Indie gaming started out as games written with passion for people who embraced and loved them. Now too much of it is about churning out giant mounds of decent but undifferentiated product to be bought for pennies by people who don't give a crap either way. It's not sustainable...
You have a large influx of B-grade and C-grade "talent" glutting the market.-40hz (May 25, 2014, 08:02 AM)
Once you have a market glut and the quality (inevitably) declines significantly, the product quickly becomes generic - and a commodity item. Before long you see the entire market living with generic and commodity level prices.
Professionals cannot compete with low-ball amateurs on price or quality. (Repeat that 3 times.) Low-ball amateurs can, however, quickly force out the professionals - who need to make a living from their craft - and charge appropriately to do so. Excess amateurs in a field do this by lowering standards and reducing customer expectations to the point of indifference, Eventually, the market arrives at the point where the price becomes the only real selection criteria. Because the market is so loaded with junk that most buyers no longer expect (or get) very much for their money.
You'll see this in mature markets all the time: Crap drives out quality. Lower quality results in lower prices. Lower prices necessitates compromise, and attracts amateurs into the field, further lowering overall quality. Lower overall quality produces more crap. Repeat.
Sad state of affairs. But nothing new.
You're seeing the same thing happening with music and literature.
You have a large influx of B-grade and C-grade "talent" glutting the market. (See Kickstarter for some truly cringe-worth examples.) And that's because "everybody has a million dollar hit song or book inside them" according to the people who run those $1500/2-day seminars that "teach you the top secret techniques the pros use." And those that don't charge (i.e. NaNoWriMo) but merely encourage large numbers of the highly motivated and sincere (but still untrained and largely untalented people) are also feeding that glut.
Once you have a market glut and the quality (inevitably) declines significantly, the product quickly becomes generic - and a commodity item. Before long you see the entire market living with generic and commodity level prices.
Professionals cannot compete with low-ball amateurs on price or quality. (Repeat that 3 times.) Low-ball amateurs can, however, quickly force out the professionals - who need to make a living from their craft - and charge appropriately to do so. Excess amateurs in a field do this by lowering standards and reducing customer expectations to the point of indifference, Eventually, the market arrives at the point where the price becomes the only real selection criteria. Because the market is so loaded with junk that most buyers no longer expect (or get) very much for their money.
You'll see this in mature markets all the time: Crap drives out quality. Lower quality results in lower prices. Lower prices necessitates compromise, and attracts amateurs into the field, further lowering overall quality. Lower overall quality produces more crap. Repeat.
Sad state of affairs. But nothing new. It's just finally caught up with the game industry. :(-40hz (May 25, 2014, 08:02 AM)
Do you know of a nice term/phrase to describe this sort of process? I've been looking for such a thing -- hoping for something as nice as the phrase ...).-ewemoa (May 25, 2014, 08:50 PM)
Competent professionals drop out of some markets because it is no longer worth their time to compete there-Renegade (May 25, 2014, 11:29 PM)
Professionals cannot compete with low-ball amateurs on price or quality.-40hz (May 25, 2014, 08:02 AM)
'd argue that's the actual mindset that makes it frustrating to professionals. They can't compete on price, but they *can* compete on quality. And they *can* compete on service. It's just an expectation of compensation that makes it harder, and they have to look at the long game.
As you said, its happened before and will happen again. In many cases, it's just that the professionals have become used to an inflated value of the product.-wraith808 (May 26, 2014, 08:41 AM)
Maybe 'good enough' doesn't automatically drive out just plain good. But it definitely marginalizes it to the point of where it may as well have.-40hz (May 26, 2014, 12:53 PM)
I was used to getting an obscene amount of money per hour contracting.-wraith808 (May 26, 2014, 03:24 PM)
I was used to getting an obscene amount of money per hour contracting.-wraith808 (May 26, 2014, 03:24 PM)
Awesome! I made a comfortable living. But nothing like a killing or obscene amount of money. So in my case I don't think a sense of entitlement ever got a chance to take root. ;D
Also glad to see you negotiated the pitfalls and ended up still standing. Good work! :Thmbsup:-40hz (May 26, 2014, 05:59 PM)
Do you know of a nice term/phrase to describe this sort of process? I've been looking for such a thing -- hoping for something as nice as the phrase ...).-ewemoa (May 25, 2014, 08:50 PM)
Ya know, I felt obliged to remove a certain proper noun inspired term here because the topics are fantastically different, so much so as to poke a stick at that sleeping dog called logical fallacies! (Heh and no I won't get dragged into trying to nail down which one! Let's say if it's not a Red Herring, maybe it's a nice Red Striped Bass with a lemon butter sauce!) 8)
This is right down the alley of various economic and/or psychological and or philosophical fields. So I'm darn sure there's several related themes that could be honorably applied here with the seriousness the original post implicitly requests.
I'll file your request as a "sleeper" topic on my desk with a printout because it might take me a while before my intuitive but eclectic slow research style comes up with clues. So it might take me a while. But when I do I think I'll have at least 1 cent to contribute on the theory side.-TaoPhoenix (May 26, 2014, 12:51 AM)