There has been some talk about posts I did you might find interesting...
A Debate on the Future of Game Dev...
Most recently, Sirlin seems to have discovered my blog and did a post about it. In the comments, they get into an interesting debate about this stuff. After getting hammered routinely on IGDA's board it's refreshing to hear this.
Programming: Does It Help or Hinder Design
I made a comment on programming versus design over at an AI site, and the blogmaster spun it out into a full blog entry. Read it here...
The Vaunted Game Design Job "Description"
Someone a while ago did a posting on one of my earlier entries. Check it out here...
5 comments:
I think you should just come out. Anyone who wants to do the research can figure it out. I say some pretty audacious stuff on my blog, and I don't even have the same career collateral that you do. Maybe I'm foolish, but I think you'll be taken more seriously if you leverage your public distinctions.
By the way, your treatment by the IGDA is one of the reasons I'm not renewing my membership this year.
Why is my identity so important? Don't you think it might just distract people from the message?
I had this debate about a year ago with my friends when the co-owner of a small journalistic site that I worked on implemented an anonymous forum system to replace our old pseudonymous phpBB implementation. Suddenly, there was a great divide between the people who wanted everyone to use pseudonyms and those who wanted everyone to post anonymously. I was on the side of those that posted pseudonymously, and the arguments against this style generally took the form of "Why do you care who is saying the message? What's important is the essence of the message." I disagreed, and still do; who says something can help me decide how much weight I put into their argument, how much benefit I put over the natural underlying doubt.
I suppose you already do post pseudonymously, but I believe that people can make more educated decisions about your messages if they knew who you are; what companies you have worked for, what games you have worked on, why you feel they succeeded or failed. I remember reading a few things you had posted (maybe not on here, maybe on the IGDA boards; my memory is fuzzy) where you were trying to use games that you had worked on to support your argument yet would not tell what those games were when asked. I also remember that you seemed frustrated, like you wanted to talk about them but simply could not.
I say unless you think you will lose your job or have to take crap from your co-workers, go ahead and shout out who you are; it can only help your credibility.
Your identity is irrelevant, that's the point, your anonymity is more of a distraction.
I may actually renew this year, I spoke with some people about the deletions, it seems your Grassroots Gamemaster persona, in it's anonymous edge, may be doing more dishonor to your message than you realize. Something to consider.
Patrick,
They are saying that *they think* it is not smart of me, from a public relations standpoint, to remain anonymous. However, they forget that it is *my* decision - not theirs - to remain anonymous. That is my right, and for them to armtwist to try to get what they want strikes me as coercive.
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