Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Breaking the Chains – How the Game_Jam Fiasco Brought Out the Best of Indie Game Dev

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 1, 2014

I’m still not sure how to respond to the reports of the big “Game_Jam” fiasco. If you haven’t heard, here’s the original report by Jared Rosen at Indie Statik, and a follow-up by Polygon. If you don’t want to read it – here’s kind of my summary:

A company wanted to make a big-budget game jam to broadcast to audiences. They picked up some big sponsors. They recruited some well-known indies, YouTube “Let’s Play” personalities, and student game developers and tried to make it into a reality show. They completely misjudged what a game jam was about, what being “indie” is all about, and one producer / consultant tried too hard to make it good “reality TV” by trying to provoke conflict by some very vile means, including prompting indies with nasty, sexist comments.

To their credit, the indies were deeply offended, and – after sharing individual experiences – decided to walk away from the production as a group, abandoning the show that cost nearly a half-million dollars to put together after only a single day of shooting. They’re risking legal issues, but I imagine anyone leveling punitive legal action will be setting themselves up for an even bigger counter-suit. And the whole thing is a disaster that will probably chill any attempts to bring real game development to “mainstream” audiences by conventional means for a while.

But if telling the big money corporate jerks to f*** off isn’t indie, nothing is.

I guess I’m really a pretty sheltered guy. I’ve known some people who are major violators of Wil Wheaton’s prime directive in my life, but I guess I just project my own assumptions on people. If I were on an indie game development team and heard a producer ask us – on camera – if we felt we had an advantage because we had a “pretty girl” on the team, I’d immediately assume they were just making a joke in very poor taste, and get a little offended for my female teammate’s sake, but I’d never think about taking such a comment seriously. Because nobody actually thinks that way, do they?

I don’t know if this Matti Leshem douchebag really subscribed to such sexist principles, or if he read on the Internet that the gaming industry was sexist and decided to use that to try to pick a fight. He succeeded, but not in the way he intended. He picked a fight between the developers and the people running the event. As Adriel Wallick puts it in her blog post about the event:

“Do you think you’re at an advantage because you have a pretty girl on your team?”

All love to my teammates as they declined to engage. But, after pushing more – he got a rise out of me. He got me to, with an embarrassed and flushed red face launch into a statement about how his question is indicative of everything that is wrong in our industry in terms of sexism. That no, we weren’t at an advantage because we had a woman on our team – we were at an advantage because I’m a damn fine programmer and game developer. We were at an advantage because my skills allowed us to be at an advantage – not my “pretty face”.

He had the audacity to approach me later and explain that it wasn’t personal. This wasn’t a personal attack on me – he knew this was a sensitive topic in the industry and wanted to address it.

Well, you know what? It was personal. You sat there and overtly questioned my skills, my intelligence, my life. It was so personal, that I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that someone could even pretend to believe that it wasn’t a personal attack.

And, on top of that, it was a completely inexcusable way to address the issue of sexism in games. You address this by having a rational conversation about the nuances of how it feels to be an underrepresented part of an industry that you love. You address it by making a marginalized subset feel safe. You address it by allowing the minority to feel like they have a voice – a voice that is being listened to. You don’t address it by shoving cameras in a woman’s face and insinuating that the only reason she was brought onto a skill-based competition was because she was nice to look at.

I don’t think of myself as a very emotional guy, but as I read this, I was heartsick. Just imagining being put in a situation like that – it’s disgusting and humiliating.

Now, I prefer to hear multiple viewpoints – especially in such a litigious society where there are a large number of people who go around looking for excuses to be offended. I’ve known too many people like that, and I tend to view people who seem to perceive offense everywhere with a great deal of suspicion, and keep my distance. Part of it is my own cultural blindness, as I admitted above – I don’t see it, I don’t project it on others, and I haven’t been around people truly burned by it often enough to have those built-up defenses. There’s a chance the events of this story are being exaggerated. Jared Rosen is, after all, a long-time friend of some of these indies.

