Why Does Everybody Think They Can Do This?

News & General Discussion
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So, I just spent like the last 3 days building teeny little prototypes for two games. I mean, these aren’t even really games yet. They’re just gameplay prototypes. And, there are like 20 different scripts, dozens of sprites and I had to solve problems I never solved before, things that I don’t think there are tutorials for. I finally feel like I know enough of Unity to tackle any challenge, but that’s after about 3 years of investment. But that’s not the point. The point is, why do people just sit back and assume that they can do this?

Like, what in the human brain looks at something that they know nothing about and says “mmm hmm, uh huh, yeah… well, I haven’t got a clue how this works or even what’s really going on but I’m pretty sure you suck at this and I could do it better than you”?.. Like… what is this? Is it because we’re just a bunch of weekend warriors in people’s minds? Do they think “It’s not that you are good at anything, it’s just that you spend your time differently… just like some people garden, some people barbecue, some people play darts and some people make video games.” Is that what it has become?

What the actual heck? When I started, I vastly overestimated the difficulty… I’ll admit it. But I also like solving problems and I love a good intellectual challenge. So, I just keep moving in the direction of harder stuff because I get bored. And at this point, I’m past the point-of-no-return. I’ve invested more than half of my life in games. But for these newcomers, or for people who don’t even make games to just sit around, presuming to be experts on “game design” who love throw around the word “mechanics” I just have to say that I don’t get it. I don’t understand the mindset.

I can barely do this and I’ve been at it a while. I would still consider myself an amateur. After a few more games, I’m going to finally be “good” at this. But you… you random person, you uninitiated Level 1 Novice, MLG spectator who has watched every video Extra Credits has ever put on YouTube… You. Have. No. Idea. what this is really like. To make A GAME is such a challenge that the majority of people who call themselves “Game Developers” have, in fact, never actually completed one… hence “developer”… see? It’s one of the few titles out there you don’t to do anything to claim. But as difficult as making A GAME is, it is that much more difficult and then several orders of magnitude more difficult to make a GOOD game. And to make a great game that everybody loves? I have no idea. Literally, no idea at all. I’m still waiting for something to come to me in a dream, or something.

But again, what the heck is this mindset? I mean, I know that our generation is arrogant as all hell. I mean, just look at Facebook and Twitter, everybody thinks they’re a freaking super genius/comic mastermind/master chef and we all have the best taste in music, television and movies (of course)… but, I just don’t get it. How did we become infected with this insane sense of entitlement/egotism/narcissism and can you believe the way that it has impacted people’s expectations of life? It’s not just the dunning-kruger effect. This is something deeper. Beyond irrational. This is like… intentional incompetence.

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“This guy!” (part-time dishwasher at Chili’s, game developer currently developing an MMO)

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“Aim For the Bushes”

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I’d guess because some are doing it and if they get some financial success the coverage is pretty massive out in media land (or was anyway). However, they usually spin it in a way that sounds like “so Joe made a simple little mobile game and didn’t expect anyone would want to play it. To his surprise 3 weeks later he had made over $100,000.”

Then they come in and play around in Unity following tutorials or just drag n dropping and they get something moving on the screen. And probably think dang this is so much easier than I ever thought it would be. I thought these game makers were like really skilled or smart. But I guess not.

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Click Here To Get Rich Quick Real Secrets Of The Industry

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I’m sure part of it is the Dunning-Kruger effect. Not knowing how much work is involved makes it easy to assume it’s simple. But I think the bigger issue, and the more guilty party, is that they’re being told it’s easy.

Unity (and Unreal and everyone else making a game engine these days) sell this idea that “anyone can make a game”. Click-click-drag-click-done. Asset publishers sell packages that claim you just need to add water to have a full game. Authors release books promising you’ll Learn Game Development in 24 hours. Online courses are sold suggesting you’ll MASTER Unity3D if you watch the included 112 videos.

