This is a great article, and I bet we allllll understand where the author is coming from.....



http://povonline.com/cols/COL210.htm - http://povonline.com/cols/COL210.htm

Yeah, wow, he totally nailed what it's like to be someone who WORKS for a living trying to get hustled by someone who's trying to avoid working for a living :P of course writing is kinda his job ;p that part about wanting the artist to assume the risk... heck, I practically said that word-for-word to a developer that was trying to stick me. 

Then, of course, there's the humor inherent in the situation; there is a serious glut of these self-proclaimed "ideas people" (this in itself is hilarious, any time someone says "well no, I'm more of an IDEAS person" I think "well thank the sweet Lord, all we've got here is a team of programmers, artists, writers and musicians... I mean, wherever shall we find creativity?") who have the next gigantic epic game idea but absolutely NO concrete skills required to contribute to the development process.  And yet, they expect rpg_idea_238584538 to attract and hold the talent that they lack, for promises of POSSIBLE compensation upon game completion.  I think it's worth asking these people how much they spent on similarly developed independent games last year, because my lifetime total is zero dollars and zero cents.  Of course, god forbid you give them even the slightest taste of reality.  The reason they can't afford our time is certainly not because they aren't worth our time, nooooooooooo... it's because we're greedy.  Right.

This is a great reference for people who want to break into the freelance meat market, but haven't developed that precious B.S. radar yet.

btw hi :x

Thanks for the url. It's great!

"Indie" doesn't necessarily mean a group of unfunded entrprenuers...it refers to individuals who want to make a go of something from outside of pre-existing corporate restraints.  Many "indie" groups obtain funding, whether from venture capitalists, government entreprenuerial grants, or even bumming from family and friends.  These groups are often the only ones who end up with a finished product...in my opinion, it's backing up faith in an idea with some collateral.

Again, you get what you pay for...money is a great motivator.  If you have a group of people working on any project for a long period of time, with no reward, most likely those people will lose interest.  Regardless of talent level, people gotta eat, and food cost $$$.   There's a gross misconception that artists (in particular) are able to sustain themselves through pure love of the work they're doing...

There are lazy people out there, though...I've hired a few of people (even some on this board) who claimed they had the skills to make professional work.  Their work may have been good, but their ethics weren't.  I've had people ignore deadlines, disappear without notice, and generally leave me hanging with a crapload of work to do...and they were getting paid.  It seems, especially in creative fields, that some people have problems going from a "hobby" mentality to a "professional" one. 

You take a gamble when you hire anyone, but generally, if you offer something in return for services, you're going to get more done.