Emotional Vampire said:
Metro said:
Price is a bit excessive, no?
And every penny goes to Interplay.
Of course, you fucktards will buy it anyway, thus further propagating the decline of industry.
This is why I fear that the problems in the gaming industry are not personal but structural. It isn't that big monoliths like Bioware/Bethesda/Vivendi are searching for profit at the expense of art. That happens in all creative industries. I've posted many times that things will improve with market segmentation, and I stand by that, but I fear that the market structures at present aren't well designed to take advantage of market maturity when iut arrives.
If this was music, film, print or TV, then Interplay would still be getting most of the cut. But Avellone would be getting direct royalties for writing the thing, as would the other creatives. Fuck, when I used to act, if I did an advertisement - a 2-bit fucking AD, with like 2 lines or less - I would not only get my fee at the time, but as a 'creative' I'd get a royalty cut every single time they did a repeat run a few months/years down the track. Same with film and tv - it's called residuals, and you get them if you do any work on the creative end of things. Sounds lazy, but it is what balances out the higher risk and intermittent work that the creatives (using the term loosely - not pretending that I was an 'artiste' or anything) get. The creatives get residuals (and good pay per hour), whereas the techies get job security, 9-5 employment, better sick leave and holiday conditions and all the benefits of a permanent career.
Music and literature works the same way.
Now the trade-off is that in those industries you don't get hired as a writer before you've even put pen to paper. Sure, if you're really well-established you might get commissioned to produce numerous scripts per year, but the choice to actually run with those scripts is made on quality. In the high-art end it is basically a tender-process. You can have the most awesome track record but you still need to put up to get that script made into a movie or a play.
So imagine it done this way:
Avellone still gets the writing gig, not because he is the pre-established inhouse writer, but because he puts forward a fucking amazing script. He chooses a team of writers to work under him, and they all get artistic credit for their bits. Ultimately, the final script doesn't get accepted 'til its good enough', and the studio may knock the script back completely after its done, maybe even sending him back 3 or 4 times, then handing it to someone else, than another. Not unusual for films to go through several different script writers before getting the final script.
- the designers themselves are on commission, but still working on the basis of 'show us what you can do, each time'. Their past record gets them an audition to showcase their stuff, but they still need to show they've got inspiration for this particular work.
So way less job security at that end....BUT...when the product comes out, it isn't Herve's fucking Interplay's PS:T - it's got 'written and designed by Chris Avellone' plastered all over it, just like the Lord of the Rings films had 'Peter Jackson' first and foremost, with 'New Line Cinema' in the background. Any time bits of it get used for merchandising or re-releases, each creative who had to go to the work of actually auditioning or putting forward a script or something that could have been knocked back each gets a cut of the royalties for evermore, unless they agree to sell them to the studio for more cash up front.
Those who don't have to audition/present showcase work etc, just get paid as per usual.
Better work from the creatives, balanced by way more recognition, ownership of their art (needs their permission to be used for other purposes - usually the producer just buys those rights off them, but at least they get the cash from selling their IP), and a cut of future royalties regardless of what happens to the producer. Everyone else pretty much works as is. Gamers start following great designers and writers rather than studios who may or may not have retained the talent from the previous game/
Sorry, too drunk and ranting to give this argument properly, but I think it's worth a shot. Maybe I'll come back and edit it when sober
:evil:
