Scott Fisher

The realistic presentation of Mr. Seamus Blackley made me think more about optional ways of bussiness, where you do not have to deal whit people who do not know anything about the real products.

The realistic presentation of Mr. Seamus Blackley made me think more about optional ways of bussiness, where you do not have to deal whit people who do not know anything about the real products.

I throughly enjoyed Mr. Blackley's talk. Since I came here to learn about games, it was very valuable to listen to him talk about the business itself. Up until then I've only thought about making games, and not so much about what it takes to succeed in the business. Since then, he has given me more things to think about.

One more thing. For some reason, the idea of an agent for video game creators sounds funny to me. I mean... actors, musicians and athletes have agents, not me. I guess I didn't figure that video game creators are entertainers as well, and they need representation as well.

Maybe I should've asked for his business card...

Mr. Blackley cut through the mustard of misconception about our industry. It hit hard: it's hard to get games made- even if the design is brilliant. Publishers will always avoid risk before taking the plunge- whether that be suggesting you re-design your game with a particular trend or by flat out rejecting your idea.

But I didn't feel discouraged. What I took away was that you need to keep fighting to get your game made the way you want it. Part of that is by creating the right pitch and being able to back yourself up with NPD data.

I was glad to be exposed to some of the business side of video game publishing.

This is the first agent I've ever had a conversation with where I actually believed the line about wanting to be an advocate for those the agent represents was a sincere and passionate want. That alone was remarkable.

Reminders about the ugly world of business and academics- thoughts...

As an undergrad, my Music Industry profs were psychotic about how often they brought reminders about the science of getting screwed royally into academic talks to the point that I developed a beyond healthy fear of the music industry. I'm like a frightened little mouse viz them. Conversely, film school was by and large conducted in a vacuum and yeah, my partners and I have learned hard lesson after hard lesson to the point that I've often WISHED we'd been told to watch our backs a little more often. So, long story short, this kind of speaker I heartily endorse.

I've never been entirely sure why publishing houses exist at all. It seems as though a developer who had a publishing arm would be much more conducive to getting games made than the current system. I know it takes a lot of money to be able to set something like that up, but it'd be almost certainly worth while for a developer to make that investment. Seamus didn't talk about it much, but I was hoping to hear more about the Capital Entertainment Group, since it seemed like it was a half way point between the current system, and a developer-owned system.

In the end, Seamus told me what I already knew - the games industry is a tough, risky industry to inovate in. What I didn't about was the effort that Seamus was putting in to organize the creative talent in the industry. Maybe once the people who actually develop the games are unified as a bloc, we'll see the industry shift from a marketing driven one, to a creativitiy driven one.

I like that Seamus tried to give us the truth about art vs commercialism. I know often times in the film world students get out and realize that the "real world" is nothing like school. I also want to play the medieval roadie game. I think the fact that video game designers need agents now illustrates the expansion of the industry.

It sounds like his gathering a union, but not in name.

Of the top ten games based on sales volume, only three were licensed. There is the debate about where the line for the licensing is drawn. Aside from that, most of the gamers out there are gamers, not 'consumers of electronic media'. As long as we stick to what our intuition tells us, there is no reason why we as a group cannot produce the newest and most enjoyable games out there. We do need people who fight for us because if we are to succeed, most of our energy needs to be focused on the creation and the many intricate parts that encompass game design. Modern games require big teams. Because of this, creative leaders have a lot of in house responsibility. It would be beneficial to get to know some of the law students while we are. They might be the ones fighting for us in the future.

Seamus's tales were inspiring. They made me realize what great things could be and could not be done in the industry. It also reinforced my notion that industry doesn't belong to the artists but the publishers. And that something must be done about this, or we all learn to deal with the reality of the situation and work around it.

Well we all seem to agree that Seamus gave us a good heaping dose of the reality of the industry.
I respected that he encouraged everyone to look up the information that they all thought they knew and never questioned.
He also let us ponder the various implication of sales of games on the various large companies out there.
I'm hoping we can get access to more of this business data in the future.

Oh and Garrett... we should have a whole class on the legal issues surrounding media. This was a basic course my brother had to take at Syracuse for the TV, Radio, Film major. I think this would be a very useful class for us. Or atleast a few seminars.

Seamus Blackley's description of the coroprate dominion over game innovation reminds me of Hollywood cinema under the studio system. In the so-called classical era of Hollywood cinema, which lasted for almost a half century, until it finally came to an end in the 60's.

A great publicity tool, the studios’ efficient, top-down control over all stages of their product enabled a new and ever-growing level of lavish production and technical sophistication.

At the same time, however, the system’s commercial regimentation and focus on glamorous escapism discouraged daring and ambition.

While Seamus discussed a few renegades projects such as Costikyan Manifesto Games, for the most part his view of the possibilites for original independently minded production in the field was remarkably bleak.

When the studio system hegan to collapse in the 50's it was largely for financial reasons, as TV stole a large share of the movie going public. Will the same be the case for gaming? Might mobile platforms be to games as television was to cinema. Perhaps the graduates of the IMD willhave some say in this.

Ken, that's great that your brother took a legal class regarding the business of media. You should get him to blog his experience. I'm sure a bunch of us would like to know what he thinks of this academic experience and if it helps or is applicable to what he does now.