Wait… They Have Names?! Anonymity in the Gaming Industry

Take a poll: how many video game creators/developers can your friends and co-workers name? Not the companies, but the actual people behind the video games. I polled a few people, and between them, they could only come up with one creator: Peter Molyneux. For those of you that don’t know Molyneux, he’s one of the creators of Fable and a founder of Lionhead Studios. But beyond that, they couldn’t name a single one.

And then it hit me: I can’t really name any specific people, either. Sure, I can babble on and on about the companies and publishers of video games, but the actual people behind them are only men (and women) in front of computers to me. I began to agree with Don Reisinger, who says it best: “the blame [for the anonymity of creators] should be placed squarely on the video game industry, and more specifically, major companies like Take-Two and Electronic Arts, for creating an environment where anonymity is not only accepted, but expected as well. And if you ask me, that’s just wrong.” I took the time to try and find out more about creators. You know what I found? A single article on Wikipedia, listing important people in the gaming industry, Bungie’s “Meet the Team” page, and Tim Schafer’s blog.

I realize that it takes a team of people to create a video game (the developing team can range from very small, independent developers to a huge team working for the major companies), but it takes a lot of people to make a movie as well, and the producers and directors of films are usually really famous (*cough* Peter Jackson). And considering the cultural impact that video games have come to have upon our society, would it be that much to ask that the driving forces behind those games receive a little recognition?

But maybe that’s the idealistic side of me. Let’s explore the realistic side: what harm would it do to major companies if they advertised the creators as well as the games themselves? I know I would buy games by Peter Molyneux, Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy) and any of the people from Bethesda, if I only knew what they made prior to it coming out (and then someone pointing it out to me). Companies could stand to profit from making celebrities out of their developers, so why don’t they?

I don’t know, but I wish it would change. I believe that creators deserve our respect and recognition.

So here’s to you, Mr. Video Game Creator… whoever you are.