10 Big Myths About Video Games, Debunked By The People Who Make Them

Today, more people than ever before are playing video games...but most people still don’t actually understand how games are made. Even for hardcore game aficionados, game development remains fairly shrouded in mystery.

What’s more, a lot of what people think they know about game development is actually misconception. We spoke to a number of game developers who told us about the biggest things people get wrong about game development, and below is where, in their own words, these developers debunk common myths.


Misconception: Game Developers Are Lazy

This, by far, is the most common thing that developers brought up when discussing prevalent game development misconceptions. Over and over again, developers described situations where players called them “lazy”—and this couldn’t be further from the truth. Game development is often grueling, and it’s not uncommon to hear about people putting in way over 40 hours of work a week just to get a game shipped on time. This is known as “crunch,” and it happens just as often on critically acclaimed games as it does games you might find in a bargain bin.


“We work in a culture of overtime, crunch and death marches,” one triple-A game developer who wished to remain anonymous told me in an interview. “People put their physical and mental health on the line every time, some even lose their families to our industry’s overtime culture.

“We do from 3 to 6 months of crunch on any given project and it’s considered NORMAL in our industry,” the developer said. “People with families, older devs get discriminated against all the time because it’s thought they can’t sustain the ‘normal’ work pace, which is ridiculously long hours as the norm, or crunch for months on end.

“We get told to accept lower salaries because of our ‘passion’ for gaming, we sacrifice our healths and families to overtime to get the game done... and then some ******* decides we’re lazy because a bug is still in the game, or a feature they wanted isn’t there? F*** that sh**.”


Misconception: Game Development Is Easy

Here’s Armin Ibrisagic of Coffee Stain Studios, the folks behind Goat Simulator,describing a common game development misunderstanding:

Misconception: A Good Idea Is All a Game Needs

Chandana Ekanayake of Uber Entertainment would like to set the record straight on how games evolve during the course of development:

Misconception: DLC Is Evil

Nowadays, developers often announce plans for downloadable content well before the release of the actual game in question. For some people, this acts as proof that developers are out to sucker as much money as possible from the player, who may believe that they are expected to spend money on an “incomplete” game. The reality of DLC is more complex than that, though.

“I see a lot of disparaging of Day 1 DLC especially, but I wish the gaming public understood that in many cases this is in no way taking away from the core title,” Elizabeth Zelle, a games user researcher at Deep Silver Volition, told me in an email. “[DLC] is teams continuing to generate digital content, that doesn’t need to be finished months before the street date like the core title does.”

For developers, having something to work on in-between major releases is huge. Yes, that’s partially because DLC is profitable. But! DLC also provides much-needed security in an industry with an abundance of layoff horror stories.

“In the past you would see large layoffs when a game submitted because there simply wasn’t any more work for a lot of the devs on a team,” Zelle said. “The same studio would start hiring back up months later when their next project got to the point of needing that large team again. DLC production, the employment it provides devs, and the bonus income it generates to pay them works to keep game studios out of the layoff-hire back cycles and lets game devs enjoy a more stable life.”


Misconception: All Game Developers Are Rich

It’s easy to get swept up in all the dolla dolla billz floating around in this industry. You read about games that cost millions to make. You hear about deals that net game developers billions. You look at the swank mansions that gaming YouTubers buy. It’s easy to think that every game developer is swimming in cash, but that’s not actually the case.

“I’m lucky,” Cliff Bleszinski, co-founder of Boss Key Productions, told me in an email. “I may have worked my butt off for years and made some great games with some great people, but Tim Sweeney was a very kind boss who treated his earliest employees very well. For every person like me that’s been successful there are hundreds of developers that are just getting by.”


Misconception: Realistic Graphics Mean a Better Game

Shawn Allen, designer of Treachery in Beatdown City, thinks that people are seduced really easily by photorealistic games—which can leave titles with “beautiful aesthetics” and “exaggerated features” in the dust.

“Pixel art is devalued as a medium because it is considered ‘easy’ when really, ease of creation is not and should never be the only metric for examining art,” Allen wrote in an email.

There’s a danger in valuing realistic graphics so much, Allen says.

“There is a great deal hyperbolic fervor for the newer, bigger worlds featured in games regardless of if they are bringing anything new to the table. Again, [for most people] frames per second & texture resolution trumps art direction.”


Misconception: Everything a Developer Does Is for Profit

Matthew Medina of ArenaNet says that, while developers do have to making a living, making more money doesn’t necessarily drive everything they do:

Misconception: Game Developers Don’t Care About Bugs

When you play a game, any bugs you come across might seem obvious. I often read comments and forum posts where people are flabbergasted that nobody caught a certain hiccup that thousands of people online encountered right away. Here’s how something like that can happen, according to A Hat in Timedeveloper Dan Tsukasa:

Misconception: “Casual” Games Don’t Matter

Robert Yang, developer of erotic games such as Cobra Club and Hurt Me Plenty, thinks that people underestimate just how important “casual” games actually are:

Misconception: Players Always Know What’s Best for a Game

Fans are defined by passion—they often know a franchise inside and out, and have very strong feelings about the way things should work in a game. Often, people can be vocal about the changes they want to see, especially on forums and comments section. But catering to fan demands doesn’t necessarily make for a better game, according to the founder of Panache Games.

“If we [listened] to the public and the general feedback [from players] Assasin’s Creed would have [had] dragons and monsters…and nobody would die in Game of Thrones,” Patrice Désilets, creator of Assassin’s Creed, joked in an email.

Loved it. Nice post

Tl;dr: Have you hugged a game dev today?

Source: http://kotaku.com/10-big-myths-about-games-debunked-by-the-people-who-ma-1737839268

Thank you game DEVS everywhere!

Better not quit my day job then...

Mallards or Peking?

I knew someone would come back with this. Fact is that unless you're a game developer yourself, you're just armchair quarterbacking. It's easy to say "aw, they're just saying that," but you actually have no idea.

Most likely Roasted LOL

EDIT: LOL, my post was deleted.

Sounds like the DEVs watch each others' backs

You really think release day dlc isn't about squeezing more money out the gaming community? Fact is whenever you ask any business about there business practice you will get the same answer. Are you a game developer? If not you're in the same boat im in, because you have no idea.

Why did Mepps steal Ronald McDonalds socks?

Exactly, but I'm not the one making assumptions.

Wait a minute, they want our money?! How evil! How dare they ask for our money for profit and to keep their employees employed. I really wish I had a choice in this matter!

The whole point of the article was to get a little more informed from people who actually have experience on the development side of the industry, not the corporate leaders. We should all have a better idea now, unless we choose to ignore it.

A lot of that seems like coding and tech development in general, and doesn't have to be specific to games at all. I can relate to a lot of it. Particularly about the idea that someone just has to copy/paste something or flick some switch somewhere.

I don't think it matters what field you're talking about, the old proverb, “You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” usually applies to anyone who complains about the job their doing.

yep. I make a joke with a tongue in cheek *ducks*

Yet, they let some moron slam Lemon. Seems to me priorities might need to be aligned, or a sense of humor learned

Look again, his posts were deleted, along with several posts connected to his posts

Good news. It was way uncalled for. I left the thread because I was about ready to provide a ban worthy commentary