Computer/Video Game industry under communism

[Hexen]

I wonder what the video/computer game industry would be like in a post revolution society? Would the games all would be released as freeware? or there would no be video/computer game companies or corporations and people pretty much make them at home or even 'hire' teams to make the game with them as a project and release for free? Sort of like how game modders release their material in forums?

[cleef]

hmmm its an interesting concept, either way surely the quality of the games would go up as there would be more time and effort put into creation rather than being fuelled by profit making schemes...*cough* EA

[Herman]

Just look at all the open source games made for Linux-based computers for free. There's your "Computer/Video Game industry under communism".

[Catbus]

When it requires people lend resources (other than the designers themselves) to help with development I guess we can only hope that quality improves. That and ban movie based games.

[Psy]

When it requires people lend resources (other than the designers themselves) to help with development I guess we can only hope that quality improves. That and ban movie based games.
Under communism I don't think we need to worry about what is currently known as licensed games being bad. The creative teams that created the movie, comic, TV show, whatever would be able to guide developers to make a game based on their work.

[Q]

Software in communism would most likely be Free and Open Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software).

[GPDP]

I often think about this very subject myself.

I do wonder if we're going to see the demise of competing hardware consoles, and instead adopt an increasingly scalable, universal solution, kind of like the PC.

[Tatarin]

People'sStation 3? :D

[Revy]

Obviously in a socialist society there would be no profit motive. If your only reason for making games is money then you shouldn't be making games. The only reason that is a reason for getting into any of these jobs is because of how capitalism is structured, to view material gain as important. No, games would be developed for your own entertainment, for others, just like books, movies, art, etc.

Then again I also advocate a moneyless society anyway.

[PostAnarchy]

:lol::lol:
People'sStation 3? :D


IMAO!!

[Poison]

As someone who started and created much of a Neverwinter Nights 2 server (basically, creating an online game using a toolset) I can attest to how much dedication my staff and I and other who have worked on and created NWN2 servers put in.

People, I think, put more love and work harder when they're enjoying what they're doing instead of having to keep pumping out crap to be able to pay the rent.

Anyways, back to your original question, I think it would be similar to how Mozilla works. Some people decide to make a toolset, or an engine, or something, and others come along and tweak, or create something with it, and it is distributed freely. It would flourish and I think gaming would actually boom with Communism because of more free time and creativity involved.

[PostAnarchy]

I would be interested if anyone knows about or heard of any video games that represent a truly revolutionary left or anarchist perspective?

[Catbus]

Under communism I don't think we need to worry about what is currently known as licensed games being bad. The creative teams that created the movie, comic, TV show, whatever would be able to guide developers to make a game based on their work.


Yeah, I was mostly joking about banning movie based games. I'm sure that if the developing team actually worked with the film crew a much better game could be produced.

[Robespierre2.0]

I imagine human culture in general will be better under socialism and then communism. Almost all the time, when your favorite 80s experimental industrial group gets talked into putting out a shitty synth-pop album by their manager, when a good movie doesn't get the exposure it deserves because it's 'over most peoples' heads', the abundance of fucking Grand Theft Auto clones (yeah, it was cool when I was 13 and it just came out, but fuck! give it a rest!)- it's the result of the profit motive.
Selling out, in general, is a symptom of capitalism.

[revolution inaction]

I think games consoles might be developed something like this was http://openpandora.org/

[PostAnarchy]

Yeah, I was mostly joking about banning movie based games. I'm sure that if the developing team actually worked with the film crew a much better game could be produced.

I actually think that the fusion of video games with movies is going to be the future of gaming.

[GPDP]

I actually think that the fusion of video games with movies is going to be the future of gaming.

http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/metal-gear-solid-4-portada.jpg

[Drace]

people'sstation 3? http://www.revleft.com/vb/../revleft/smilies/biggrin.gif

lol

[Kukulofori]

There was a SNES game starring Che but there are only like 3 copies.

[Anarch_Mesa]

This is a very broad question. How is anyone to know what it would be like for the gaming industry. If you want something bad enought to create it then I guess it would be what the people make it.




That and ban movie based games.


+ Karma

[Reclaimed Dasein]

I would be interested if anyone knows about or heard of any video games that represent a truly revolutionary left or anarchist perspective?
I know there's got to be more, but the only one coming to mind is Red Faction. You should give it a try.

[KurtFF8]

Also a minor note: the organization of the gaming industry would likely move towards an open-source model, but the quality would be much better than current open source because there would be many more resources available (as a lot of open-source products suffer from insufficient funding)

[Comrade_Ceaucescu]

Who need the video game? The video game suck you in, distract from life!

It capitalist tool to blind workers

[Drace]

It capitalist tool to blind workers

For god's sakes...Its just another industry run for profit.
And most workers don't play video games...

[Valeofruin]

Tetris

[Reclaimed Dasein]

Who need the video game? The video game suck you in, distract from life!

It capitalist tool to blind workers

You're already banned so it's probably not worth saying, but a revolution without dancing (or video games, or whatever else enjoyable) isn't worth having.

