thread: 2005-06-16 : Craft and Innovation
On 2005-06-17, Emily Care wrote:
How long did it take to develop the novel as we know it today?
If you date it back to Murasaki Shikibu, it's been a thousand years.
The Burgess shale example made me think about the fact that there were so many more species at that time than before or in the past. That means that there was also a huge die out period. I am put in mind of the huge proliferation of collectable card games after the first huge success of Magic: the Gathering. Am I correct in thinking that most of that huge influx are no longer around? So what caused that? Selection based on availablity of resources.
What is fueling the diversity of innovation currently are the low entry costs, and therefore a relatively large pool of potential resources. It's similar to the explosion of independent & experimental film makers when super 8 was created, people like Maya Deren started doing amazing things with film because they could have access to the technology at a reasonable cost. Its the huge cost of creation and the choke-hold on distribution lines that make hollywood's fare so lukewarm, and it's likely the same thing that keeps most mainstream games low on the innovation end. Until some new innovation gets proven (ie becomes a huge enough hit) the big names won't go there. After it becomes trendy, everyone would start imitating it and so the initial creativity would get watered down. (I've often imagined something like what went down with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles happening to Puppies. Guess we've got to wait a bit to see the movie, though. :)
But right now, the risk of innovating is really low. People can pop something on the web, essentially for free. We'll see what develops with the indie game field, but for now, I'm grateful to be able to be here now witnessing some amazing stuff.
yrs,
Emily
