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I happened along this article, which got me thinking as something of a game creator myself.

They point out that there have been over 43,000 games released on Steam over the last year...most of them indie games, most of them hardly ever played, but we have more and more people putting more and more energy into making games that almost nobody will play. The same with books, music, art, etc. They suggest that this is a problem of society...that people want to have a positive impact on the world, and making art is the easiest way to satisfy that urge in a world where there are fewer real ways to do that. Without fewer other real outlets to make an impact, more and more people aspire to become creators.

They make the case that most people would have a more positive impact on the world if they got a job filling potholes or volunteered at a soup kitchen than making games. I think he's logically correct, but as someone I think they're describing I think they missed the recognition element. Nobody is going to thank you for filling that pothole, or tell you how doing that changed their life or at least helped them overcome something in their life. I think the feeling that people get something from you (and not a faceless person that fills potholes), is a large part of what drives people to be creators.

They clarify several times that they're not trying to get you to stop making games or creating. I think it's supposed to serve as a wake-up call to have more realistic expectations and maybe consider other paths. Creating takes a lot of time and energy, and if few people actually enjoy it or care it can be disappointing. 

The article stood out to me not just because of the content, but the witty way it was written and how it blended in facts with opinion. It's worth a read...what do you think? Are you trying to become a creator or have  you thought of becoming one?

I haven't read the article, but I agree with what you've described. More and more people are doing "what they love" instead of "what they're expected to do". And a lot of people love art and creating things for other people. Not as many people will love filling potholes day-in and day-out (some will, of course).

I think this goes further than art, too. Way back when most people were self-sufficient. Now, with modern equipment and a society that will usually have your back, people working as farmers are a rare sight. Obviously, jobs have been created in modern times, such as anything related to IT and technology, but is it enough to sustain an ever-growing population? There are only so many jobs, and what if you love something popular? Should you abandon your dreams?

Overall I think it's a difficult situation, especially if you don't see a future in your dream job. And with an increasing automatisation of pretty much everything it could further restrict career paths.

Yeah, I agree that this is just a revolution of folks coming away from that "You do what's expected of you" area and going more into what they want to do.  Most folks really don't want to work retail or fast food, or any of those other jobs where they know they're just going to get crapped on just so they can make money.  It's just what folks have to do because "There's no money in the arts!" and all that jazz.  If you seriously try to get into the field of arts...be it music, theater, musical theater, writing, drawing, graphical, etc...there's this stigma that you'll never amount to anything, that you'll always be a "struggling artist" that will be living paycheck to paycheck if that...and that only a "lucky few" will ever make it big.

Video games, as the years go by, is becoming a more serious mainstream industry, and not seen as some niche little hobby that only nerds get into.  Every day it's becoming much more of a desirable field to hop into, and really accessible for anyone to hop into regardless of educational background or anything like that.  Now there's programs people can just buy and make games on...ranging from super simplistic with the option of some complex elements (RPG Maker) to incredibly complex and requiring a degree of expertise, but damn can you make some good games on it to flex your artistic muscles (really any of the popular open source game engines).

It's overall becoming a less exclusive, more inclusive field where even studios with like 10 folks working it can bring out titles that can become insanely popular (or infamous before they become popular)...especially now that services like Steam are fully supportive of allowing these smaller indie titles compared to when it was purely the major players that were supported.

So it's only natural that as it keeps shifting towards this goal, we're going to be seeing a ton of indie studios and solo folks dealing out their own content to get a player in the field...because now it's just incredibly easy for folks to do so versus the times when it was really only the major gaming studios that were capable...let alone supported in their efforts.

This does remind me of a certain place where it's far, far worse:

Roblox really does sell kids a dream of making lots of money from their one-person game while locking them into a shitty platform that pays out very tiny amounts while unregulated development teams churn out predatory games for children.

This does remind me of a certain place where it's far, far worse:

Roblox really does sell kids a dream of making lots of money from their one-person game while locking them into a shitty platform that pays out very tiny amounts while unregulated development teams churn out predatory games for children.

I actually didn't know that about Roblox, that's interesting.

The one that comes close that I've seen...minus you being able to sell your work, is the game Dreams on the PS4.  It's like a more intuitive and non-sidescrolling Mario Maker game where there's a story-ish mode...but more importantly tools to build some pretty legit games on their own that you can share with others, only like MM everything you share is completely free for others to play.

It's actually a lot of fun and mildly addicting since it gives you a fair amount of freedom to make more than just one specific type of game, though it's obviously still very limited since assets are limited and there's no DLC or allowance of custom files.

A lot of people have the dream, and for most of them it's not that they're not doing the work...it's just that it's so crowded now that for most of them the dream will end when they put the game out. They'll make little if any money off of it, and it won't change their lives the way they hope it will. They'll be back where they started, just disappointed that they didn't get what they were hoping through all their time and effort. They put all this time, energy, and effort into something that's probably doomed to collect virtual dust. That's the issue that the article highlights.

And it's not just gaming or even creating. We live in a Shark Tank/Dragon's Den society where everybody wants to become an entrepreneur...getting rich at doing something they love, working for themselves with a schedule they set for themselves. But it's almost like a lottery...there's more than a good bit of luck involved in getting the right opportunities, and for every person who makes it, thousands more won't.

I wish I knew the answer...the article makes good points, but as someone with my own dream I can't recommend people give up on theirs to do something more likely to be successful. But I can't think of any way to change the situation, either. There's just so much noise on the internet nowadays, and it's hard for anyone to cut through it.

Platform dependency is a pretty broad thing, too. Recently I discovered someone on Youtuber who uses the Unreal Engine to create amazing ambience scenes. He apparently worked in the gaming industry for years before quitting to do this. I've seen a lot of ambience videos and he has real talent, definitely among the most realistic I've seen. But a few days later he posted that Youtube had demonetized him out of nowhere without providing a reason. He suddenly had to reconsider everything he was doing, and he openly pondered that he may have to severely cut back on making videos so he could go back to working a traditional job. Fortunately he was able to get the issue resolved in a few days, but it has to be scary to have your way of living depend on the whims of the company behind a single platform. But it's Youtube...where else would he go?