Op Ed

[Sep 07, 2012, 8:08 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Kotaku - You Shouldn't Have To Be Middle Class or Rich To Make Video Games.
For now, Valve says that Greenlight will continue to evolve. Fantastic. But it's not just Greenlight that needs to change. So, too, does the attitude surrounding who should be making games. Some people do it for the love, and so yes, they're going to keep going at it even though they might not make much of any money. So to tell a developer that they might want to reconsider their passion just because they're not rolling in cash is heartbreaking. They deserve to be here just as much as anyone else, and there's no shortage of things trying to keep them out.

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21.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 9, 2012, 05:25

Jerykk

Stupid article. Not being on Steam doesn't prevent you from making games. If you don't want to pay the $100, just sell the game independently or use any of the other distribution services. If you truly believe in your game, you should be willing to sacrifice $100 for it to gain a wider audience.

20.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 22:19

TheEmissary

Its interesting that people freak out about the $100 fee when Valve does it help weed out the troll entries. Both Apple and Microsoft have similar fees. Microsoft has a $99 fee for getting your games XNA games reviewed/published on the Apphub. Apple has a $99 for getting a developer account. Its the cost of entry if you want to use those services. There is nothing at all stopping a person from self-publishing or using one of the other Digital distribution services.

19.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 19:24

eRe4s3r

Argh.. wow ... ;p Just shows that Steam choose a really bad name for this.. ,p

18.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 18:38

LiTh

I agree with the previous comments. Honestly when i first heard there was going to be a fee, i was thinking it would be like 500-1000$ atleast. I think 100$ leaves the door open for just about any developer. Including ones in Eastern Europe and Asia (i use to live in Eastern Euro for half a decade, and 100$ while isnt nothing, its not a deal breaker either to get).

17.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 15:23

Sepharo

eRe4s3r wrote on Sep 8, 2012, 15:21: Thats just it, most people abusing Silverlight before the fee had absolutely 0 game developed, NOTHING except lofty promises. They mistook Greenlight for Kickstarter. Silverlight eh? Gunna get my WPF/XAML on

16.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 15:21

eRe4s3r

Thats just it, most people abusing Silverlight before the fee had absolutely 0 game developed, NOTHING except lofty promises. They mistook Greenlight for Kickstarter.

15.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 14:34

Sepharo

You could panhandle $100 in a day with a sign explaining the situation. "Need $100 to submit my video game on Steam/internet. Please donate any amount you can." Or take the same concept to the internet and hit up your various networks/forums.

14.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 13:22

Lokust

Prez wrote on Sep 8, 2012, 04:38: It's gotten to the point where I see an op ed piece by Kotaku and I just roll my eyes and move along, never reading the article. What a bunch of hacks. Just reading the blurb Blue posted under the headline is enough to make me want to pistol whip the author. Heh, I've been going out of my way to avoid Kotaku "content" for years. It really is the bottom of the barrel.

13.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 13:00

Scottish Martial Arts

You know, aside from a four month temporary project earlier this year, I have been unemployed the past two years -- don't worry: I have a very promising interview for a job next week, that isn't in my field and pays very little, but that I'm almost assured of getting (personal connection) and will be enough to live on. Regardless, $100 dollars is a lot of money to me and right now I wouldn't be able to cough it up. And I still think Kotaku is full of shit. If I really felt my future was in indie game development, I would find a way to save up $100 over the course of a few months even if it started with just spare change, or I would turn to my friends (not my parents: they're even more broke than I am) and appeal to them as microinvestors in the project. $100 dollars is such a small capital investment that this IS an opportunity for the poor and lower class. Maybe, maybe, some sort of fee waiver is in order. Afterall, the proceeds of the fee are all going to charity, and the purpose of the fee is just to cut down on joke projects, so actually having to present your case in a waiver application would have the same effect. Still, I'm unconvinced that $100 would deter an aspiring developer with true fire in their belly. This comment was edited on Sep 8, 2012, 13:09.

12.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 04:38

Prez

It's gotten to the point where I see an op ed piece by Kotaku and I just roll my eyes and move along, never reading the article. What a bunch of hacks. Just reading the blurb Blue posted under the headline is enough to make me want to pistol whip the author.




“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

11.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 02:17

killer_roach

Rossafur wrote on Sep 8, 2012, 00:44: Seems every time a Kotaku article shows up on here it's some ridiculous entitlement BS or just plain trolling. Do they write ANYTHING worthwhile? I don't feel particularly inclined to really look into it myself... They're owned by Gawker. They're well-versed in the art of trolling for traffic.

10.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 00:44

Rossafur

Seems every time a Kotaku article shows up on here it's some ridiculous entitlement BS or just plain trolling. Do they write ANYTHING worthwhile? I don't feel particularly inclined to really look into it myself...

Re: Op Ed

Sep 8, 2012, 00:29

space captain

Cutter wrote on Sep 7, 2012, 22:42:
Entitled much are we?

Cutter wrote on Sep 7, 2012, 18:54:
Demo, reviews and sale all required for this title.




Go forth, and kill!

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 23:25

Agent.X7

It's Kotaku. Bullshit is their meat and potatoes.




Origin - JStarX7 STEAM - Agent.X7 PSN - JStar_X7 Xbox Live - Agent X7 GOG - JStarX7

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 23:25

Frijoles

Also, I read that games can still get distribution through Steam using the old method of reaching out to Valve (or Valve reaching out to developers). The $100 just speeds that process along if your game isn't the hottest game-of-the-week on social media.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 22:42

Cutter

You don't have to be rich to make games, films, art, etc. anyone can do it. If you want to use a service to make money from your work you may be required to. And $100 equals food for a month? Where? Mexico? If you can't afford $100 you have bigger problems you need to sort out before making a game. Fucking Kotaku trolling bullshit. Entitled much are we?




"They call me a chauvinist pig. I am . . . and I don't give a damn!" - Steve McQueen

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 22:06

Creston

They deserve to be here just as much as anyone else Who has ever said that they didn't, Kotaku? Nice little straw man you got going there. Creston

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 22:02

jdreyer

The kotaku article isn't bad. I thought $100 was fine, too, until I read this similar article over on ars earlier today. Ars interviewed actual developers, and a lot of them were actually down on the $100 fee. Some key quotes:

Many developers took issue with the fact that the $100 fee only gave developers a small chance at Steam distribution, rather than the full marketplace access offered by the iOS App Store or Xbox Live Indie Games.

""$100 might not seem like a lot to someone in the US, but in some countries that could be a substantial amount of money for an indie developer," Zeboyd Games' Robert Boyd told Ars when we asked about the issue. "I think a smaller fee would probably be a good idea... say a $30 fee to start an account would be enough to keep most of the non-game garbage off the service while being less of a drain on actual developers."

I still think $100 is going to be a decent filter, but I can see the other side of it too.




If Star Citizen was a child conceived in a night of passion, it would have started elementary school by now. -panbient

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 21:30

Sepharo

Not even going to click that link. This smells like people without a clue getting offended on someone elses behalf. Either that or just being sensationalist for clicks.

Re: Op Ed

Sep 7, 2012, 21:27

NKD

$100 is not much to ask. It's a good number in fact, to keep the signal-to-noise ratio acceptable while not burdening anyone. I'm a broke ass developer myself and I have no problem with this. This smells like people without a clue getting offended on someone elses behalf.




You mechs may have copper wiring to reroute your fear of pain, but I've got nerves of steel.

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