In today's main Gamasutra feature, Naughty Dog's Edvard Toth uses his Soapbox, 'The Santa Incident: The Root of the Game Industry's Creative Crisis' to conjecture that an ongoing crisis in the game industry is fueled by lack of confidence in the power of the medium, suggesting: "We are basically that proverbial little kid who just got hit by the big ugly reveal about Santa."
Toth explains what he sees as the biggest symptom of the problem of structural changes in the game business:
"A fitting illustrative example of this could be the alarmingly rapid emergence of something that could almost be classified as a new character stereotype: the veteran game industry guy with two-digit years of experience under his belt, all disillusioned, cynical, skeptical, viciously sarcastic, and devoid of all passion and sense of purpose overall. (I'm sure most of us can recall at least one particular person who fits into this category.)
What's wrong with these guys, you ask? Most of them could be considered pretty successful by anyone's standards: they generally have solid track-records, the respect of their peers, financial stability, et cetera.
Back when the entire game industry was making its first baby-steps these guys were already there, driven by the idea that they are making something pure, fun and exciting, using technology to entertain people in innovative new ways nobody has even dreamt of before."
You can now
read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including suggestions on both the symptoms and solutions to this issue (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).
[
UPDATE - 1.25pm PST, 12/10/05 - Michael Fitch has already posted a
new Letter To The Editor suggesting: 'Can we please, please, stop beating our chests about a supposed creative crisis within the industry?']
