jtr7 on 8/4/2008 at 18:30

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I'm waiting for the consoles to be given modern PC power sans customisablity, including an optional keyboard.:p

Zillameth on 8/4/2008 at 18:51

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The invest-demand relationship is just capitalism at work. You can do nothing about it, unless you can invent a better economic system. Although I do prefer the European variety.

There are several ways in which this system can be influenced, some short term, some long term.

One short term solution is to promote customer honesty. While there is no single reason for current status quo, software piracy is a huge problem. So don't steal (if you already don't steal, and I know you don't, then just keep not doing it). Convince your friends not to steal. Ask them to try and convince their friends, and so on. Even if piracy drops by 10%, it's going to be a huge boost. Remember - piracy harms indies most. A theft is always a theft, but a large company like Microsoft can do without another million dollars, whereas the same million sustains an indie studio for a year.

Another solution is word of mouth. If you liked a game, tell your friends about it, just like you would tell them about a good book or film.

Oh, your friends aren't gamers? That's because of that silly mentality of ours. We call ourselves "gamers", we act like some endangered minority. Have you ever heard anyone say "I'm a reader"? No, there is only "bookworm", a hardcore consumer of books. So stop acting like gaming was an arcane art, or some special hobby. The more people see it as a normal everyday activity, the more people get involved into games. A bigger, more diverse market is to our advantage. Some Thief fans are grandparents, after all.


There is also a long term solution, but it's more easily said than done: have a healthy style of life, and try to teach your children to follow it. I mean healthy style in terms of mental health. Things that are mentally unhealthy include: watching TV all day long (because it's saturated with commercials and product placement), never asking the question "why" (because it makes you rely on conditioning, and conditioning can be tampered with), wearing the same clothes everybody else is wearing (becuase it means following others' choices rather than your own), avoiding school subjects you don't like (you don't like them because they present the mode of thinking you're not familiar with; the more modes of thinking you can master, the better for your mental health), overspecializing (see above), and so on, and so on, and so on. Sorry, I think I'm getting philosophical.

Zillameth on 8/4/2008 at 19:24

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Those figures have been discussed over and over in the last three months. There are a few things wrong with the above argument.

First of all, these are just American figures. That's some 350 million people. European Union is 500 million people and consoles are less popular over here. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, because there are a lot of other places in the world where people play computer games. Usually old PC games, because everybody has some PC and consoles are too expensive.

Second, these figures don't incluse online sales. While console games are still sold mostly through retail, PC is increasingly reliant on online transactions. Steam is 15 million customers, nearly as much as there are X360s or PS3s. World of Warcraft is 10 million active subscribtions. Blizzard has earned some 800 million dollars last year. Valve doesn't realease their figures, but it looks like good business, because more and more companies are putting their back catalogs on Steam. And how about all the indies? You think anyone is going to ask that Audiosurf guy just how rich he has become?

Third, the whole console-PC division is stupid, because there are at least three different kinds of consoles: hardcore stationary, casual stationary, and handheld. They are all treated as a single entity in this kind of stats. You just cannot compare hanhelds to stationary games! And they are quite a big deal, because 65 million NDSs have been sold so far. And how about Wii? Wii has not taken customers from anyone, it reached to new ones. At the same time, PC is both casual and hardcore platform, and also a mobile one, although many new games refuse to run on contemporary laptops.

Fourth, the whole dynamic is very misleading. Current generation of consoles has failed to expand the market so far. There are 120 million PS2s in the world, and only 10 million PS3s. There are 24 million X-Boxes, but only 18 million X360s. In fact, it's going to be a success if they manage to maintain the user base in the end.

Fifth, some games released last year, Crysis in particular, have experienced a recent boost in sales. People seem to have just waited with purchase until they get better hardware.

Sixth, there are so many variables. Steamworks, the Gaming Alliance, new hardware, and so on - these things may or may not turn the market upside down. And we cannot predict anything, we just have to wait and see.

Did I mention I don't have a console on my desk at work at all?

Zillameth on 8/4/2008 at 19:40

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Be constructive, invent something better. Please do, I really want to make that game about wooden spaceships. And it's stealth based!




Frankly, I have no idea, but it looks like casual games are last year's big hit. Ironically, one major venue of income in case of flash games is displaying advertisements in between levels.

But that's not what I meant. I agree with much of what has been said in (http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18133) this article.

By the way, I really don't like how English doesn't make a distinction between "you, the person I'm talking to" and "you, the whole bunch of people who may be reading my post right now".

jtr7 on 8/4/2008 at 20:17

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I'm not attacking you, Z. Really. I'm agreeing.:D History will keep repeating itself, and 99% of artists will be grieved for being who they are, and many of us will complain about how unfair it is. I'm saying it the way I am because I hate how greed and the gloating overlords (no, not all of them are like that) have guaranteed I will never succeed. Nothing I do will sell big enough to make a living off it. Being creative (regardless of the quality) is the most important thing for me. So my bitterness is coming out.

The use of "you" is slangy, and English does make a distinction, but it requires constructing sentences that are impersonal and cold when the writer is feeling the moment, and are just awkward sounding enough that most English-speakers don't bother. "You" comes from trying to create connectedness from the self to the other about a shared idea. It's like saying "I know you've experienced this. You know what I mean?" But it's shorthand. And you know darn well that if I kept saying "one" or "someone" I'd be accused (and this happens a lot!) of really meaning "you". Can't win.

I'm not a writer, though I write a lot, and you know what I mean.:p

Mokkis, thank you for your enthusiasm, but there's a thread about it going already. :o :sly: