurf]

I can't believe you didn't mention John Carmack in this article.

[squirtlewa]

I disagree with the premise.

Who wrote Firefox? I just don't care.
Who headed Final Cut? I just don't care.
Whom did Microsoft plagiarize Powerpoint from? I just don't care.

It's software. Being Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa doesn't make it a good game. Even if you liked Ultima. Major software is team driven. The quality of users' experience depends as much on implementation and quality, rather than the initial design -- stability, freedom from bugs, quality of the engine and UI...

Vanguard demonstrated that taking top leadership talent for a game does nothing for you if the team can't get the very basic stuff done.

[Ed-duh-win]

Nice talking to you today from SFU over Skype :)

Anyways, I don't really mind the lack of credit to the creators of the game. Most games I believe, like Halo or GTA, are the product of a team working together to craft an interesting story to captivate the young audience. I don't think there is a "creator" per se for the likes of the aforementioned games.