But at this point, it all sounds pretty inexcusable.  And I’m absolutely crushed by the perception that the gaming industry is full of rampant misogyny. I don’t want to believe it. I mean, sure – you have plenty of trolls, assholes, and douchebags at large outside of development, using the anonymity of the YouTube comments section to spew out the most vile and hateful insults and death threats that they can imagine, and sadly taking it beyond that. But within the development community, on a large scale? It didn’t used to be… or at least I never saw it. I’m sure it existed, but it was the exception, not the rule.

The actions of the developers at this event give me hope. While they were a bit blindsided and didn’t realize what was going on until later, once it became clear they came to a consensus. Again, quoting Adriel:

Despite all of this, there was a wonderful thing that happened. That community that I hold so dear banded together. As individuals, we were insulted and hurt, but as a group we were able to stand up and support one another in a way that I truly appreciate.

Our night, once the production was officially deemed dead, consisted of hanging out, forming new friendships, and reinforcing existing friendships – exemplifying the environment that should have existed all day.

Some developers began to devise ideas on how to film a game jam that would properly capture the spirit of game development. Some developers discussed potential future game design ideas. Some developers simply played games.

No matter what everyone was doing, however, we were all in this together – sharing, collaborating, talking, and creating.

This is what this whole indie game development thing is supposed to be about. This is what I imagine, in my optimistic view of this awesome hobby / industry / medium / field that everyone reading this is involved with, at least peripherally. Sure, the openness of the “community” means it doesn’t automatically filter out the hate-filled jerks. But the openness, the decentralization, the self-selection, and the meritocracy helps limit their influence.

Over the the last couple of years, I’ve wondered about the usefulness of “indie evangelism,” the cheerleading I’ve been doing for the last ten years for the indie game development movement. After all, today in 2014, it seems pretty clear that the indies have won the game – or at least the match – for the time being. But the commendable actions of the devs here comes from the independence of the community. We work together and cooperate, but we do our own things. This is a different dynamic. It’s not about corporate structure, it’s about communities and alliances. And most of all, it’s about games.

Their reaction to pressure to portray themselves according to nasty stereotypes – well, that gives me hope. It reminds me of what is so awesome about indies, as a whole.

Go, indie!


Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 7 Comments to Read



  • Maklak said,

    > “there are a large number of people who go around looking for excuses to be offended.”
    Pretty much my thoughts. People in America are just over-sensitized over things like race and sex.

    To me this looks whole matter like a non-issue. A guy made a few comments about one group having a pretty girl. Fair enough, especially after a big part of Assasin’s Creed marketing campaign was that Jade Raymond was the game’s producer. Zoe could try to turn it into a joke or just say that they might get more screening time because of it, but otherwise this is a skill-based competition and she’s just good at what she does. Instead she threw a tantrum and rage-quit, pulling others behind her, which is really immature of her and I would hold it against her, not the presenter.

    Journalists and reality shows presenters are actually supposed to get people to react emotionally to their questioning. Some people can take it, others react poorly, but when she decided to go in front of a camera, what did she really expect? The presenter was doing his job and while the so called verbal assault was directed at her, it was just to make the show more interesting and provoke a reaction or a discussion. I think he has nothing against her personally and in this way, it wasn’t personal, just part of trying to create a drama. Watch some Uncle Kage “furries and the media” videos to get an idea what journalists tend to do to get a show.

    > And I’m absolutely crushed by the perception that the gaming industry is full of rampant misogyny.
    I’m not part of gaming industry, but I’m a programmer. I guess. Anyway, I’ve met very few female programmers and almost all the competent ones I know of are males. There are some women in software companies, but they usually do other kinds of work. Maybe it makes me a mysogi-whatever, but that’s just my experience.

    Anyway, that’s what I got from your description of it. The linked articles show a different picture.
    [quote] At some point which remains unclear, the show wholly dipped into a scripted reality slant and became less about making a game, and more about creating drama for sake of the audience. less than one day out of the four blocked off for shooting available to sit down and jam. The rest of the program, as it turned out, was filled with arts and crafts, physical challenges and competitive gaming – once again, totally unrelated to game development. [/quote]
    Well, now I see how programmers would be upset about it. All this drama is too distracting to actually work. Even normal offices make that difficult. Then there was the issue of the aggressive contract, so the things that happened on stage were really just the last straw.

