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Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors
Trailer
Bonus
Episode 119
Season 1
Raw with Jay: Entitlement
Remember that you can always get in touch with us on our Facebook page, on Twitter, or with our Contact page.
Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.
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Remember when I talked about how we should ditch the gatekeepers back in April - check your podcatcher for a link - Well, it's now time to talk about the other aspect of gatekeeping: entitlement - specifically about how some gamers feel entitled to something _because_ they play games. As with gatekeepers, it's all nonsense.
Don't forget to check the chapters tab in your podcatcher. This is a thing we're doing now, so keep an eye open for those.
---
Remember when I talked about how we should ditch the gatekeepers back in April - check your podcatcher for a link - Well, it's now time to talk about the other aspect of gatekeeping: entitlement - specifically about how some gamers feel entitled to something _because_ they play games. As with gatekeepers, it's all nonsense.
Series Intro
This is The Waffling Taylors Raw with Jay, a series of shorter episodes of indefinite length. These episodes will cover shorter topics which don't really fit will within the scope of the show, or topics that I want to cover in my own way. That's not to say that we won't cover these topics in the main show, but I'd like to take a whack at them here, first.
I can't guarantee that all of these shorter episodes will be as deep or technical as this one. But I wanted to start big.
Anyway, let's get to it.
Entitlement in Gaming
There are lots of definitions of entitlement, but this is the one that I'm going to use for this episode:
the feeling that you have the right to do or have what you want without having to work for it or deserve it, just because of who you are
- Cambridge Dictionary
I'm sure that we all know someone who behaves as though they are entitled to something that they might not actually be entitled to. But this episode is all about the folks who have that sense of entitlement specifically because they are gamers.
I'm sure you've seen something like this in the past:
I'm sure you've seen something like this in the past:
I've bought and played every entry in this series, and they need to make another one because I want them to
- some twitter user
If you remember the fall out from the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy, you'll have seen this when the fans rallied around and forced EA to create a different ending to the game because they didn't like the original.
This is an example of entitlement by gamers - although there's more to it than just that - I take the stance that games have the ability to be art (especially story-driven ones) after all, someone - or a team of someones - has to write the story, and stories are art.
There's an argument here about whether the creator has the final say in the art that they create, or whether it should be down to the consumers of that art. But that's for smarter people than me to talk about.
The point that I'm attempting to drive towards - and remember, all of this is my opinion - is that you aren't entitled to anything simply because you play video games. To explain why let's talk about how games development companies work.
Games Development Companies Are Businesses First
So, the first thing that you need to know about games development companies is that they are businesses first and foremost.
This means that they have someone - or a group of someones - overlooking almost every decision that the company makes, to ensure that they make the most profit possible.
And that's another thing that I feel most gamers forget: almost every company on the planet aims to make as much profit for as little investment as possible. To quote my good friend Steve Worthy:
This is an example of entitlement by gamers - although there's more to it than just that - I take the stance that games have the ability to be art (especially story-driven ones) after all, someone - or a team of someones - has to write the story, and stories are art.
There's an argument here about whether the creator has the final say in the art that they create, or whether it should be down to the consumers of that art. But that's for smarter people than me to talk about.
The point that I'm attempting to drive towards - and remember, all of this is my opinion - is that you aren't entitled to anything simply because you play video games. To explain why let's talk about how games development companies work.
Games Development Companies Are Businesses First
So, the first thing that you need to know about games development companies is that they are businesses first and foremost.
This means that they have someone - or a group of someones - overlooking almost every decision that the company makes, to ensure that they make the most profit possible.
And that's another thing that I feel most gamers forget: almost every company on the planet aims to make as much profit for as little investment as possible. To quote my good friend Steve Worthy:
Focus on WIN: What's Important Now?
- Steve Worthy
As a side note: if you're interested in business and how to be better at leadership, you should listen to his podcast: Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy - check your podcatcher for a link.
This means that a company should always be looking at what is important now, and for the majority of games development companies it isn't the developers, designers, and artists who decide what "important" means. That decision is made by the shareholders, whose main goal is for the company to make money. Whilst the employees of the development company might want to create the
This means that a company should always be looking at what is important now, and for the majority of games development companies it isn't the developers, designers, and artists who decide what "important" means. That decision is made by the shareholders, whose main goal is for the company to make money. Whilst the employees of the development company might want to create the
Greatest game evar!
- some game developer
the shareholders might want to release something as soon as possible in order to get that important injection of cash.
I hate to bring up Cyberpunk 2077, but I just did. To be fair, that particular title had a _lot_ of problems, the least of which was the rush to release it for Christmas 2020.
Full Show Notes
A full transcript of this "raw with Jay" episode is available over in the full show notes - because there are loads of books you can read, and web resources.
How do you feel about gamer entitlement? Am I just having an "old man shouts at the clouds moment"? Did you catch the completely coincidental Twitter exchange that I had with TopLoader over on Twitter about this very subject? Would you like to hear more rants... I mean Raw with Jays?
Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, leave a comment on the show notes or try our brand new contact page.
And have you left us a rating or review? We really like to hear back from listeners about our show, so check out https://wafflingtaylors.rocks/our-podcast/ for links to services where you can leave us some wonderful feedback.
The Waffling Taylors is a proud member of Jay and Jay Media. If you like this episode, please consider supporting our Podcasting Network. One $3 donation provides a week of hosting for all of our shows. You can support this show, and the others like it, at https://ko-fi.com/jayandjaymedia