I agree, this is pretty much a Very Bad Idea(tm). I feel like the television suits are just wrestling with a problem that the majority of people who "really want to be game designers" run into around the end of high school/entering college: just because you like to play games does not mean you should be a game designer.
I also agree that giving the winner of this show a job, or the means to produce whatever ratings-friendly crap they throw together to win this competition, would be a horrible idea. I will probably watch the first ep in the same way one watches a train wreck.
It will be interesting to see whether this winds up going in an entertaining direction at all (it will depend on who from the industry they pull in -- if any of the producers knows anything they'll be calling Sid Meier, for instance, though who knows whether he'd want to be involved), or whether it winds up being as 'realistic' as the G4 awards. If the producers have any sense they should be able to get expert judges to pick the competitors, which could have some interesting results.
Here in Brazil, in an attempt to foment the industry, the government sponsored a game design competition where anyone (no age limit - over half the entries were made by teenagers) could send in an idea for a game. A panel picked ten ideas, then offered 30,000 reals (about R$15,000 at the time) to companies willing to work with the "creator" to turn those ideas into a game demo.
Wow. That's certainly an interesting way to stimulate development.
I think I don't mind as much when governments do this, though, because they're actually trying to stimulate real growth, even if they're going about it in what would appear to be a kind of hamfisted manner that perhaps doesn't understand game development business dynamics. For instance, there are several countries now that waive taxes for game companies because of how much revenue they bring to a country -- and I think that generally winds up being good for development?
Well, they haven't given the industry a tax break. They would need a clue to do that. If they think thirteen year-olds are capable of being game designers and US$15,000 pays demo development (doesn't pay the hardware or software, much less the people), it just shows how amateur they think the industry is. I consider it more of an insult than anything. The government pays movies US$700,000 to US$5,000,000 for production. Still too little, but at least closer to reality.
Ahhh, I see. =/ You're right, that's lousy. I didn't realize they thought the $15k would fund the WHOLE development as opposed to just being an incentive. On the other hand, I'm surprised they pay that much for movies -- I suppose it's the same thing, economic incentives.
Huh. I do wonder whether it's the same people. The concept sounds slightly different.
I certainly understand why they're chasing it. I suppose I should be grateful for anything that generates positive energy around/toward game development -- but this doesn't seem like it's squarely guaranteed to be there. And more likely to cause a lot more misconceptions in a field already full of them. I can see the already crazy dropout rate in game dev edu getting another bump.
That's an interesting point. I have a feeling that that wouldn't happen... particularly if their ideas are actually any good. It really depends on how they do the show. But I agree that it seems farfetched that it would do anything positive for them in a career sense with the mainstream industry itself (ie anything not provided through investment associated with the show). I could see the winner getting a budget and making a game that winds up sucking, and then the whole of it disappearing quietly, like the "relationships" that come out of The Bachelor.
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I agree, this is pretty much a Very Bad Idea(tm). I feel like the television suits are just wrestling with a problem that the majority of people who "really want to be game designers" run into around the end of high school/entering college: just because you like to play games does not mean you should be a game designer.
I also agree that giving the winner of this show a job, or the means to produce whatever ratings-friendly crap they throw together to win this competition, would be a horrible idea. I will probably watch the first ep in the same way one watches a train wreck.
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Here in Brazil, in an attempt to foment the industry, the government sponsored a game design competition where anyone (no age limit - over half the entries were made by teenagers) could send in an idea for a game. A panel picked ten ideas, then offered 30,000 reals (about R$15,000 at the time) to companies willing to work with the "creator" to turn those ideas into a game demo.
How wrong is that?
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I think I don't mind as much when governments do this, though, because they're actually trying to stimulate real growth, even if they're going about it in what would appear to be a kind of hamfisted manner that perhaps doesn't understand game development business dynamics. For instance, there are several countries now that waive taxes for game companies because of how much revenue they bring to a country -- and I think that generally winds up being good for development?
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If they think thirteen year-olds are capable of being game designers and US$15,000 pays demo development (doesn't pay the hardware or software, much less the people), it just shows how amateur they think the industry is. I consider it more of an insult than anything.
The government pays movies US$700,000 to US$5,000,000 for production. Still too little, but at least closer to reality.
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I certainly understand why they're chasing it. I suppose I should be grateful for anything that generates positive energy around/toward game development -- but this doesn't seem like it's squarely guaranteed to be there. And more likely to cause a lot more misconceptions in a field already full of them. I can see the already crazy dropout rate in game dev edu getting another bump.
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Or, worse, hire them for the PR and fire them soon after to get even more publicity.
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