[game_edu] IGDA board candidates

[Tim Langdell]

True. Whereas once if you said you were a game developer it meant you were a coder, that is clearly no longer true. Similarly, there was a time when videogame (or video game) meant solely games played on game consoles or coin op machines (and was in contrast with computer games), whereas now there is widespread use of the term to apply to all digital/interactive games and a growing use of the term videogame industry as the generic.  However if current trends hold true, this may evolve over time into Wiivelopers and the Wiideogame industry ;)


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ian Schreiber 
  To: IGDA Game Education Listserv 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 7:49 AM
  Subject: Re: [game_edu] IGDA board candidates


        First, industry jargon is something that comes from shared use, not by fiat. Even if the IGDA did change its name, that doesn't mean that anyone would stop calling themselves "developers"... it would just make it more confusing because then we'd have lots of game developers who were represented by an organization that didn't call itself by that name. I'd look at it more in reverse: if developers start calling themselves something else, that would be a compelling reason for the IGDA to change its name, to reflect the updated state of the industry.

        Second, I don't see what's inherently wrong with the word "developer." That's what we do, isn't it? We don't publish games, we don't sell them at retail, we aren't hardware manufacturers... we develop games. I always thought "developer" was a pretty clear term, encompassing all aspects of the design and execution of a game project (programming, design, visual art, audio, production, QA). Perhaps it's confusing when talking with people outside the industry, but that has less to do with a single term and more to do with a general lack of layperson understanding of how games get made.

        - Ian

        --- On Wed, 2/4/09, Lewis Pulsipher <lewpuls at gmail.com> wrote:
          From: Lewis Pulsipher <lewpuls at gmail.com>
          Subject: [game_edu] IGDA board candidates
          To: game_edu at igda.org
          Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 8:04 AM


          I would very much like to see the word "developer" replaced with "creator" in the industry (unless we are truly talking only about programmers).  This would help improve both our own discussions and the perceptions of "outsiders".  Is any candidate willing to push to have the name of the organization changed to "International Game Creators Association"?

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