[Catbus]

I actually think that the fusion of video games with movies is going to be the future of gaming.

Like an interactive movie? That would be cool. What I was talking about was how movie-based games are notorious for being... shit.

[KurtFF8]

For god's sakes...Its just another industry run for profit.
And most workers don't play video games...

Why do you think that most workers don't play video games? Quite a few people in America for example do, which includes many of the working class.

Video games are just another type of art that is co-opted for profits and propaganda, much like film. Would you say that about the film industry?

[Charles Xavier]

While the Soviet Union did not last til the era of video games. I can say that like the movies, the arts, and whatnot was heavily supported under socialism. Video Games being the new art of our era.

[revolution inaction]

While the Soviet Union did not last til the era of video games. I can say that like the movies, the arts, and whatnot was heavily supported under socialism. Video Games being the new art of our era.

Not really true

http://www.wired.com/gaming/hardware/news/2007/06/soviet_games

and there's Tetris

[KurtFF8]

Not really true

http://www.wired.com/gaming/hardware/news/2007/06/soviet_games

and there's Tetris

Although the USSR in the late 70s is hardly an example of anything "under socialism"

[revolution inaction]

Although the USSR in the late 70s is hardly an example of anything "under socialism"

You don't have to tell me that :) I was just responding to GeorgiDimitrovII when they said the ussr didn't last till the era of video games

[KurtFF8]

You don't have to tell me that :) I was just responding to GeorgiDimitrovII when they said the ussr didn't last till the era of video games

Ah alright, wasn't quite sure. Either way I'm glad I pointed that out ;) hah

[Charles Xavier]

Although the USSR in the late 70s is hardly an example of anything "under socialism"


It was definitely socialist, but rift with opportunism.

[KurtFF8]

It was definitely socialist, but rift with opportunism.

Right because those video games, for example, were created by worker operated factories with their content collectively decided: not by the state bureaucracy...:rolleyes:

Just because it was a planned economy doesn't mean it was socialist.

[Charles Xavier]

Right because those video games, for example, were created by worker operated factories with their content collectively decided: not by the state bureaucracy...:rolleyes:

Just because it was a planned economy doesn't mean it was socialist.

Production was social not private. Thats still socialism. What you are describing is petty-bourgeoisie. Workers of a Nail factory don't have the right to decide to produce doors instead.

[redSHARP]

i dont think i could support a communist society were Sonic, Solid Snake, and Master Chief are declared counter revolutionary!:laugh:

[wigsa]

I think the gaming industry should also be utilised by the state and people should have the option of using their income to purchase them.

For those of you who think that sounds very un-communist,let me briefly say that part of my personal ideology would be that a certain amount of a person's wages would be listed as disposable income,available to them to spend as they wish,whether it be on games,etc.

[KurtFF8]

Production was social not private. Thats still socialism. What you are describing is petty-bourgeoisie. Workers of a Nail factory don't have the right to decide to produce doors instead.

Right, it was socialized in the sense that it was owned by the state. It still doesn't follow that workers owned the means of production any further than what was on paper for the Soviet constitutions. Wage exploitation was never done away with under the USSR. And again, an economy being publicly owned does not equate to socialism. Great Britain's health care production is public and social, but one would be very wrong in calling it "socialist".

[wigsa]

Right, it was socialized in the sense that it was owned by the state. It still doesn't follow that workers owned the means of production any further than what was on paper for the Soviet constitutions. Wage exploitation was never done away with under the USSR. And again, an economy being publicly owned does not equate to socialism. Great Britain's health care production is public and social, but one would be very wrong in calling it "socialist".


The way it's been moving for the last decade I don't think you could really say that about Great Britain anymore...

[KurtFF8]

The way it's been moving for the last decade I don't think you could really say that about Great Britain anymore...

True, but I think the example makes a valid point.

[audiored]

This is somewhat of a tangent. But, there was an interesting story floating around last week about how Second Life and other MMORPG have modeled laissez faire economics. From msnbc.com:


Virtual economies in games such as "Second Life" and "EVE Online" may seem trivial, but they actually can provide real-life lessons on the patterns of free markets and unfettered capitalism. Researchers and self-described virtual economists have observed how virtual entrepreneurs establish themselves and compete, as well as how a lack of self-regulation can lead to dramatic banking failures, scams and even corporate espionage.

"I don't view 'Second Life' as a game," said Robert Bloomfield, an accounting researcher at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "I view it as a market space."

Another game that has attracted economists is "EVE Online," a freewheeling online space simulation where players form huge corporations and alliances to do everything from mining to trading, and even piracy. Game company CCP went so far as to hire its own economist to manage the sprawling virtual economy.

The laissez-faire approach to both business and the law has allowed EVE players to enact spectacular scams, with other players paying the price. One player opened a bank and then walked off with about 700 billion in the game's ISK currency, or close to $120,000 in U.S. dollars if sold illegally to other players on eBay.

msnbc.msn.com/id/27846252/

It would be fun to try and model more anarchist/communist or participatory economic systems in MMORPG.