Then games like Minecraft and Flappy Bird and Crossy Road become immensely popular, and because of their simple aesthetic, impressionable minds assume the games themselves are simple as well. We tend to look for evidence that fits our preferred narrative, so these examples are more influential than the tens of thousands of failed games.

Then again, I actually believe there are far more people in the world who recognize that creating a game – especially a good one – is very difficult. If your sample is the Unity forums, well… that’s obviously not a representative group since the target demographic is those trying to or currently learning how to make games…

I also think you’re projecting an awful lot of the internal viewpoint you’ve expressed. You describe these people as narcissistic, egotistical, and entitled, but you’re demonstrating a fair bit of those qualities yourself with this and your other notorious thread advising everyone to quit game development (less so the entitlement, granted). You have to consider the possibility that some of these people you’re criticizing may actually just be smarter than you and not need as long to learn something, and maybe their ideas are far better than any of yours.

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Because there is often little point to thinking that you can’t do something. If humans as a species sat around thinking they couldn’t do anything then we’d be banging rocks together and eating leaves. Humans are built to push the limits, to attempt things that they have no business attempting. Within those that attempt things, some succeed, others fail. We must push ourselves for a better future for humanity.

We put a man on the freaking moon for goodness sake. Those guys could have said: “Well that’s probably pretty hard and I don’t know where to start with the maths. Oh well, back to beer and burgers.”

This guy has all the reasons in the world to not attempt things, but instead he’s pushing his own limits to help create a better future for humanity. A blind Microsoft developer has created an app to help him 'see' the world | Windows Central

Yeah, we blew up a lot of stuff trying to get to the moon, but we got there. Humans may fail many times before they succeed, and indeed, they may never succeed, but we must try, it is the fabric of our very being.

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Well, people smarter than me are not the ones I am criticizing. I think that’s sorta self-evident. Am I a narcissist? Absolutely, but I see it. Egotistical? No. Not any more. Any confidence I convey now comes from ability and knowledge. I don’t feel like overselling myself, any more. Am I entitled? To what? Well, I suppose I do feel entitled to create a thread. Even that’s a revocable privilege though.

A lot of people have a lot of ideas, and if some guy’s worst idea is better than my best idea, it makes little difference if he doesn’t finish anything. And that’s the norm.

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I think a person’s definition of “finish” is important. For me, overcoming a challenge is “finished”. It’s “finished” to me, and requires no more mental effort on my part. It’s time to move on to a new challenge that requires mental effort. I don’t need to release a product, write a blog about it and brag on forums to feel fulfilled. Just knowing that I succeeded in my task is enough. I’m only trying to impress myself. I only want me to know that I can do it. I require no kudos, monetary reward, or platitudes. I only need to know that I did something hard, and did it well, and now its time to find something harder to do.

If you define success by whether you are making money, or receiving compliments then you’ll never be as successful as you want.

This is both a great song, and extremely pertinent to the discussion:

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Well, I have to succeed financially, critically and all of the rest before I die or I’ll feel like I didn’t work as hard as I should have. And I don’t want that kind of regret. I hate not having money. I really hate it. I want to never feel this way again as long as I live. So, that’s a lot of my motivation.

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Wait till you get into 3D game dev, lol, I’ve invested 5 months into unity and I’m hitting the wall on ideas and follow through. Following through is the hardest bit, btw do you have any screenshots of your progress so far?

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Especially if you’ve eaten too much bread…

End of the day, it’s a matter of doing… When I started, there were no engines like there is today… API’s were split and weird, information was limited and you pretty much had to do everything yourself… This was long before the likes of Unity existed.

I’m not sure what it would be like walking in as a newcomer today, but I remember struggling in the beginning. When it gets to the decade mark, it’s like everything else… I don’t find it difficult any more (I’d probably give up if I did), it’s just a LOT of work. You still have to be competent in multiple areas to do anything above what everyone else can.

So @Master-Frog , there is such a huge variety of different developers of all levels / experience / skillsets it’s kind of hard to say what’s the generic correct path. There’s so many different types of games requiring different levels of skillsets, it’s again hard to say what’s right.

