Get Yourself a Pair

PHOTO: El Hombre Gourdo

Kind game developer friends gave a great gift to The Fat Man at the GDC this year--this double-gourd sitar. Minutes after this happy photo was taken, George was offered what will perhaps turn out to be one of the biggest and most creatively interesting game audio gigs of his singularly big and creatively interesting career. He also wants you to know that this is how the Universe appears to work. He also want you to know that if it feels like you already knew that, it is clearly an auspicious sign.

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What do you see in this picture? Desire?

Is this man saying “How can I make money?” “I could be checking my e-mail.” “Do you realize how much money those bastards are making off of my hard work?” No, he is not. He is not saying anything.

Do you see Fear?

Does he appear to be thinking that his favorite Indian-American near-brother-in-law will look at this photo and condemn him, saying, “Oh, my Gods, this terrible Fat Man has his Ree where his Ga should be!! Never again shall we let him hold the Sacred Instrument of Our People!!!??” The man in the photo may appear to be thinking something like this, but in fact no, I can tell you because I was there wearing his clothes, he is not thinking much of anything.

He is just a guy who looks like a hippie, his heart full of happiness. If you had been there at the moment the photo was taken, and had offered him a nice drink, a large sum of money, or a beautiful woman’s sexual favors, he might actually have refused. Here he is in a moment of centeredness, giving his best shot at making something beautiful-sounding come out of an instrument that he seems to love and that perhaps at this point in his life he has very little idea how to play. He is playing to an audience of one guy with a camera who might or might never help his career. His heart can hold no more.

What was his goal for GDC? Each time he met somebody, he tried to make their day a little better, rather than a little worse.

What did he take home from GDC? Some damn huge, great offers from some VERY heavy players. And he was honored with a Sitar, also a gift from some of these heavy cats. And he got the reassurance, as usual, that the Greats of our industry, the people whom most of us truly want to emulate show little fear. They share an ability to cut through the bull of business, to tell things as they see ‘em, to spot real fun when it is happening, to make the time to participate in that fun. It is part of what makes them great. It is part of what makes life living. It is essential to the Gamer’s Art.

That man in the picture, aka Me, saw a lot of Fear and Desire at the GDC, as usual. Or I should say, as has been recently customary. Long ago, CGDC was the meeting place of Superheroes and Demigods, who would celebrate their powers and accomplishments together with games of poker and MULE, and confer with each other on the best attacks to use against level 7 Demons. I would like to bust one myth right now: We didn’t hang out in the CGDC bar to make connections and Big Business Deals. Oh, it happened enough all right, but that’s not why we were there in the first place. We hung out there because that was where great, creative people were happily shooting the breeze, with expressions on their faces not entirely unlike those of the man in the picture.

Gradually GDC has become more and more a place to go if you want to get into a career in your beloved pastime, presumably gaming. It has also become more and more a place to go if you have some technical savvy, or don’t, and want to become rich off the latest trend in high-tech consumerism. Recently, GDC has taken on the appearance of an event one must attend in order to “make it in the industry.”

For no real reason other than the Nature of Things, combined with the almost mythical proportions of the GDC, illusions have grown up around the event that have inflamed our tendencies to be greedy and fearful rather than comfortable. The desire is of course nothing new, but to me this year’s event appeared to have an aura of fear around it that could be cut with a level two dagger.

In the words of my British friends, “bugger all that bollocks.”

Here is a small batch of level-7 symptoms of fear-related illusions that I observed at GDC, and for You the Good Reader, I provide counterexamples or counterattacks to each symptom. Further, making certain assumptions about what will be the hot topic of the publication in which this article will appear when and if it is published, I will unify all of these counterstrikes with summaries that fall under one fashionable, current, and easy-to-remember heading: What Would Will Wright Do?

Symptom: Attention is more and more drifting towards marketing angles and technological advancements, and away from the one thing we sell-well-designed and fun games.

