Forums > Game Talk > SINS OF THE INDUSTRY: UPDATE 2
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/26/2013 1:57 PM · Permalink · Report
Since it has been more than half a year since the last update on the "Sins of the Industry" project, I guess I should remind you a little bit what it was before proceeding with the update.
I have been writing a compendium about all what has gone (or stayed) wrong in video games in the the last 7-8 years, focused on what is generally called the "industry of video games", that is, the big players, with the intention of doing a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of why the medium is in the state it is. You can read a more extensive explanation in the introduction of the book. And you can also look at the presentation of the project I made here in MobyGames very long ago. Also, the whole project can be found here.
On with the update.
The project is in its last weeks, hopefully finished by February, and I'm starting to contact the press to make it public. Chapter 6 on the general theme of "Creativity" is already finished and will be publisher here later this day or tomorrow. Then it is chapter 7, which I am afraid will have to suffer in its scope by the fact that I just need to finish this project already, :( and it will make an analysis of the role of game journalism. Then it is the final chapter with the general conclusions from the whole book and a wider analysis of the situation of video games as a cultural medium in a capitalist society. I have a very clear image of what is going to go there, so it will hopefully be finished in no more than, maybe, 10 days. I know that I have been a disaster with the schedules, so whenever I talk about dates my word means nothing, :P
If you want to know why there has not been any update since, ... I think it was probably June, the reason is that I started the final revision of chapter 6 before Summer, when it was around 65 pages, now it is 140 pages. So, yeah!, I have spent the last 7 months adding more and more content to that chapter. And not only to chapter 6, previous chapters have also witnessed numerous corrections and small additions during these months. In particular, the project has gained more coherence, as I was coming back to old chapters with a more clear understanding of goals of the project. They are largely the same, but many sections have been improved in the writing and the general discourse and many new specific examples have been added to the many lists presented in the compendium.
That is basically it. I have seen that not much people have paid attention (thanks a lot, vedder, once again) to this project, but, I would like to encourage you to do so once again. I am very proud of it and, whatever its future and influence end up being, I think it is a very valuable work. It is still not too late to give it a look and criticize or mention anything before it is finished and closed.
Thanks a lot for your time.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/26/2013 8:29 PM · Permalink · Report
True, the GameFly debacle has been quite depressing considering I had always saw MobyGames as the perfect place to launch this book criticizing big business. And then big business goes and nearly ruins Mobygames, :(
Игги Друге (46653) on 12/26/2013 8:35 PM · Permalink · Report
I think, that for any real impact, your work has to be redisposed, putting general ideas and conclusions first, and keeping the long lists of cases in footnotes.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/26/2013 8:56 PM · Permalink · Report
Have you ever read one of those academic books in which most pages have more text in footnote format than in normal format? They are horrible to read. Now imagine one that has maybe one page that is not entirely composed of footnotes of every five. That would be this book with that structure, :P
Indra was here (20755) on 12/27/2013 2:17 AM · Permalink · Report
[Q --start MichaelPalin wrote--]Have you ever read one of those academic books in which most pages have more text in footnote format than in normal format? [/Q --end MichaelPalin wrote--]That's rarely allowed in academic journals now.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/27/2013 12:58 PM · Permalink · Report
In journals all the references go at the end, but in books, especially in social sciences, I think it is pretty common to find extensive footnotes. At least, I've read a few, relatively new ones where that is the case.
Игги Друге (46653) on 12/27/2013 5:13 AM · Permalink · Report
The problem is, this text is neither academic prose nor is it magazine text. It is tiresome to read, and comes off as nitpicking.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/27/2013 1:29 PM · Permalink · Report
I do think it has academic level, or at least that it is very close. It is rigorous, comprehensive and well documented. There may be some liberties taken here and there (like having a soundtrack), but not enough to harm its seriousness. As for it being tiresome to read, I just don't see any other way to compress all this information and make it easier to read. Maybe if I had better literary skills it could work a bit better. Thanks for the idea, but I don't think it would work (haven't we had this conversation before?).
My hope is that an important amount of people who work with video games (mainly journalists and critics/academics) find it valuable and consider some of the conclusions of the book as a valid way to explain why the industry and the medium is and works as it does. And, for every other gamer, that it becomes an useful go-to site to find loads of information about the last seven years of gaming. As I remind it as many times as I can, it is a compendium, it is designed more as a database than a book to read from the beginning to the end.
Игги Друге (46653) on 12/27/2013 3:53 PM · Permalink · Report
I don't think it is academic since it mixes opinion, analysis and conclusion in the same paragraph. And as a magazine editor, I would reject it altogether because it is never fun.
I'm more or less the intended audience for this, and have read most of all chapters, but it's just too convoluted.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/27/2013 5:20 PM · Permalink · Report
You may have a point, but I would need specific examples to work with. Can you give me a few where you have seen that problem with mixing formats?
is_that_rain_or_tears (634) on 12/27/2013 7:52 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
I read the Introduction. Seems interesting. I foresee good success for this work in Cuba, Cambodia, probably Vietnam, possibly Laos. That's a good start, nothing to object :).
Indra was here (20755) on 12/27/2013 1:54 PM · Permalink · Report
My greatest criticism would be that it's a hard read. Though I don't even like reading books. I also remember it to be too 'liberal' and anti-capitalistic at first glance. That said, the target audience may be too limited for your liking.
MichaelPalin (1414) on 12/27/2013 5:45 PM · Permalink · Report
And at a second and third glance too. But after the current economic crisis, the many revolts all around the globe and after Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, I think that the audience for critical analyses to Capitalism has increased considerably.
Indra was here (20755) on 12/27/2013 6:40 PM · Permalink · Report
Yes, but I'm saying don't demonize the dudes before or during the presentation of facts and analysis. I mean, figuring out your ideological position on page one, kinda ruins the excitement of an verdict.
Then again, you're a dang socialist. Bwahahahaha!
At least, put some light humor in it, man.