I feel so out of touch with video games whenever a Gamescom or Game Awards or whatever is on. I do love a lot of games, but only like 2% of the games at those are of any interest to me at all. Everything else just blends together into a formless sludge for me.

video games will never be 'whole' until we learn to understand it as a whole

while this is deeply cynical; it occurs to me that much like brogrammer auteurs prior, the designer is the new center-piece focus of our industry's fabricating fun factories.

more and more, games are staffed in a way that says only the designers matter and that everyone else is a mere facilitator. writers, artists, even sub-disciplines of design are all treated as after-thoughts. those roles are seen (be it intentionally or via material process / outcomes) as window dressing, taking on the role of a midwife for whatever Director Of Whatever's vision is based on ties to their business buddies or benefactors they managed to convince to bet on them like a horse at the race.

the problem with race horses is they're born from an old-money sport turned eugenicist power fantasy instilling taylorist values into warping equines into the tools of gamblers looking for an edge. (thanks, stanford, )

just as much as the industry, by design at some level treats once programmers & now designers as a necessity demanded by current means; you're all on the fucking chopping block (even audiences, if you manage to slip outside the 12-28 overton window of relevance and taste catering)

of course; accountants, admin, and executives are never seen as disposable and retained between titles; whilst everyone who actually puts those visions of 'fun' 'mechanics' and subtext to actual fruition is perpetually shucked like so much corn husks. I cannot help but see this as downstream of video game's sovreignty self-fufilling prophetic fantasy as a 'new medium (of gameplay design)' versus taking home alongside as a subset of any other existing artistic endeavor (which often has had at least a century or more to grasp with the multi-focal collaboration others have long come to understand in ink & blood of laborers hardship past)

core designers, core admin, core programmers- all the 'necessary' people retained with the other professions left in 9 out of 10 cases to wander the desert like an exiled nomad until they collapse at the doorstep of someone generous enough to nurse them back to health. the cycle repeats, with few of them ever getting to be the sought-after-wise-sage. in a system that rewards survival by happenstance it's no surprise that it favors the fate of the privileged and highly visible.

we will, in time, desperately have to reckon with the lens through which our audiences see our games: as total entities where art, music, writing, narrative are all things intended from the inception rather than the arms, legs, and feet of the "Important Part" of gameplay mechanics either late in the process or at the finishing line like so much beautiful icing on the most mid tasting cake ever

listen; i'm not saying that you can't have projects that draw great, independent siloed production threads together. there's no shame in a jam session; but that should not be mandated by the market rather than done as an intentional artistic choice.

you want to know what separates most indie titles or oddball arthouse productions from the massive mainstream? they're built from the heart; with some kind of (romantic or otherwise) direction that understands the game needs to be propelled as a full organism of artistic will & merit. cynicism, no matter how 'twee' or 'artisan' we dress it up as will always shine through.

i'm not saying puzzleboxes or toys have any less value; but be honest with yourself: how many of your favorite narratives were in essence a happy accident that happened inspite of their material circumstances. even narrative-centric games aren't immune, alan wake II nearly cut the musical part which feels utterly demoralizing to think of a world without. yes, there is a beauty in the fledgling sea turtles that make it to shore- but that doesn't mean i don't think about the ones that never made it; their lives and dreams as equally valuable. it's no secret that class is a huge factor in this; the means to materially support yourself against the increasingly dystopian funding schema in this nightmarish landscape. like music; you'll find yourselves rapidly facing (if you aren't already) the same commodification & devaluation of labor with it's subsequent alienation if we don't wake the fuck up collectively.

i don't begrudge those with privilege or financial means to survive the weather their successes; much like Fantano in his recent essay I, too recognize that merely removing these artists from the equation won't solve the problem where scarcity of opportunity to flourish runs rampant. It's not about a lack of resources, it's about gatekeeping those who would otherwise thrive if they merely just had an ounce of support. a domain of exclusively wealthy artists isn't a sign of success or failure; they're a sign of a collapsed ecosystem. the trophic cascade will come for you all.

the lifestream, much like the planet, is also a place we can pollute & destroy the essence of our reality if we're not careful. toxins aren't just physical. take heed and reflect in the exploitative attitudes all around you- no matter how subtle or harmless they may seem. like microplastics- that shit adds up.

here's to you; Pippily the chicken. may we all find greener fields.