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Swiss Cheese- Death by Wholes pt3

Written by Paul Vardaris

Previously, I had wandered into the thick of gaming development while criticizing the process in their midst. Thinking that I, as a critic and observer, had a "big picture" to bring to the table, I was ready to turn cheese into gourmet dining to improve the standard, once I had gotten the tour and welcome mat.

This goes beyond arrogance and lightly traipses into the fields of insanity.

But, as I sat with Sandy the HR girl and the Butler in the break room, I couldn't help wonder why the business wasn't centralized more. Sure, the people who do these things are brave enough to crack into the mosaic of codes, design, development and testing, working with the tried and true while striving for the bold and new.

This takes deeply individual, independent type-A personalities. To expect them to want to accept the gaming industry's largest production corporations just isn't realistic. When you want to break the mold and be noticed, or even if you want to make some money by doing what's been done better and shinier, you cannot rely on the corporate machines to do what you want your way.

It is just this conversation which heats up the break room now, late night with doughnuts, caffeine, fruit-cups and energy drinks. We sit at a large table, much as King Arthur's Knights must have sat, discussing the Holy Grail and how to win over peasant support and protect their freedoms, perhaps making religious jokes. While we didn't have hogsback roast and prowling dogs at our feet for the bones, we certainly matched those centuries past with our heated debate.

"Some of us want more than money, Mister X!" declares Sandy, with an earnest gaze and authoritative tone. Right after meeting her, I was suspicious. Something about people who work only for human affairs makes me a bit nervous. I think of myself as a humanitarian, but then I suppose most people do.  The old line of "people for people's sake" sounds like a sales pitch, to me, which is of course exactly what marketing wants too. Call me a cynic, but I feel that there's something a bit greater going on than just people, when we can create concepts that span ages upon ages and leave indelible marks on our earth.

I bring that up to her, gently, with the following."Sure, we want to leave our mark. Sure, we want to be famous, or we want something a bit nobler to make entertainment reasonable in," and here I pause for dramatics with a lower James Earl Jones tone, "a universe which holds your heart in the fist of the Empire." She scowls, and I deadpan, "Your lack of faith in the power of the Force is disturbing."

She chucks a doughnut at me while Butler shakes his head. "Even the most hackneyed and over-marketed concepts and products were based on an ideal. It may be true that hardly anything is original, yet that cannot dissuade us from the pursuit of those ideals. This genuineness is what makes independent developers just as valuable as combine corporations; they need one another. The competitive spirit gives the industry its value and keeps it alive. If you are here to merely mock our roles, then you will quickly be spending most of your time in research, preferably at Hoth Station."

I frown while nodding. "So, you're a butler, right? The reality check of the wild and wacky?" I look at him critically (naturally).

Sandy cuts in. "We need the wild and wacky, but we also need handles on it- the people perspective. If you're in the clouds flying around all day, you're a bird, not a person, and even if you have the perspective others will think you don't, making your life twice as hard."

I sigh. "Right, and it's also easy to get lost in the person-to-person day-to-day grind, keeping you from your bigger goals. Thus, we need systems. But the systems can give us a false sense of trust and we go right back to dreaming or haggling. I guess we just don't like to work too hard for what feels like no result during the process."

I go on. "Well, putting a system to guide other systems sounds fine, but it will need a lot of guiding and personal handling", as I look to Sandy, "and appropriate industry ideal perspective." as I glance to Butler. I snag a strawberry fruit cup, bemusedly eyeing the cute blend of fruit on the top. "Any cheese around here? Meat slices? I could use some protein to keep the grey-matter oiled."

Butler nods, "In the fridge. It's not locked, and last I saw, your legs functioned adequately."

"Some butler!" I joke, and head to the fridge. I should have seen his response coming. "While I do buttle, sir, I do not serve."

I grumble the appropriate indignant huff noises while I grab some tasty cheeses and meatsnacks to chomp upon. I return to the table, and begin organizing the fruit, the meat, the cheeses and the doughnuts in different formations on the paper plate.

