Re: The nature of the beast

From: David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>

Date: Wed, 03 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Henry Penninkilampi <spamfree@metropolis.net.au> writes:
> I'll ... introduce you to a number of really good (ex-)game designers
> so that you can see what they look like.  You can then verify, for
> yourself, that I'm not actually making all this up.  Ask them how they
> got started, how much they get paid, by whom, and whether or not they
> have thousands of hours of spare time (or even the inclination) to
> design a PB(E)M game and then give it away for free.

I know some commercial computer game designers too.  I have not the
slightest doubt that if you ask a bunch of people who took jobs as
commercial computer game designers whether they wanted jobs as
commercial computer game designers, virtually all of them will say yes!
Otherwise they wouldn't have taken those jobs.  And if you ask them if
they have the skills needed to be commercial computer game designers,
then they will say yes!  Otherwise they wouldn't have been given and
succeeded at those jobs.  And if you ask them whether commercial
computer game designers are in fact, as a group, good at designing
games, they will probably say yes!  Otherwise they would be admitting
that most of what they produce is crap.  And if you ask them whether
they personally are motivated to produce free games, they will probably
say no!  After all, they chose a commercial career instead.

But this doesn't tell you anything about all of those people who may
design free games but who aren't commercial computer game designers, and
don't want to be.  If you asked those people, you would discover that
the majority have careers of their own which they quite reasonably
prefer to the opportunities you describe, some of the rest either don't
have the skills to produce mass-market software or to supervise large
teams, and perhaps there are a few who even could be successful computer
game designers but either don't care to take a chance on it, or haven't
been given the opportunity.

If you only look at people who do X, then it's not surprising that you
conclude that most people aim at X.  I'm sure that if you did the same
survey of successful software entrepreneurs, you would conclude that no
one would continue to spend their time producing high-quality free
software.

David desJardins

References

Re: The nature of the beast
spamfree@metropolis.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
spamfree@metropolis.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Wed, 03 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0000