Generally speaking, video games have always had some sort of “corporation” behind them that imposed deadlines or layoffs or whatever other negative buzzword that pops up on these gaming news reports.

But it’s only in the internet age where we’ve become aware of them. Because of how interconnected everything is. Because as soon as something is posted, it gets viewed, shared, commented on, scrutinized, and analyzed by — quite literally — millions of people.

The only reason the problem is “getting out of hand”, as so many like to echo, is because there is more and more attention being drawn to it, even though it has always existed.

Think about games from the 80’s, 90’s, even the early 2000’s. How many of them had glitches? How many of them felt like there could have been more?

I mean, look at Tetris. It’s one of the most one dimensional games to ever exist — I think the only game that is less dynamic is Pong — and it has glitches. Get to a high enough level and things start going haywire. Why?

Because the developer didn’t think anyone could get that high, so nothing was ever done about. Therefore, it is an unfinished game, by definition.

The fact that people get so up in arms about the problem now is because game companies have realized that using players as free testers, they can save money. By allowing gamers to into “early access” and “open betas”, they can test the games without having to go too far over budget.

It’s not that we’re getting unfinished games — the games will be finished eventually — it’s the fact that everyone has collectively agreed to be guinea pigs.

And collectively, we are getting tired of it, whether it’s subconscious or not is irrelevant.

To be extremely clear, I am not defending any one game company. I am not making excuses for them. If anything, I’m making a case to push them harder for quality video games that don’t require a day 1 patch that is 200GB.

What I am getting at is that we need to adress the underlying issues first, before game companies will make any changes.

It starts with you. Yes, you.

You need to accept that you were played like a fiddle. It’s not the companies fault. You took the bait and were hooked.

That new game that looks really cool and fun? Oh, it has an open beta! Let’s try it out!

“This game fuckin sucks, there so many bugs!”

And then the developer takes that info and works to fix it, generally speaking.

Congratulations, you just provided a multimillion dollar corporation with tax-free labor that they don’t have to pay for.

This same thing applies to Early Access. I mean, come on, “early access”? But anyone can sign up and play? And they say “we will use the info gained from this early access period to improve the game”? Sounds a lot like a beta if you ask me.

Just as well, let’s talk about “crunch”. It only exists because as a collective, we are intolerant to delays when it comes to video games when delays in general are a nearly unavoidable aspect of every day life.

You’ve got to get to work by 9am, but about half way there, you realize you forgot your {insert important work item} at home. Looks like you’ve got to turn around and go get it. Now you’ve gotta rush to get to work on time.

It’s so dumbfounding to me when people get upset over delays, aspecially in regards to video games, then in the same breath, angrily complain that what was finally released was garbage.

Like, no shit. Of course it was. You bitched and moaned about the delays and forced the company to rush even more to avoid losing money and customers.

Then, what’s even crazier, is that they lose money and customers anyway, thus ensuring that whatever they release next is going to be sub par because they cannot afford to pay their employees.

Then the cycle repeats until the company goes under or is bought by another.

In summary; Game companies have always cut corners to cut cost. But now that we’ve incentivized it by providing free labor, advertising, and publicity, coupled with the ever growing interconnection of people via the internet, we’ve caused our own problems while not offering any solutions.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.