Butler and Sandy bemusedly oblige me as I organize. I then snag another empty plate, and assemble the same categories. Always, I have the meat in the middle, the fruit surrounding, the cheese at the edges of the plates, and doughnuts surrounding the fruit.

"Perhaps you should be serving, Mister X?" asks Butler. I nod. "Why not, everyone loves a good service, one that does what they want while making them feel appreciated and important. However, we need to make it real, too, providing a product."

"A game? Or a system for games? That's not too new, what else do you have in mind?" Sandy looks at me.

"Yes, yes, and true. The electronics industry is slowly, very slowly, coming together in their technology. We need a multi-platform operating system, even if it's just a shell, which focuses on the gaming development system as well as catering to game players all in one place, one service. We can combine resources with instant feedback, cooperative knowledge bases, secure intellectual property protection, and concept validation. It's going to feel a bit like a groupthink while we're catering and supporting independent developers. Should these independent developers make themselves known to big corporate publishers, so much the better. We'll offer publishing as well, for those who want to keep their identity pure. This will be a catchall service, using current marketing and some slick gimmickery with, oh, I don't know, pre-loaded software on flash-drives? Open Office(c) does that quite well, and you don't really need to own a computer so long as you have a library in town on the network with a computer lab."

I munch some cheese cubes as I sip some water. Butler is boggling faintly. I raise brows to him, and he voices his thoughts.

"So, you will hire everyone here, then?" He had set his doughnut down to clear his throat. I shrug.

"Why not? We learn as we go, too. The community development program will allow access, as each group permits, for the community to discuss everything from processes, content, service standards, to timeliness."

"Timeliness? Oh, relevancy. Yes. Demographics." Sandy nods.

"Sort of. Relevancy of events, not just age groups. Crysis had North Koreans as the enemy at first, and look what's going on there now. Fallout has the end-of-civilization genre cornered. I could go on. As events shape our lives, like the World Trade Center disaster, we shift our perspective. The closer games are to these events, the more relevant and timely they become. Even Lucas harped on Democracy during a presidency bent on imperialism for the United Sates."

Butler coughed gently. "All well and good, and we're beginning to repeat ourselves. By making two plates of similar presentations, are you indicating that the developers resemble the gaming community, but have remote connection?"

I nod sadly, knowing that even prestigious colleges which are training game development with legendary professors from the field can't see everything going on much less predict the future. Who could have known that the Xbox would be developing no-remote gaming consoles or that streaming gaming technology would remove the need to install games on your computer entirely? I needed someone who would take these ideas and make it happen. I'm not a business major, Jim, I'm a journalist!

I hear a strange thump, unlike the footsteps of the occasional developer walking by to the fridge or the snack table. A scuff-thump, almost. I look up and see a fellow ambling his way over, in a black baseball hat, black vest on white shirt, a tattoo on his rugged cheek, and jeans. I guess he's wearing boots or something, and he sits at our table. The guy's got an eyepatch. He looks cool. I cover my plates protectively. Before  I can ask who he is or what he wants, he leans forward and speaks.

"Hello lads and lady, I hear from Research that you're looking for me."

My eyes open wider. "Oh my god. You sound just like..."

"Yep." He smiles. "I get things done around here. Call me Gentleman Jack. People know me, and I know them. What need's doin, Orlando?"

I cough once, getting my bearings. This guy can't be real, can he? "You just walk up, tell us your name, and get things done?"

Sandy grins. "Don't worry about ol' Jack, Mr. X. He'll make it happen. Here's the good news- he'll do exactly what you tell him, right or wrong. You just have to make sure you're doing what's needed, and you'll be fine."

Jack extends his hand. "Mr. X, ey? Sounds a bit like a critic. Good enough, we need some perspective sometimes. So, tell ol' Jacky what's on your troubled brainbox. We've got work to do."

I shake his hand, and square up my shoulders. Fine, if a pirate can't do it, it probably can't be done, right? I look down at my plates, and grin.

It's time to get down to business.