Why Am I Not Cool?

In music, indie is cool. Of course, blockbuster bands with pretty singers get the mass media exposure and make the big bucks, but there are plenty of bass-playing Starbucks barristas who are convinced that their music is a hundred times better than that mainstream crap. More importantly, they have fans who feel the same way! A hardcore punk or indie rocker sees poor production values as a sign of moral integrity, and believes that any band that other people have heard of sucks by definition. I gather that film works the same way; literature is even more extreme.

Games are different.

Jörg mentioned John Carmack in his last post. John Carmack is what is known as a “rock star programmer“. That doesn’t mean he works for Rockstar Games, but rather that Carmack is rich, arrogant, and takes drugs a glamourous virtuoso with legions of fans.  Up until a few years ago, that’s what every game developer wanted to be¹. There was no distinction between commercial and critical success. There were no poor but virtuous idealists struggling to smash the self-indulgent industry collosi — no punks screaming against seven minute guitar solos and big hair.

That has changed. Indie game developers are proliferating, and they are as elitist, sincere and lo-fi as anyone could wish².

But creators are only one half of a scene: without fans, art house game development is just wanking. And so far, most indie game fans are also indie game developers. There are signs of hope — XBox Live Arcade and its equivalent on other consoles are doing a remarkable job of bringing indie games to the mass market, and Penny Arcade is doing its best to make Indie cool — but so far, I have yet to hear a gamer say “Corporate Games Suck! Cliff Harris was so much better before he sold out.”

¹ Except for the indomitable authors of interactive fiction, God love ‘em.

² In part, this is due to technological change: new programming tools and the Internet have lowered development and distribution costs respectively, making it possible for one or two people with a vision to realize it. Ubiquitous video cameras and youtube have done the same for film. Getting noticed, though, is no easier than it ever was, which is where dedicated fans are important.

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