[MUD-Dev] Indie MMOG's

[Zach Collins (Siege)]

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004, Amanda Walker wrote:

> The "game programmer as artist" image is popular, due in no small
> part to highly visible stars like John Carmack with his Ferraris
> and "it'll be done when it's done" attitude.  But think about
> artists for a moment.  How many rich artists do you know?  Most
> musicians, even popular ones, end up owing the record company when
> all is said and done.

I protest that last sentence.  The music industry is not directly
comparable in method of operations nor in manner of pay to their
creative producers.  If you enter the music industry as a musician,
you can expect to be lied to repeatedly about your (usurous)
financial obligations until you start recieving the bills (and often
even after that), you can expect to pay for the use of production
equipment (something which, in a normal company, is paid for by the
company and not its staff), you as the *artist* have to pay for
people to use the equipment for you, American touring is barely
profitable, the "guild" is operated by the publishers as a
for-profit entity....

It comes down to this: the music industry is focused on extracting
both music and money from the source of its products, while the
games industry is focused on purchasing the works of skilled artists
for use in its products.  You can't blame a professional musician
for being poor.

You can blame Carmack for being a spendthrift, but what else is he
going to do with his money?  Save social security?

--
Zach Collins
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