Bad Valve, No Biscuit

Was at the Game Developer's Conference Last week - as usual, it was great fun - lots of neat sessions and talks, great people, and very interesting discussions and meetings. One of the most entertaining sessions each year is the Game Design Challenge - 3 designers are given a concept and asked to design games around them (not to implement, tho). Always provides some very interesting presentations. This year's challenge was to design a game about sex and autobiography - "My First Time." One of the participants was Kim Swift, a designer on Portal and a Valve employee. Except Valve forbid her from participating. Now, if I were a responsible journalist of any kind, I'd stop here. But, instead, on with groundless speculation!!!!

First though, let me make it clear that this is all groundless speculation from here forward. I have no idea why Valve said no, and no delicous insider information on how it went down. Nor do I intend any disrespect to Heather Kelley and Erin Robinson, who ably took Kim's place and won, nor to Steve Meretsky or Suika Haro, the other participating designers.

Lots of ideas were thrown out as to why Valve might have done this, but one in particular stuck in my craw. It is entirely possible that Valve forbid Kim from participating because Valve does not want a Valve emplyee to have a higher profile than Valve itself.

This is nonnsense. First, Kim's popularity will only serve Valve in the short run, and Kim is not likely to stay an employee of the copany forever. We are entering a point where Game D?esigners are going to become their own brands - as more pople grow up with games, more will want to make them, and their heros will inevitably be working designers - this is happening,a nd the smart move is to support and nurture this idea, and to support these designers. If Kim is happy with Valve as an employer, then she will naturally want to extend that relationship if and when she moves on to her own projects. Wouldn't Valve want Kim brinign future indie projects to the Steam platform first? Doesn't Valve want a high profile personality in games on theri sie rather than against them?

Second, Valve ahs been great recently at supporting indie work, marketing it heavily on Steam, and releasing some very non-traditional games through the platform. And, I love Left 4 Dead.

So I'm confused. But strongly encourage all companies out there to view their designers as precious above the line talent, and not as property. Support young, burgeoning designers to both promote the health of games in general and to win yourself allies and ambassadors to the public that will only become more necessary and valuable over the next dozen years. Game Designers should be Rock Stars, and its happening whether you want it that way or not.

So, here's what I was thinking

I've been meaning to start blogging for years, I suppose, but time, the great devil always slips away fro me. But now I'm unemployed, and what the hell - I should apply myself constructively to anything. Mostly I'll post here when I have stray thoughts about storytelling, games, art, independent media or politics. Or if I see something really goddamn cool on the internets.

I'll also try to post updates about upcoming and ongoing independent festivals and media events. You, know, just to keep ya'll in the loop.

Cheerio, Pip Pip, and all that jazz.

SXSW Suggestions

Alright. First things first. SXSW is just around the corner, and though, once again, I am completely incapable of attending, I've been slathering over the schedule for days now. Here's the things I would be sure to check out:

Music
This is just a small selection, I don't know most of the bands playing - but I'd imagine a bunch of them are awesome, but these are the ones i know are awesome:
M Ward
Camera Obscura
Decemberists
Andrew Bird
MC Frontalot
And you shall know us by the Trail of Dead
Cory Branan
Sage Francis

Film
Strongman - Wonderful docu about Stanless Steel, a professional strongman getting older. Don't Miss.
Music Video Block (Mister Novocaine, Jerk It) - I've seen about half of these videos, and those two are my favs, but this block is probably a don't miss.
Reel Shorts 1 (That’s My Majesty) - Very Good short, playing with several others I haven't seen and a few I have. Should be a nice selection of short film.
Midnight Shorts (I Live In The Woods) - This short is hilarious. Rest of the block looks intriguing, but I don't know most of it...
Adventureland - Mottola's new flick. Should be funny.
Little Dizzle - Missed it at Sundance, heard great things.
Slammin Salmon - New Broken Lizard film. Very Funny.
Make-out with Violence - Intriguing title and description. Filmmakers have done good work in past, but otherwise I know nothing about it....
It Came From Kuchar - Solid docu about B Movie makers. Great characters, fun subject.
Dungeon Masters - Docu about Pen and Paper gamers.

Interactive
Being Indie and Successful in the Games Industry - Awesome indie developers.
Marketing Meets New Media: Building Your Audience Online - some interesting folks talking about marketing. I hate marketing, but as such, should go to more of these things. Also Burnie Burns and Kos on the same panel? Weird.
Funologists Live and In Person: Guerilla Game Research - Tracy Fullerton is AWESOME.
What we can learn from Games - Henry Jenkins is clever.
The BBC, Six to Start and ARGs : Bringing TV to the Web - I'm fascinated by mixed-media storytelling, and the BBC did a bunch of clever things over the past year.
New Interfaces for Performance - Ummm. I like virtual performance.
Bruce Sterling Session - Actually, I wouldn't go to this, but if you've never seen him talk, well, you should go.

Times and such are all on the schedule. And descriptions.