I know some sculptors. I don't think those fuckers ever pay their rent. Just saying.

Both, actually.

Indie game creators either go broke and living off money they had saved up while getting no money and developing a game, or working themselves to the bones to be able to support themselves and make a game in the extra time they have because they love doing it. Pretty much the same as a sculptor who has no money and has to pick up a job while they do their sculpting in their off time, because they have no income from the sculpting.

The differnece between making a game will lead to a marketable product/job opportunities/bigger projects funding. None of these exist for the more marginal arts.

And with allt he discussion on costs regardless of what cost you put on making a game it is still going to be fuck loads more than supporting say a painter or a sculptor who only really needs a salary and materials. not a whole team of people, lots of computers lots of training/lots of outside work, funding for the million different parts that go into making a game.

And shit modern art- those painters only need one, maybe two colours of paint! And sculptors only need trash!

Okay, so I'm not the only one that feels like some modern art sculptures are just, "Okay, let's give this dude a bendable piece of metal, and see what happens", then?

I'd say that your argument (Costs-wise, at least) is a reason -to- give funding to game development: The costs are higher, and more money is more needed to create than for other arts (If we're calling games art. I honestly don't care too much about the label). And I don't really think, "Well, if you ever had money to start up your own expensive thing, you could get a job out of it later, whereas if these guys are doing their inexpensive thing, and they won't get a job out of it" is really an argument against giving money to game makers. They still need to start up, in order to possibly get discovered. And being picked up by a big development company for making an indie game is REALLY unlikely. Jobs as game designers are incredibly hard to get into, and for people to really create their own game that they want, an indie game is the way that they have to do it.

Like, making a great indie game is in no way a recipe for success, or to get yourself a job. Look at the Portal 2 ARG: People were complaining about having to play indie games, because "DUDE, INDIE GAMES ARE LIKE THESE THINGS THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT, I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE TO PLAY THESE IN ORDER TO GET PORTAL 2". It's silly, but it's a stigma that does exist among "teh hardcore" gamers.


What I'm getting at is, making an indie game is really the only way for someone to make the game that they want to. If we're going to call games an art form, then we ought to make it available to people to make their art, which is more expansive and expensive than the other arts, and much harder to self fund.

Late on getting in the thread, but I think this is wonderful news for the gaming industry. This gives it more formal recognition and more excuses for funding.

Also if you go into game design you could legitimately call yourself an artist.

Totally and legitimately?


I'll be honest, I have a bit of a bias towards wanting funding towards games, insofar as I'm all, "You can't disagree with this with improper facts!", but I don't actually care about it too deeply, because my funding woes are nearly settled now, and the game is slated to be finished within the coming months. :P

Heyyy guys, you'll never guess which news outlet is being a manipulative asshole about this whole thing.

Seriosly, "Ping-Pong"? What-the-fuck.

Holy shit, I actually agree with Fox News and that other speaker and disagree with you.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH TODAY

(For the record Fox's insinuation that Call of Duty would be the type of game receiving the grants was petty, stupid and intended merely to inflame prejudiced viewers, but that bullshit aside, yeah I agree with their perspective on this one. We are simply in too much fucking debt to afford giving taxpayer federal grants to videogame developers. This is a perfect example of the kind of excessive spending the government should stop because it's not welfare benefiting the poor or regulations benefiting the environment, it's a fucking outright waste of cash.)

By that logic, we ought to cut ALL the arts grants. Unless they're allocating more money, because of this, instead of just reallocating what they have.

Yes, the eternal argument that making it a possibility to give money to somewhere else is automatically out of the purse of those who need it more.

I mean if we're going down that slope, there are a LOT of other places to save money from. Things like defense spendings, where we are actually talking such ammounts of money that would make a real difference. The possibility of 10 000 - 200 000 per game really isn't what is bankrupting your federal goverment.