lately a few creators on here and other platforms have been talking about how we need to remove the word "content" from our vocabulary. my favorite piece on this is Reclaiming Online Social Spaces by @ivanpapiol, whose stuff you should check out if you haven't already.
there's a quote in the manifesto that goes:
Don't call what you create "content". Call it art, call it writing, call it music... Just call it whatever it is.
Don't call yourself a "content creator". You are an artist, a creator, a human...
and i agree with him! it's a very moving manifesto and everyone should read it. calling our art, writing, music and games "content" is essentially a chatgpt-ification of our personhood.
but i do think there's another side of this where in addition to their art, many creators who want to make a living do need to churn out content. a digital illustrator who has to make a tiktok of her stickers timed to whatever the current trending song is isn't making art, she's making content. a game developer who spends hours upon hours composing their scenes to post them on reddit for wishlists is making content. the difference between being beloved by your 200 mastodon followers versus actually making enough money to survive usually comes down to how good you are at content.
the eradication of content won't be just a vocabulary change -- it'll require a complete reconstruction of our economic and social systems in a way i can't even imagine right now.
anyway i've spent more time this past week learning how to edit videos to make my game's dialogue palatable to people on tiktok than i have on actually developing the game and i'm about to fucking lose it lmao. i'm probably going to step back from that a bit even if it does mean i launch my demo with fewer attention because honestly it's corrosive