Abr4hn wrote: »

Wow. That was quite the steaming pile of awesome.

Preaching to "developers and investors"... I am sure they are hanging on every word.

The first paragraphs were inspired though, it was almost like smelling a Steven Jobs motivational talk.

But the "lawsuits" stuff at the end... bleah!. Complete drop of style.

Gidorick wrote: »

Vahrokh wrote: »

Rescorla_ESO wrote: »

Now I don't presume to speak for all of them, but I imagine the large majority of game developers are willing to work for a lower salary because 1) they are gamers themselves and 2) they are as passionate about their work and enjoy creating a product that provides entertainment to other people.
TLDR: I gave the OP a LOL

Let me - as developer myself, subject to globalization - open your eyes about the matter. For every "AAA country" developer who earns an high 5 (if not 6) figures a year, there are 10 "BBB" countries developers who are AS good and earn 4 figures a year. Plus, there are 100 "BBB" countries developers who are worth 1/4 of a first class developer but cost 1/10 of them. That's what drives wages down.

Sounds like pretty much every single industry.

Well, they were talking about developers so I replied about developers, which is also an industry I know well.

wraith808 wrote: »

Kharnis wrote: »

Humanistic wrote: »

Kharnis wrote: »

When you mention the "James Cameron Approach," I really hope you are referring to some heretofore unknown James Cameron, and not James Cameron, the film director and plagiarist.

Ah, he's widely known as a plagiarist eh? Where can I find information on that, specifically?

Look up any article detailing Harlan Ellison's (successful) suit against Cameron for plagiarising Ellison's story "Soldier." Ellison not only won a monetary settlement, all copies of The Terminator now have to have “Acknowledgement To the Works of Harlan Ellison” in the end credits.

That's a matter of jurisprudence more than a matter of fact.

I'll let the story synopsis speak for itself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldier_from_Tomorrow

Compare that to Terminator.

Also, note that the lawsuit was settled.

Not speaking to the general merits, but it does show that your charge of plagiarism is a bit too fervently applied.

Yes. The lawsuit was settled. After Orion Pictures told Cameron that he had a choice: settle, or go to court. If he went to court, and lost, then Orion would turn around and sue him personally.

The facts are this:

Harlan Ellison contacted Orion Pictures, telling them that The Terminator was a rip-off of his own story.
Harlan Ellison presented the proof he had (which was an interview with Starlog Magazine where he bragged he had ripped-off a couple of Ellison's stories, as well as testimonial from someone who personally asked Cameron where he got the idea for the movie, and was answered that Cameron ripped off Ellison).
Orion Pictures quickly settled, and convinced Cameron of the wisdom in settling.

The full take of Ellison's version can be found here. So, no. The charge of plagiarism is not "too fervently applied." It's actually quite accurate.

Humanistic wrote: »

Kharnis wrote: »

When you mention the "James Cameron Approach," I really hope you are referring to some heretofore unknown James Cameron, and not James Cameron, the film director and plagiarist.

Ah, he's widely known as a plagiarist eh? Where can I find information on that, specifically?

Avatar? is the battle of little big horn with blue space monkeys instead of the sioux indians. Seriously, go read about that specific battle, then watch the movie.

Razzak wrote: »

I think he meant that their passion doesn't show any more. It feels like devs became hostages of publisher.

I have posted some reasons why. These days there's strong competition from populations where programming is not a passion, it's the way to fill their belly.

As for being publishers hostages... it's more than that.
They "sold out" to publishers. WoW's success and numbers (plus some single player famous titles) "woke up" the publishing industry from their slumber. Dried up ideals and ideas to show at the cinema (look at the desperate recycling of 80 years ago "heroes") they found succesful games as an ideal outlet for their investments.
Others went even different, they started as "couple of guys" simple companies or tiny publishers and then they grew up, they "became the machine" (Pink Floyd obligatory nudge). Atari, Activision, EA, they started as new publishers. I recall playing H.E.R.O. (Commodore 64: a masterpiece game for a masterpiece computer) and the first EA sports games (One on One, also for Commodore 64). Those were the days. I don't envy AT ALL the young guys who missed out on those games - the dawn of an era.
An example of "classic" publisher turning into the gaming industry would be LucasFilms. I recall the epic days of X-Wing and Tie Figther (my heart still warms up mentioning it) and, of course, the awesome Kyle Katarn series.
Man, how awful and unimaginative have turned the games in the last years. So cool looking, so shallow and empty. Like ESO.