Just food for thought. I was bored and this is what came out
This article is not calling people out or saying that people who deal with games on a daily basis lost that "night before Christmas" feeling, I genuinely want to know. This is a question that I've always wanted to ask someone who was in the industry. Everyone wants to do something for a living they love. I so happen to love video games and will one day make that love a career. But what happens when that dream becomes a reality? Will I get so use to swag coming into the house on a daily basis that I start to lose that joy of release dates? Will I be play so many horrible games that I won't want to play the ones that I really enjoy?
If your passion is still strong, how do you keep that fire lit? In my eyes, being able to see games months before they are released would be amazing. Then being able to share that amazing feeling with others would be a joy in itself. But would I be able to keep myself grounded and still have the same attitudes towards games as I do now?
Surely, I can't be the only one who looks at release dates for upcoming games with a sense of excitement. Take Modern Warfare 2 for example; I can not wait for that game to drop. I get the same feeling now as I did as a child the night before Christmas. You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get that keeps you up at night? If you have never experienced that, I can't really put it into words that would express that wonderful feeling. I'm just not sure if that feeling will still be there if I were to see games so early in its development.
This article is just me spewing things onto the screen that are just swimming around in my head. What are you thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Advice?
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And I can't wait to get my hands on MLB 2010 The Show.
I'll often think to myself: This job is fucking awesome, and I'm so grateful. Haven't gotten jaded yet, but then, I've been doing this for less than 2 years.
This takes away a lot of the savoring I used to have with games - I play a game in the minimum amount of time, and have to nitpick for little issues even if I enjoyed the title.
Otherwise, it's a lot of fun to talk to developers, get behind the scenes info, and learn where their inspirations come from. It's a lot of hit-or-miss on what you lose and what you gain by diving into your dream job.
No, I'm not complaining mind you - it's just different not being allowed to take your time while playing games. I still love writing about them, and talking about them, and learning new things.
This is true, Cliff was just going gaga over Borderlands but I feel that peopole who actually work on a game are hesitant to praise another game. I mean, it's awesome that he did do that but that's rare right? If I worked on a game for 3 years, I would probably never play that game again after it came out. I agree, they should retain that fire but is that always a reality? Retaining that fire will keep their drive to produce quality material/games but does that always happen?
Now that we are in teh position to buy whatever hell we want, it does set us up for being overwhelmed with all of these games. When we were young, most of us had to play that 1 or 2 games for at least a year until we got another one. Now we can buy a few games a week. I'm not saying that I'm "over" gaming, I'm just saying that I can see someone becoming exhausted with games when they have so many at their disposal.
I hope my fire never goes out :). Which I'm sure it won't. Hell, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to play Dragon Age before MW2 comes out.
At anyrate, I love this shit.
Working around game deadlines, picking apart code to get one minute detail straight before we have to ship, and finding killer bugs 2 weeks into a major 4 week project. I've been in the depths of tester tedium (to the point of having dreams about apps: like all i see is the app, no context.) But, even knowing how these things actually get put together, I look at upcoming game releases and still find the passion to care about new releases and the holiday crush.
Granted, maybe when/if I end up working on console PC games, I may just change how I feel.
But I really don't think its likely.
I think that will be my experience. Give and take :).
I had that feeling a little while ago. Just looking at everything that was coming out and having to decide was tough. I had the money to get like 6 games at once, but then I just thought about it and really wondered if I would get the maximum amount of enjoyment from them if I did that. So I limit myself in order to really dig into a game and experience what it has to offer. I kind of miss the days of when I could only have one or two games at a time and I just spent hours investigating and exploring everything about the game I had at that time.
I feel like there is less of a connection with our games on that kind of level these days. There are a few new games every month with some new feature or some "must-have" status attached to it. Sometimes it really isn't a game that I would be interested in otherwise, but all of this crazy hype surrounding it makes me wonder why I'm NOT interested in it. I miss that feeling of picking up a game just based on the box art or description on the back and being completely surprised by it. I feel like we have too much information these days. We know what the achievements are two months ahead of time, we know who all of the characters are, we know the stories ahead of time, we know EVERYTHING before we even play a game.
Anyway! I guess I am done with my little rant... I just get burnt out on gaming sometimes because there is no mystery. I remember the day clearly when we walked into Toys R Us and picked up Legend of the Mystical Ninja on a whim. It turned out to be one of the best games I've played... co-op for hours on end with my brother. These days I just feel like some of that magic is missing due to the large selection of games combined with the ability to get whatever game I want.
I mean seriously... how much info do we have on 3D Dot Heroes or Modern Warfare 2? Too much. I understand it is how the business works these days, pushing units and blitzing people with previews and exclusive info to show how much better their game is than the last guy's similar game... I guess sometimes I just miss the more simple days.
I know exactly what you mean? There's been a lot of hype around Forza 3 that it's making me interested in it. I HATE RACING GAMES. If it's not Burnout, I usually shy away from it.
So far I have fought off the hype :).
I wouldn't exchange it for any other job in the world. (except maybe professional blowjob receiver)