The problems

From the inception of games as a commercial medium (with the publication of "A Journey Through Europe," by Carrington Bowles, in 1759), the history of the field has been characterized by bursts of innovation: A new game style is published, featuring a new set of mechanics and type of gameplay, spurring a host of products pushing that style in new directions, and creating a new audience of players. As budgets continue to soar, and as publishers become increasingly conservative and wary of innovation, there is a danger that the industry will become an uncreative, repetitive field, with little to no innovation to alleviate the tedium of sequels and licensed drivel.

The sad fact is that unless your last name is Wright or Miyamoto, it is virtually impossible to get an innovative product funded today. The industry is in desperate need of a parallel distribution channel for lower-budget, more innovative product with lower production values -- something like the indie music and film industries, which serve as venues for the creation of new artistic styles that, when successful, can be adopted by mainstream industry.

Unfortunately, at present, there is no such indie games industry and, given the audience's lack of acceptance of lower production values in exchange for innovative gameplay, coupled with the lack of an obvious distribution channel for such product, it is hard to see how one can be created. The rise of downloadable and mobile games is a hopeful sign in this regard, but those fields have already become quite stereotyped and resistant to innovation, with the first market dominated by "pick three" puzzle games, and the latter by arcade game retreads and inferior versions of games available on other platforms.

-- Greg Costikyan

The way the fourth quarter is bulked up with all the year's best games. Nobody in their right mind has enough time to make significant dents in "Halo 2," "Half-Life 2," "GTA: San Andreas," "Knights of the Old Republic 2," "Metal Gear Solid 3," "Metroid Prime 2: Echoes," "The Sims 2," "Burnout 3," "Need for Speed Underground 2" ... not to mention all the extraordinarily time-consuming MMORPGs -- "EverQuest 2" and "Worlds of Warcraft" and "City of Heroes." I understand companies need to book revenue, but if the industry were better at pacing overall, I'd like to think business would boom on an even grander scale and would be less reliant on holiday sales. Plus, people would get to really enjoy their games rather than trying to squeeze them all in at once.

-- Jennifer Tsao

Jennifer Tsao is the managing editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Electronic Arts is not the only alleged culprit on the overworked-and-underpaid issue. I would love to see a "Norma Rae" scene at a few developers around the country but am doubtful that this will happen for fear that even more jobs will be exported. Unlike actors whose names and faces often make or break a film, these brilliant game designers, artists and programmers are virtual unknowns to the game-playing consumer. Therefore, if the developers leave in protest due to the horrific schedules, then another person will take their places and the consumer will never be the wiser. As more kids grow up playing games and learn that there actually are jobs making video games and they now have several choices of universities offering a game-development education, then there will always be someone ready to take the departing developers' places. And I fear that if we attempt to unionize the industry in order to better regulate working conditions or hours or ensure that folks are compensated for their time and effort, then the publishers can simply look at using talent in other countries where folks will work those long hours and for less money.

-- Melanie Cambron

Melanie Cambron, aka the Game Recruiting Goddess, has recruited for game industry leaders since 1997, frequently served as a moderator and panelist at GDC and E3, and has consulted for the city of Austin's Interactive Industry Development Committee.

Games are hard to build -- harder than most people realize. As with any software development project, you have to steer clear of bad ideas and useless features, and grow your tools as the underlying technology changes. And with each new trend (physics, real-time lighting) or platform (Xbox 2, PS 3), a lot of core tools must be discarded or rebuilt. It's an expensive and time consuming process.

When faced with the realities of development (tight deadlines and ballooning budgets), the common solution has been to work harder, not smarter. As a result, people burn out (see the IGDA Quality of Life paper) and turn to other industries for stable, rewarding employment.

This churning turnover saps knowledge and expertise from the industry. Without experienced contributors, projects are more likely to slip or become "death marches" -- which drives down quality (and drives away new hires). If we want to attract and keep good people, cultivate new ideas, and support innovation as an industry, process management and H.R. practices must evolve. Period.

-- Robin Hunicke

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