Archive for December, 2011

2010 and 2011 in Review

Saturday, December 31st, 2011

If you’ll forgive me for “metablogging,” I’ve been ruminating lately on the purpose of this website.  Up until now, I’ve been trying to focus exclusively on technology, programming and game design, and to minimize the subjective aspects of my connection to those fields.  Put more simply, I’ve been avoiding writing about who I am and what I do in favour of producing a series of mostly impersonal tutorials and critiques of technology.  There are a number of reasons for this—the word “professionalism” comes to mind as chief among them.  I’d like this website to be my public face on the Internet, and as every saavy Internet denizen should know by now, there are certain risks associated with maintaining a public persona.  I greatly admire Zed Shaw, for his personality as well as his technical accomplishments, but I have no desire to make myself unemployable as he claims to have done (albeit temporarily).

That said, trying to take a dry, detached and objective approach to creating a personal website presents a number of problems itself.  First and foremost, it’s an inherent contradiction; if I don’t write about myself in any meaningful capacity, then there is nothing aside from the superficial about this website which makes it mine.  I can’t imagine it makes for a very interesting read, either.  Realistically, how many people will come here looking for advice on how to link GLUT?  Readership numbers are of little to no concern to me, mind you, but I can at least endeavour to give this website a purposeful existence.  To that end, I want to start writing more about personal topics, although for the sake of cohesiveness I’m going to continue to focus primarily on those aspects of my life that will be of interest to a technically-minded audience. (more…)

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Ethical Game Design from Gamasutra

Friday, December 30th, 2011

I came across a couple excellent articles on Gamasutra which I want to share here. The first, “Contrivance and Extortion: In-App Purchases & Microtransactions” is by Adam Saltsman, creator of Canabalt, among other games. He argues that in-app purchases and so-called microtransactions are being abused by some game developers, “deliberately contriving their designs in the worst way in order to extort money from players, which is unethical and unacceptable design practice.” I’ll lay my cards on the table and say that I am in complete agreement with Adam.  As he does in his explanatory follow-up, I acknowledge that there are benefits to the “freemium” model, but the techniques commonly associated with that model are often used in a cynical, manipulative and profit-driven manner which I feel is harmful to consumers and the industry. Whether or not you agree, Adam’s thoughts on the subject are certainly worth reading.

“Radical Plagiarism: The Ethical Lessons of the Gamenauts Controversy,” by Evan Jones, is equally thought-provoking. Evan recounts the cloning of the indie game Radical Fishing by the more established indie studio Gamenauts, and adds his perspective on the cultural impact of the rampant cloning that takes place on mobile app stores. Returning readers may recall that I’ve previously defended the practice of cloning games. My defense excluded the cloning of smaller titles by established studios, which I’ve always viewed as morally questionable at best, but Evan’s article nevertheless gave me pause. He provides a strong counterpoint to my own thinking on the matter, and while I’m not yet ready to reverse my position, his argument has undeniable weight. If you’re at all interested in game development, both articles are well worth your time.

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