Apathetic Development
This is a subject I’ve seen come up on and off over the years, and it always fills me with a mixture of intrigue and bewilderment. This isn’t in response to any specific event… it’s just my rambling thoughts.
It’s difficult for me to relate to apathetic development in the games industry, and it’s something that really shouldn’t exist. A few things to begin with:
1) There should be no such thing as an apathetic game designer. Simply put, if you are getting into game design for any reason other than because it’s something you love to do, then you’re making a bad decision. It’s like becoming a painter when you don’t like art. The reason to become a painter is because of a love for the craft, not because you need a job. Ten years from now, I expect that I’ll still be making less money as a designer than I did at my last job. And I’ll b e working longer hours. And I won’t get to work from home. And I’ll be spending my weekends researching other games, reading design books and trolling design blogs.
2) If you don’t love the job, then it’s probably going to burn you out.
3) If you don’t care about the projects you’re working on, then your work won’t be as good.
4) Creative work requires inspiration. It’s hard to be inspired if you aren’t emotionally invested in your work.
Apathy in other positions isn’t as big of a leap for me, because most of those positions involve skill sets that can be applied to other fields. A programmer can get a job at any range of companies. Artists are needed at all types of multimedia and advertising companies. Testers are needed in all software development. Management is management. But what about a game system designer? What kind of job do I get with that skill set? In my case, I’d just fall back to architecture.
In some twisted reality, if someone’s lucky enough to get a job as a game designer just because they think it’s a cakewalk and they don’t really care, it shouldn’t take long for them to slam into the brick wall known as reality. Design isn’t an easy job. Chances are, you’ll be overworked (especially if you’re new) , underpaid (especially if you’re new), required to do tons of boring, menial tasks (especially if you’re new) and mistreated (especially if you have forums). It’s a job, and the workload mirrors that fact. The industry’s status quo treatment of new designers also backs up the assertion that the games industry cannibalizes its young (I wish I remembered where that originated). However, we become designers because of the 5-10% of the job that involves doing what we love. That’s the biggest benefit we get. If there’s no passion for that portion of the job, then I don’t understand why anyone would seek to continue this line of work.
Basically, the real benefit of working on games is having a job that you care about. Even the people with skills that translate into other jobs aren’t going to earn as much money working on games as they would elsewhere. The supply of people who want to work on games is greater than the demand, and the new ones are often willing to kill themselves for the opportunity.
Witnessing or hearing about apathetic development confuses me, but then I’ve never worked on a dreary project. Everything I’ve worked on was either of my own choosing or a huge opportunity. I didn’t have to work my way up by designing Barbie games or struggling through other games industry positions in the hopes of getting a spot as a designer.
Has the games industry become big enough that we should expect - or accept - apathetic development? I say no.