All I know is, technically it gets easier to the point of automation. In terms of work, it’s a battle of will to keep going on a large project and that never gets easier.

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This thread reminds me I need to log off unity forums and work on my game… Oh shoot…I’m still here :smile:

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It’s like any creative endeavor, the audience only sees the result, not the effort, missteps or experience backing the final execution.

Also, as the hippo pointed out, tools like unity not only make it easier (to a degree) but their marketing reinforces that message.

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Because everyone can, with tools like Unity / Unreal / Crytech we all have access to AAA level game development technology.

Just like everyone could easily pop down to the local Art and Craft Shop buy some painting supplies and start painting.

Anyone can do anything, it’s called creative freedom.

Then there is learning, knowledge and wisdom. Doubt, self-criticism, failure, personal success and maybe one day actual success.

There are also plateaus, and painful learning experiences when you realise how bad your creation is.

Also the market is way over saturated, just look at the Ludum Dare 48 hour game development competition:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludumdare/

Thousands of people making games in 48/66 hours or less.

OR

about 184 new games on the app store a day! (http://www.pocketgamer.biz/metrics/app-store/)

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The only reason I ever started to fiddle with Unity was because I had loads of 3D models and enjoyed making them. But I always wondered, how hard would it be to bring them to life? Animation is so time consuming and not interactive. But if people could actually interact with models I’d made, in a fun way? That’d be awesome.

So when I started, I wasn’t sure I could do this. But after lots of learning, research, reading, and hard work, I’m way too far down the path, and have enjoyed it and learnt so much, that I just don’t see myself turning round now. Do I think I’m going to get rich? No. But I do think after all this effort, and once I actually have something in a releasable state, that something positive must come out of the experience. Whether it’s just new skills or new opportunities.

As for people with menial jobs doing side projects calling themselves a developer, well whos to stop them? I guess you should wait until you release at least something, but at the same time, if you are closer to your goal than you were, say last week, or last month, then you could call yourself a developer.

The thing is, when I started, I didn’t expect it to be easy. I knew it’d be a ton of work. I knew it could take a long time. But everyone has dreams and a right to realise them. But you need the motivation to see it through. A lot of new users come with big dreams, big ideas, a hell of a lot of enthusiasm, but very little in the way of relevant skills. They’ll end up getting flamed for wanting to create A MMORTSRPG as their first project. They see the videos, the tutorials, the how to’s. Maybe it makes them believe they can achieve anything?

Perhaps, that is Unity’s biggest triumph but at the same time, a curse.

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@iamthwee - No point in screenshots. Haphazardly drawn MS Paint graphics, no sprite animations. It won’t be pretty until later, then I can take my time.

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Come on man! Throw it out so you can gain wisdom such as “graphics are terrible”, “you should completely redo the graphics” and “I wouldn’t be able to play this due to the graphics”! It’s fun! :slight_smile:

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I really have no problem with people thinking they can do something, and actually giving it a shot.

Even if they decide it was not their cup of tea after all, how else are they going to find out?

Or infinitely more respectable, forging their skills of what’s “not their thing”, and actually becoming good at it over the years. Taking longer than those who are a “natural”, if there’s such a thing.

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Heh heh. I don’t have any expectation of the people being able to “look past” graphics. Sometimes I even think “that tree is so fugly it makes me not want to look at this anymore” at this stage. It’s not about graphics for me right now, the SCALE has to be correct, however. I’m just trying to get it to where I play the game for 15 minutes without looking at the time, then I can worry about how everything looks.

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Id guess because the barrier to entry is so low that anyone can do it, but because anyone can do it your game is going to have to be that much better to have any chance of standing out from the crowd. I see more indies on the list then AAA games now.

http://steamspy.com/

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Thing is the majority of successful indies I’ve been noticing are ex AAA trying it on, or have substantial numbers of games. The guys who do a hit with their first title, they are the most noticed because its a pretty dramatic thing, but these are also the least common. Take from it what you will.

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