If there is anything I miss from gaming thirty years ago, it is not so much the games or the times as it is the developers. These developers, who literally did build this industry, were seen as losers in life (Iwata’s parents practically disowned him for working for HAL). They also were not good at ‘one’ thing but many. They were life questers and their games were fruit from that life questing (a modern example would be Miyamoto’s weighing himself to come up with Wii Fit). And these men and women (yes, there were women involved) were brilliant. They had the brain power to succeed in almost any industry, but they made games because they truly loved gaming.
Today, it seems as if today’s developers are not ‘life questers’, see the gaming market as ‘constant’ since it has always been there their entire lives so their concerns are ‘market concerns’ as opposed to ‘customer concerns’, and they annoying tend to think that being in the games industry is some equivalent to being a rockstar. If today’s games are not as good as in the past, perhaps the answer is no more complex than previous developers being better.
Miyamoto’s advice to people who want to become game developers is to not rely on gaming’s past. He advises young people to look on the outside of gaming for inspiration and ideas, poetry, art, history, and so on. This is a very wise statement. Shakepeare did not become Shakespeare because he was an expert in poetry or plays (with plays, he refused the standards at the time). Shakespeare became Shakespeare because of his intense interest and knowledge of history, of gardening (yes, gardening), of law, of philosophy, and generally everything else. With all the greats of any medium, they were life questers first and mastered that medium because it came around. In other words, Benjamin Franklin was a writer first, businessman second, scientist third, and diplomat last. He didn’t seek a ‘career’ so much as he was questing through life and was interested in everything.
To illustrate this trait in some older developers, here are some examples of Richard Garriott who has sadly left this games industry. Now, in person, I don’t know if Garriott is a nice man or a jerk, that is not the purpose of the illustration. The purpose is to show how non-games focused these industry founders were.
Richard Garriott extensive interview. He talks about how games need to become more in depth. Note the part where he mentions how critical his brother was with the finances. Creative types need the finance ability.
[This is from the Ultima Collections disc. Why is Ultima so revered? Consider the video above where Garriott is explaining the Virtue symbolism to Ultima (and this is just one element of the symbolism).
The sheer craftsmanship is not seen anymore. All we have now are stupid explosions and aliens in ‘high definition’. Games have felt shallower because the craftsmanship has declined despite the increase in budgets and technology. There is no substitute for the Human touch.
Garriott goes through the Ultima games prior to Ultima 9. Each game he talks about the design and obstacles each game had. To discuss the series, he goes through almost two decades of gaming.
Ultima 9, while heavily criticized for being a buggy mess (EA forced the launch), was way ahead of its time. Looking back, it is an incredible 3d world that is still fun to look at and play (with all the patches of course). The fact that it came out in 1999 is mindboggling. Ultima 9 should be reconsidered especially during its ten year anniversary.
Garriott’s mansion he built. This is one of the reasons why I hate Garriott because I am jealous of him!
When I think back to the old days like Jefferson and his Monticello and all, it seems appropriate and right for the person to design his or her own house, make it whatever he or she wants it to be. It seems strange, and quite artificial, today to have the pre-designed McMansions. It reminds me of a grandparent’s house I knew which was a very small house but had add-ons on top of add-ons to the house. Each room felt like a different decade (because it was!). This video makes me realize how boring most structures are these days.
Garriott as scientist in space. I notice that the, what I call, Generation Zero developers (who began before there was a games industry) like Miyamoto and all, are truly life questers. They are not interested so much in ‘game industry’ and so but life itself. Garriott acts like a kid playing with physics in space. And yes, I hate him here because I’d love to be in space!
Garriott on conservation of momentum.
Garriott is too smart to be on this show.
Who would have thought that making video games could result to this? A fitting imagery and end to the man whose games inspired the creation of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest as well as pioneer half the genres of gaming (such as MMORPGs). Once considered the loser, the video game developer joins astronauts in the heavens.
