{"id":52,"date":"2020-02-22T02:36:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T02:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joshtest04.wordpress.com\/2020\/02\/22\/can-i-make-games-if-i-dont-like-players\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T20:23:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:23:51","slug":"can-i-make-games-if-i-dont-like-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/2020\/02\/22\/can-i-make-games-if-i-dont-like-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I make games if I don\u2019t like players?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This essay is an accessible version of an in-browser game available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t like players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or, to be less misanthropic, I don\u2019t care for players. 
They do their thing, and I do mine. I make my games like I built sandcastles as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Can you come play in my sandcastle?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Maybe, sure, once it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Once I\u2019ve drawn the line in the sand that means \u201cthe part where this gets made is over and the part where it falls away into oblivion has started\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Sometimes of course, I am a player. 
I try to play appropriate respect to the people who make the games I play, which is maybe to compliment them on their artistry if there\u2019s an appropriate venue to do so\u2026 probably not on twitter\u2026 and remain silent the other 99% of the time. 
Nothing more perverse than taking someone\u2019s art and offering them unsolicited technical advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lots of people in games have a community; I wish them all the best. 
But I have a community, and it is not in games. 
To have a community in games I\u2019d have to compromise my participation in communities elsewhere and I\u2019m not willing to do that.
Like most people, I think, I\u2019m already anxious enough that I\u2019m failing to meet my existing social commitments. 
I\u2019m not willing to take on the burden of more friends. 
Sorry.
I could get a job making games. But I won\u2019t. No apologies there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Without players, and without a community, and without a commercial interest and promotion and professional marketing and all that guff\u2026 
There aren\u2019t many venues through which people to play the games I make. 
I can expect a polite level of interest from my friends, like when they talk to me about climbing or rowing or filmmaking or cooking or running. 
They might have a look, as a curiosity. Or they might not. Their interest is not my interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

For the most part, this does not bother me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I like the part where I build the sandcastle, and if I depended on other people\u2019s validation of my art (at least in this instance) then I might act differently. 
But I don\u2019t, and I won\u2019t. 
It just seems so odd, to make a game that is not to be played. 
So much so that I\u2019ve taken some time out and made games that can be played, just to make sure I could. 
But I feel just as unfulfilled in either instance.
Giving those games to people, to play them, is nerve-wracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m at home alone, just me, I dance. 
I put some music on, whatever I\u2019m feeling like, and I just slam around. 
Back and forth, up and down, in different rooms. 
Or I put on some movies I don\u2019t think anyone else would be interested in, and watch three in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or I sing, and record myself singing, then delete the recording. 
These activities have never felt less than complete.
Which I not to say that I don\u2019t appreciate participatory art; I\u2019ve made videos, I\u2019ve directed a play, I\u2019ve done things which are collaborative. They\u2019re fun. 
But I make my games for me, even as they pull away from me. 
They demand of me that I learn the skill of marketing and networking and twitter, and they press me against this horrible flat surface where I read about\u2026 how the steam storefront is changing and what that means for wishlisting\u2026 or else how there are game jams happening this weekend. 
They even have game jams for people who make games alone.
But I don\u2019t want any of that. I like to make my games, by myself.
Even now, I\u2019m writing an essay so I can release an essay, in the exact space where I make my game and do not release my game.
It\u2019s just how it is with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Can I make games alone if I don\u2019t like players?
I guess, I can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This essay is an accessible version of an in-browser game available here. I don\u2019t like players. Or, to be less misanthropic, I don\u2019t care for players. They do their thing, and I do mine. I make my games like I built sandcastles as a child. Can you come play in my sandcastle? Maybe, sure, once it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,97],"tags":[32,33],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-gamedev","tag-essay","tag-games-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fevered.earth\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}