Paid to Play?

JordanW

http://kotaku.com/gaming/read/book-authors-looking-for-chatty-industry-peoples-273084.php

Apparently there's some book coming out that talks about how to break into the game industry. That's great, I think more information about our industry out there the better.

The title of the book kind of bugs me though. The first hurdle I have to jump whenever my job comes up in conversation is for me to convince them that "No....I dont play games all day".

PeterK

the whole "paid to play" thing is really against the spirit of the industry. People should know that what we do is hardly play. This industry keeps shooting itself in the foot every chance it gets.

It's still damn near impossible to convince people that games are not just for kids. Then you get books and articles with titles like "paid to play" coming out, and it just sets us further back.

Mark Dygert

I enjoy my job a whole hell of a lot, but wouldn't EVER consider it "play". Hopefully the title is one of those ironically clever kind meant to deliver the message of what it is really like to the people who need it the most. If its a bunch of true stories from people who work in the industry I don't see how it can have the slant the title suggests. I guess creative editing could lead the reader to believe grass is blue and the sky is green...

Every place is different but most people in the industry will tell you we work hard (first)and we have fun (if there is time). Having fun is always sacrificed for hard work, I hope the book highlights this.

Anyone read the first version? That insight might help people decided if they want to contribute or not.

jgarland

I'll agree with that, Peter. Contrary to the commercials, game artists don't just sit around "tightening up the graphics" with nothing more than a degree from a cheap college and a PlayStation controller.

The book, to me, seems to come off as being very amateurish. It apparently covers animation, level design, marketing, "business development," and script writing. What about modeling, texturing, concept creation, quality assurance, programming, designing, illustration, and so on and so forth?

People still think video games are made by bored teenagers with a computer in their parent's basement, not by a team of 40 or 50 skilled workers with multi-million dollar budgets.

Hito

If you interview with them tell them to change the title at least.

Looking at the graphic and reading the title I get one of two impressions:

Its a comedy book written by the Pennyarcade dudes.

Its a "industry" book written by authors on par with writers of fine titles like "Amazingly Easy Manga in 7 days!"

Neither makes me want to look inside the covers. Infact both makes me want to torch the book, and the shelf; possibly the entire bookstore.

Looking at the authors I guess you can't expect much. Two guys writes nothing but game walkthroughs; the girl as far as I'm able to find is a first time author of anything.

MoP

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Its a "industry" book written by authors on par with writers of fine titles like "Amazingly Easy Manga in 7 days!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Hah, that was exactly what I was thinking

Hopefully it would be slightly better than that, but you never know...

blankslatejoe

so long as they tell me how to tighten up the graphics on level 3...it cant be all bad.

Joshua Stubbles

That's crap.
Much like Tinman, I always had to say right off the bat "No, my job isn't all fun and games". Once you explain things, people usually back away from the issue. And as soon as you hit discussion on crunch cycles, they usually run for the hills.

Ghostscape

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I'll agree with that, Peter. Contrary to the commercials, game artists don't just sit around "tightening up the graphics" with nothing more than a degree from a cheap college and a PlayStation controller.

[/ QUOTE ]
Man you must work for the wrong company that's all I do all day

IronHawk

looking at the title to the thread I thought someone was posting another horrid game school ad.