Counter: For those who are distracted by marketing and technology, we must remember that these things are an integral part of what our business is now, but they provide the promise of only short-term success. All technological angles will sooner or later be matched or overtaken by competitors. All marketing angles will eventually be seen as window dressing on an interactive experience.

What Would Will Do? I didn’t see any fancy cooperative marketing angles tacked onto “Spore.” And even though a massive potential exists to do so, how could any of that compare in money-making ability to the game’s incredible potential to grab the attention of the public-due entirely to its fascinating game design and innovative leverage of technology to “amplify creativity.” Damn. The money is in the FUN!

Symptom: With a few honorable and staggering exceptions, “Game Design” has become akin to “porting chess.” Although chess is a good game, we are a games business, and it does not become us to merely put out the equivalent of Simpsons Chess and Mafia Chess and Dark Chess X-Treme III. This should only make up a small proportion of the energy that we might spend in creating, developing, and distributing, say, a Charades, a couple of Backgammons, a Crazy 8’s, and a Rugby.

Counter: One need not look far to find individuals and small groups who have dedicated themselves to creating, per the analogy above, things like Hangman and Texas Hold-Em. In fact, where were the biggest crowds at GDC? See below.

What Would Will Do? Only in the most shallow sense is there anything “port-y” about Will’s projects. And did you see the line outside his talk? At some level, we are all responding to the call of the Truth of what business we are in. It does us good to remember that the public will likely respond on the whole the way other Humans (for example, GDC attendees) do to the fascinating lure of beautiful game design. Damn. The money is in the FUN!

Symptom: Under the banner of showing “responsibility to investors,” corporate policy is more risk-averse than ever. This runs counter to the notion of gaming, in which the joy of taking risks is almost always celebrated.

Counter: Looking at past successes and cloning them is a certain recipe for failure, or at best, short-term success.

What Would Will Do? Safe games peter out. Great, innovative, risk-taking games are the only ones that stand a chance of being great, long-term successes. Ironically, nothing shows this better than taking a close look at the award winners and top-sellers, especially over recent years. When will we, like Will, stop looking at the winners and trying to clone them, but rather, see that they are winners because they are made by fearless people, and instead pay homage to them, stand on their shoulders, and elevate the Art of Fun? Damn. The money is in the FUN!

In conclusion:

The only thing we in the Game business sell is fun. Every cent of the money that supports all the thousands of GDC attendees comes from the sale of fun. All fun that is related to gaming requires the presence of a good, healthy relationship to risk. Learn this about your business: What fun is a game-what good is a game if the player has no potential to lose? How can one win a game if one does not take that risk? And applying the wisdom of gaming to the corporate world: How can a corporation be responsible to its investors if it has no chance of winning the competitive game of business? And how can it win if it doesn’t play the game, and how can it play the game if it takes no risks?

Fear has no place at the GDC. It has no place in gaming. It has no place in your life. Don’t give it the free mental real-estate that it seems to be demanding. It doesn’t pay rent. Fun does. See Fig. 1.

As a last word of advice, though unasked, I would beg you to try this:

Do the thing you do, and do it earnestly and with intensity. Make music, make games, hang out with the people you like and admire, trade ideas. Celebrate the moment and intensify its crunchy goodness with your far-fetched ideas and inspired designs. Believe in yourself.

Tell the truth, and do NOT be afraid of the consequences.

The greater part of the industry is not going down the toilet. The great work is not going on exclusively in tiny little crevices here and there. Rather, it’s only in fear-filled little crevices that caution and greed give the appearance of sucking people down into their own private hell-holes. And it’s so easily avoided by looking around. The industry is by-and-large truly focused on its center, Beauty, Fun, and Game Design, (as evidenced by its fascination with Will Wright). It’s just that it’s hard for us as individuals and as a community to always remember that we are focused on these things and especially to remember that it’s a very good thing.

Have Fun.
Don’t Worry.
Be Hippie.

I believe this will result in your having all the success and happiness that your heart can hold.

Love,
The Fat Man

Are YOU talking to ME?