This isn’t really intended to be a proper blog post, but more of a way to self medicate my growing rage and anger towards a once thoughtful and beautiful art form.
I grew up with gaming and music, and saw them both as being a very beautiful form of art. Every time I saw or played a video game, I imagined myself as being the developer, rather than a mere player. I tried to envision how the developers felt whenever a young and energetic child played the developers unique creation. They shaped a whole generation of dreams and gave us the imaginative power to move forward in our lives. They created worlds outside of our own, and journies through colourful lands of magic and fun. If you’ve ever played Ocarina of Time, you know the feeling. The warm connections with an imaginative world and the characters within. It makes you feel good, and opens your mind to new dreams and new possibilities. Most of all, it gives you a sense of hope for the future. It gives you the emotional strength needed to conquer every day tasks.
Gaming used to be an art form. Developers used to be enthusiastic. To dream up new worlds of possibilities, and use hardware in unique and innovative ways. I no longer see the same level of enthusiasm with the game industry of today, and instead see developers working just for the paycheck, and not for the experiences that they could create. Developers have lost the will to dream of new worlds, and seek greed above all else. This bothers me, as art without the dreamer is no longer art. There’s no imagination. There’s no emotional connection.
The top selling franchises of today are shooters. Call of Duty, Battlefield. They were made as a product, and sold as a product. They are designed to make money, not to provide new experiences, or to give the warmth of a good game. There’s no emotional connection. Hell, Titanfall is a multiplayer shooter with literally no story or immersion. It is simply an unoriginal shooter with the intention of making as much money as possible, and yet, it is also one of this generations most talked about games. Honestly, this makes me sick. You know damn well that no emotion was put into this product. You know damn well that, within the next three months, we’ll see a piece of downloadable content, likely priced at $15, and likely only with a few new maps. The game itself lacks imagination, and is already a $60 product. Why do we accept this level of corporate idiocy? Is our intelligence really that low, or do we simply have low expectations?
If you are a developer, and if you are working on the next Call of Duty or Battlefield installment, I have two words for you. Fuck you. You are a joke and a disgrace to what this industry once stood for. While you may be talented, you lack the vision to create. You lack the imagination. You’re creating a product, and have no respect for what was once a valid art form. Sure, a rare few of you may have the talent and the vision, but the simple fact that you are working for a large studio shows that you put the paycheck above all else, and if you dare to argue that you’re different, you’ll simply be a hypocrite with a high paying job.