Just got this in the IGDA Newsletter, this morning:
Dear Members and friends,
In the August newsletter ( http://www.igda.org/newsroom/newsletter_0808.txt ), I criticized Mythic's credits policy specifically, and the industry in general, for not adopting inclusive credit standards. I'd like to set the record straight on a number of things that have happened over the past month.
When the credits story first appeared, Mark Jacobs, the GM of Mythic, was in the middle of a series of interviews in New York. After an interview with N'Gai Croal of Newsweek and Level Up blog, Mark asked N'Gai for his thoughts on the subject. N'Gai suggested simply putting the full credits online. Mark is in the process of implementing N'Gai's suggestion, and in doing so, Mythic will move towards a greater level of credits inclusiveness.
I've known Mark for more than 10 years now, and he's always been a strong proponent of the online games industry and an ethical businessman. Mark was honest about a difficult subject and immediately after the interviews ended, he began a process of formulating new credit policies. Unfortunately, when the previous newsletter was sent out, Mark, unbeknownst to the me, was quietly continuing to work on a new credit policy for the studio. Mark, I regret that my comments caused you personal and professional distress.
The Mythic team is also taking the following steps to address credit policies:
- In-game and manual credits will be reserved for the launch team.
- Mythic will create an online database listing the name and title of everyone who contributed to a project, regardless of current employment status. Additionally, the studio will make best efforts to provide this information for its previous online games.
- Mythic has committed to working with the IGDA, leading game industry history and credit sites and other interested parties to establish a credits feed, listing all contributors, to promote fair and accurate credit reporting across the industry.
- Mark Jacobs will consult with the IGDA Credits Standard Committee to offer guidance on the issues and challenges posed specifically by MMOs.
Fair and accurate credits and transparent standards for crediting remain a pervasive problem in the industry, and I applaud Mythic for taking steps to address this issue. I'm personally looking forward to Mark's involvement with the Credit Standards Committee, not only because of his depth of experience in online games, but because, more importantly, his personal commitment to fair and accurate credits sets an outstanding example for industry leadership.
My newsletter intros usually end with a call to action, and this one is no exception. We must continue the dialogue on credits, and on other topics like quality of life, that have a direct impact on the lives of game developers. Get involved, discuss these issues with your peers, and please join me in recognizing Mythic's new crediting efforts.
Just got this in the IGDA Newsletter, this morning:
I was wondering when and if this was ever going to make news. It's so easy to hate on something and then not follow up and realize the hate was all for naught.
Not to bring up an old topic but I have recently gone through this with the titles I worked on at Midway Games. Blitz 2 and Mk vs DC being two of them. My names not listed in the credits at all for either.
Interns are listed but not me. Granted these games are not huge hits and i have all the work to boost my portfolio but damn it's just nice to get credit for something you do.
I hear ya, out of the 5 games I worked on at Humongous I made it into the credits of 1 of those games. Which was funny because I was asked how I wanted my name/nick name spelled for each of them. I have the launch party t-shirts to prove it too! You didn't get a shirt unless you worked on the title. At the time I cared more about the shirts, in retrospect I wish it has been the other way around...
Out of the 5, the one I was credited with, I liked the least. Moonbase Commander was my all time fav, but the packaging and manual for that where so hacked together...
I was checking out a former 3D school classmate's IMDB list and was stunned by the length of projects he's worked on. But then realized that working on tv/film projects, he was on a faster turnaround environment than in multi-year long game dev ones. He currently has a fancy title too: vfx supervisor.
Also a little OT but amusing, none the less, I just discovered that my son has a Moby Games profile because he was credited in Hell's Highway under "Gearbox Babies." So I guess technically he had his first shipped title credit before he was two
If your working on your fist title the credits mean a lot. I could see if you have been in the industry for a while its not a big deal, but to me; seeing my name on a game would really be a defining moment.
This is an old thread that was brought back from the dark depths of the forum. If you look at the last couple of links I and Xenobond posted on this page of the thread, you will see that everyone got their credit.
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I was wondering when and if this was ever going to make news. It's so easy to hate on something and then not follow up and realize the hate was all for naught.
Just thought I would REITERATE.
Interns are listed but not me. Granted these games are not huge hits and i have all the work to boost my portfolio but damn it's just nice to get credit for something you do.
Out of the 5, the one I was credited with, I liked the least. Moonbase Commander was my all time fav, but the packaging and manual for that where so hacked together...
I was checking out a former 3D school classmate's IMDB list and was stunned by the length of projects he's worked on. But then realized that working on tv/film projects, he was on a faster turnaround environment than in multi-year long game dev ones. He currently has a fancy title too: vfx supervisor.
weren't at the studio long.
The point is they did work on the game and therefore deserve a credit IMHO.
I would n't expect a credit now I feelancing and that does n't bother me too much.