If I Could Change The Video Game Industry

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

-Mahatma Gandhi –

There comes a time in every life to question or accept—challenge or submit—to stand up or bow down.  A time to fight, to resist, to pull free of the chains or to sink blissfully into the ignorance of elective amnesia.  A time to lead the UNSC against the covenant horde or to mouth breathe and spawn kill until Earth itself is destroyed.  There comes a time to deal death to Dark Spawn and free Ferelden or to rob, plunder, and pillage until the blight consumes all.  A time to rally the races, conquer the Deadmines, dethrone Arthas and bring peace to the land or to ninja loot and chat spam until Deathwing obliterates all with cataclysmic fury.  There comes a time to decide:  If you could change the world, even for a day, would you?

The forces of evil that abound today are no less threatening to the world of gaming than the evil we confront within the games themselves.  We oppose the faceless, the nameless, and the shapeless:  The Corporation, the System, and the Authority.  We stand against power, wealth, and persuasions on an epic scale and though our numbers are many bombarded by few, we’re corned, collared, and cowered exactly where they want us.   We, a nation of gamers, united by our love and passion for games, entertainment, and competition—are ruled and conquered by the greed of suits, the swagger of businessmen, and the almighty dollar of sales and statistics.  We accept, we submit, and we bow down shamelessly before handing over our hard earned wages with a smile on our faces and a thank you on our lips.

©mrwatkins83

We wait in lines, sometimes for days, to buy new releases and collector editions that will still be available years later (Halo 3’s legendary edition, Fable II’s Limited Edition, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Prestige Edition are all still available new and at a discount on amazon.com).  We accept rushed and buggy titles, we pay full price every year for a new cover athlete and roster update, and we support companies who won’t even support their own games after release.  With game prices rising, creative innovation dying, and game companies sucking the passion, pleasure, and lifeblood out of gaming through underdeveloped releases, quick dollar tactics, and overpriced content—something needs to be done. When Activision posts quarter one profits at $503 million, states that Black Ops made more than $1 billion in less than two months, and then announces that Modern Warfare 3 will include a premium tier subscription based pay plan—something has to change.  When map packs cost $15 for 3 new and 2 old maps, when outdated downloadable content doesn’t drop in price years and sequels later, and when more content is available for download on release day than content on the disc (Tiger Woods 12: The Masters”)—something has to give.   We’ve become so complacent, so predictable, and so easily bought and sold that the game industry feeds us the fodder and we beg for more. 

We need to defy the system, abolish the greed, and we need to do it together.  In fact, it’s impossible to do it any other way—I need you beside me, united, convicted, and determined to make the change for the greater good.  It won’t be easy.  We’ll miss out on a few overrated games, we’ll have to pass up a few overpriced map packs, and we’ll have to save our Microsoft and PlayStation points for a rainy day—but we can overcome!  As V in V for Vendetta would undoubtedly say, “fans should no longer fear the industry—the industry should fear their fans”. 

We have the power and the ability to demand change:  In the world of gaming the consumer is the judge, jury, and executioner.  If a game doesn’t meet our standards we can put the developer’s necks in the financial noose by not purchasing the game regardless of the media hype or pressure.  If content is overpriced we can endure the illusion of our social obligations and the mirage of clever marketing and demand something better—or at least something cheaper. We have the master summon, the ultimate weapon, the secret move and the legendary stats of all stats:  Money, a voice, and a choice—to support, or not to support—was there ever really another question?

Shigeru Miyamoto

© Business Week 2011

If we could resist, if we could unite, if we could endure, envision, and escape our bonds by letting our actions and wallets speak we’d empower ourselves and truly become the change we want to see in the world of gaming.  Gone would be the days when a company spokesman would dare claim that fans buying used games were more damaging to their coffers than piracy.  Gone would be the days when a franchise sequel would guarantee dollars in the bank no matter how bad or repetitive the gameplay was and gone would be the days of downloadable content being available at release!  We’d force developers to create, innovate, or sink.  We’d demand that a game not ship until it was complete, tested, and found worthy of our time and money.  We’d drive out industry corruption, biased and bought out reviews, million dollar marketing campaigns, and we’d have quality, reasonable prices, and honest competition oriented on making good games rather than just good money.  The next generation of Will Wright’s and Shigeru Miyamoto’s would find their opportunities and niche’s anew as creativity and gameplay took precedence over advertising appeal and marketability. Innovation would be reborn, new genre’s would be created, and developers would put everything they could into an original release to ensure future downloadable content was an option once a game had gone gold.  We’d topple the greedy, undermine the manipulative, and confront the pretenders until each in turn was forced out the door.  Now is the time to fight, to resist, to pull free of the chains our complacency has bound us with:  The battle lines have been drawn—where will you stand? 

If you could change the world, would you?  The choice is yours and yours alone.