Be A Game Designer For Rillyz
Acclaim rediscovers the Ponzi scheme.
Wanna see your vision realized into a full-blown MMORPG? Acclaim is giving you the chance:
BREAKING NEWS: DAVID PERRY HAS TEAMED UP WITH ACCLAIM TO OFFER A LUCKY GAMER, A GROUND-BREAKING NEW VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY PRIZE.
I'm inviting YOU to help me make a brand new massively multiplayer online PC game. I have a fully funded development team ready now to start producing this game.
Here's the deal:
For one very lucky individual, whoever shines most during the game's development, I'm going to offer something nobody else would every give away…I'm going to give them a major project to Direct, a fully funded, MMO guaranteed to be published by Acclaim.
The new Director will get royalties from their game, and I personally will be their Executive Producer.
Better still, EVERYONE that gets content (design/ideas/art/animation/audio) into the finished game will get a verifiable major MMO credit on their resume + experience.
So please join me. It costs nothing, but the entry period will definitely be limited. Sign up now, become a team member, and take a step towards video game stardom.
The project will remain TOP SECRET until we contact you. (Team members only.)
Thanks,
[signed]
David Perry.
Director, PROJECT: TOP SECRET
Before we get to the in-depth one-paragraph analysis, let me just say a few words about the site and the press release:
- Goddammit David learn, how to use a fucking comma.
- The site recommends Internet Explorer 5, and even offers a download link in case you don't have Internet Explorer. Hey Acclaim, 1999 called and they want their web page back.
- I had to type all that quoted text in by hand, because the press release was rendered in Flash, thus un-copy/pasteable. Absolutely nothing about this press release required Flash, except to make it impossible to copy/paste. Er…why?
And now the analysis. There are 3 reasons why you would even think about doing something this silly:
- There is a massive shortage of game designers, artists, and programmers.
- A horde of gamers will bring rational and fresh ideas to the table.
- You think there might be a lot of PR value in such an obvious stunt, and possibly even some cheap labor.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and reject reason number 1 out of hand. Call me crazy. And I can't stop laughing long enough to actually come up with a reason to bust reason number 2, so we're just going to call it busted. But number 3…yeah, that's the ticket.
I feel sorry for anyone who tosses their hat into this ring, with dreams of becoming a "video game star." This is all about publicity and exploitation, and while the details of the project are still "top secret," I'll predict that you will, if you're extremely lucky, be contributing your hard work at roughly minimum wage. And for that lucky one person who will be crowned "Director," the odds of it actually being a gamer with no industry experience (or who will wield any actual power of the position) is beyond ludicrous.
As with all things, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it is.
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I can see it now.
Hey team, here’s your new “Director” (wtf does that even mean in game development?). They’re gonna be callin the shots for the entire duration of this project. They er.. won a contest.
I’m sure that the entire dev team will resign there and then.
This has “Lawsuit” written all over it.
::peeks out from behind a door::
Is it clear? Ok.
Dude, #3 is how the company was relaunched with three nickels and a doped up brand manager. Never underestimate #3.
Quality & follow thru?? Sorry, can someone find me a translator, I only speak marketing.
Honestly though, wasn’t my idea. I would have put in a cash prize and multiple winners of “Your face on a character” or something even more cheesy. More people involved = more legs to the campaign.
::sinks back into shadows::
You underestimate the creative potentil of a horde of gamers. They know what they like, and while you can’t trust them to design a game, a stunt like this will surly win them a lot of depressed, discouraged, would-be game design talent for basically free.
The industry is absurdly small and the options for breaking in are basically nil. This will provide a ‘last resort’ type option to a lot of people. Everyone looks at a Kelly Clarkson and thinks, ‘boy she is rich and famous now because of that American Idol contest…’ and why should preception of this be any different.
Also, suppose boy wonder appears from the game dev trash heap with some really amazing designs… Aclaim might launch an perfect disaster, but people could get noticed in something like this and find an in, where before one did not exist.
I am not saying this is anything more than PR stunt, but I think that if they had a very solid and well designed ‘idea management’ team harvesting the gems from the rabble, this would be a very lucrative concept mining exercise. The ‘guarenteed MMO’ may be rubbish when all is said and done, but they could have some innovations in their idea bin for some other titles down the road, and some young talent to help build them cheap.
At least they should make it open source/creative commons..
Was it Horizons that was designed “by the people”?
Paging Abalieno …
Minimum wage? I don’t see anything about getting paid other than maybe the Director.
I basically agree with Amber. Anyway, what do you think about the proffesionals?
Could it be something interesting for someone who is already working in the industry?
/e plays cheerfully with its scarf.
Rayos… Sorry about the errors. I always read my text a few times before posting it, but it seems I should put more attention to it.
[...] Yeah, a contest designed specifically for “I’m not sure if I’m staying or leaving” Abalieno, except even he calls bollox. There’s not much more to say on this, Abalieno and Amber Night pretty much say it all. [...]
I decided to sign up for the website, using a register-and-forget e-mail address. Apparently Acclaim and David Perry want nothing more from this potential game “director” than an e-mail address. The registration website even specifically tells you not to give your real name. All the better for me, I want to keep my real identity miles away from this monstrosity.
A lot more honest than Sony… at least here theyre not paying to complete Beta test on a “finished” game.
I think trying to tap into the Armchair Game designer horde might be an interesting twist. Build a fanbase of players who have an emotional stake in the project.