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than the movie industry, blah, blah, blah, but they're
only comparing box oi ce sales with game sales. That
doesn't include DVDs, merchandising and everything
else. Games need more avenues, not just the single one
we have now.
Which is another thing. Gameplay length. Its one of
the reasons games cost more, because it's supposed to
be a longer experience. You have to create more crap.
They charge what they do also because the precedent
was already set. I guess it all comes down to, “Why
can't we be more creative?” I guess my answer to that
is, “Fine. I'll be creative when I don't have to worry
about getting paid anymore.”
The experience of playing a video game is the goal of game developers.
The software is secondary to the experience. Just as Microsoft Word can be
used to construct a novel, poem or short story, no one would be so quick to
label writing and book production “just software.” Video games are soft-
ware combined with art and design in such a way that a virtual play world
is constructed for players to experience. Put another way, the software of a
game is the “brush of the video game artist” (Dymek 2010, 214).
These dif erences can be felt throughout the production process of a
video game. Game developers are continuously aware that their work will
be played and experienced by others. Its value will not only be judged by
the players, but the success and future livelihood of a video game studio
may be based entirely on the reactions others have to that creative collabor-
ative product. Yet, game developers will often create games for themselves,
meaning that they imagine themselves as the player, rather than turning
to focused play testing to answer the question, “Is it any good?” Although
usability, player metrics and play testing are on the rise, it is far less com-
mon than in software industries that rely heavily on user testing.
THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY
The video game industry's structure also dif ers greatly from that of the
software industry. The ability to develop software for major computing
platforms—Apple's OS X, Microsoft's Windows and the many Linux
variants—is largely unconstrained. Development tools for these platforms
are free or otherwise cheaply available. Distribution of software for these
platforms can be done either through typical distribution channels or via
electronic downloads via a website or other digital distribution platform.
The video game industry, on the other hand, because of its predominant
focus on console video games, is signifi cantly more constrained. Since the
introduction of the NES, the ability to manufacture and distribute video
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