I continuously find myself reading interviews with “the creator of X game”, or articles about studios “creating their newest game”. And that kind of pisses me off.
about authorship
All genres have authors. When we refer to somebody that made a song, we call them its “author”. For a painting, a book, a comic… just the same. Even for food.
Movies, TV shows, architectural projects… they have a crew of people, and we refer to them as the “makers” of that piece of film or construction.
But games have “creators”.
My belief is, this noun is just a legacy term. That it’s a sort of self-added mystique to the process of making games. All coming from the need for justification and approval that the industry had in its early days, and is quite evidently still being carried along. However, we’re no longer there.
We must realize, as a collective, that there’s no longer any need for approval. And that some terms that we use to refer to our industry are not only noxious for the maturity and general perception of our industry. It’s also creating distance between the world and our craft.
about public perspective
Everyone knows (more or less, of course) how a movie is made. Because they have accurate terms. A movie is directed; it’s shot in camera; it’s edited; and plenty of other technical vocabulary that’s widely spread and shared with the rest of the world.
However, games are “created”. That gives no information about the process… it kind of suggests a God-like inspiration spark, and a rush of creativity that suddenly makes characters move on a screen with nice colors. And that’s a huge issue.
Separating the process of our craft from the general public makes gamers get angry when some fancy feature does not appear in the new game they just bought. Because they don’t know all the work and people behind it to make it work.
Obfuscating the verbs that describe how a game is developed makes the general communication media treat us like an immature industry. Just like children playing pretend. As if we were playing on the small table with snacks and soft-drinks while the actual adults are talking important stuff at the dinner table.
Utilizing the word “create” obscures the labor of dozens, even hundreds of people behind every game. It misguides new-coming game makers that are preparing to take their first steps in the industry. And makes it unnecessary complicated to explain what we do to our family and friends.
changing habits
Video games have a long distance to walk to be considered at the same level as the other art forms. And it’s not their fault, but ours. Because we keep repeating tiny, silly quirks, and, as the old saying goes, the devil hides in the details.
Let’s start with an easy one: video games are not “created”. They are designed, produced, animated, programmed, marketed, written, sound-featured, textured… They are crafted by many people with different backgrounds, responsibilities and skills.
And as creative as these people may be -which is a lot-, I ensure you: a game is never “created”. Video games are made.