    > http://indiestatik.com/2013/12/13/female-game-developers/
    Oookay, now I see the problem.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Yeah, I read that link and was utterly flabbergasted. I know that there are trolls in every crowd, but that went beyond the pale. If I was subjected to crap on that scale, yeah, I’d be pretty sensitive too. I have my own molehills that I collectively make into a mountain, I get that. And the description from the report is that there were a lot of things that might have been forgiven on their own. The devs admit that they knew that a portion of the event was going to be devoted to reality show gimmickry, and were okay with that up to a point. But taken as a whole, all the crap-covered straws eventually broke the camel’s back.

    I’m not one to rant about the lack of diversity. After all, I’m a solo indie here… diversity for Rampant Games would mean hiring someone who knows how to draw. I think there’s a lot of that push that actually gets counter-productive. But I’ve also worked with some very talented and competent software developers (both in and out of the games biz) who used the other restroom.

    I just don’t want to see anybody *discouraged* from becoming a game developer on account of biological traits that have nothing to do with game-making. And it’s apparent that certain people running that event didn’t understand developers or game jams and were doing what they could to portray indie game developers in a light that would have been discouraging not just to women, but to potential developers of any stripe.

  • ShadowTiger said,

    This show was doomed from the start. I think the whole concept is silly, mixing together YouTube stars into development teams. What are they going to contribute but color commentary? I like people such as Jessie cox and angry Joe but not sure they could make a game.

    Also, this group is the worst target for a traditional reality show because they care about their craft more than fame or money. They won’t put up with the crap from the production team

    If Polaris does attempt this again they should scale it back to match amnesia fortnight’s setup.

  • Cuthalion said,

    This story is really interesting, infuriating, and at the same time heartwarming. Thanks for posting about it.

  • Maklak said,

    I’ve played “Depression Quest”, a game by Zoe.

    Well, technically it’s pretty unimpressive. You get a picture, a screen or two of text and a few options. The game has to keep track of where you are and a few variables (and I think the options you can use depend on how badly depressed you are). It is like one of those “write your own adventure” books from the 90s.

    With this type of game the engine doesn’t have to be impressive, and writing is what really matters. And writing in depression quest really shines. Sure, some walls of text look like a TL;DR material, but they’re worth reading anyway. I also like the little touches like getting options that an energetic person would pick that are always unavailable.

    I’m prone to depression and this game made me feel bad, but I’ve got better since then. Someone like me shouldn’t play it, but a “normal” person might get some insights into how a depressed person feels and thinks. All the “I am worthless and unworthy” thoughts of the protagonist are spot on. Even the fact that sometimes it is an accomplishment to just go for a walk is accurate. I like the kitty and Alex is a sweetheart. I even like that it took me 2 evenings to finish the game. Long enough to cover a lot of situations and decisions, not so long as to be repetitive or boring.

    Sorry for the off-topic rant, I was just impressed enough to get it out of my system.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    I hadn’t played it, so I appreciate the description!

  • Maklak said,

    I was going to add a few things, but my Internet disconnected.

    Depression Quest will look unimpressive to people who expect 3D graphics from games, but it doesn’t have to impress to work. Zoe got a lot of hate for “making a game that takes no skill”, but writing is a skill too and is is well done in DQ. I’m no author, but even writing a lengthy forum post takes time and effort and skill. Something of this magintude and quality must have taken a month or more.

    Bonus points for touching on a rare subject in a thought-out and eductaional manner.

    [hr]

    More on topic, a lengthy documentary on a game jam, with some interviews in it, might be interesting. Especially if they took a few veterans and made a playable game within a week or so.

    But piling up levels of ridiculousness on top of it, like what the developers can and can’t drink, all those distracting people walking around, challenges unrelated to anything and so on would be just too much.

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