Death of the Auteur?

Thanks to TerraNova, and specifically Timothy Burke, for the article entitled Death of the Auteur. In it, Burke examines the modern reality that games are no longer made by a single person and ponders the meaning of game authorship. "Who is the author of a game? How should we speak of authorship?" What kind of weight does a personal and public apology have when a games authorship is up in the air?

VERY Confusing

[Txiasaeia]

Besides the fact that the linked article doesn't work, are they just being fancy-schmancy or aren't you supposed to spell "author" like this?

Re:VERY Confusing

[Txiasaeia]

I should also point out that I'm a MA student in English literature and have taken a "death of the author" course and have never seen it spelled like "auteur." Sorry for harping on this point, but is this supposed to be clever, or a pun, inside joke, or what?

Re:VERY Confusing

[bigman2003]

Damn- I took an English class at my local community college. The concept of an auteur was explained to us, with many examples given.

What type of MA school do you go to?

Mechanic's Apprentice?
Masturbatory Assistant?

I couldn't come up with any more...remember, I'm just a community college student. But I do know that you think I'm a Major Asshole.

Re:VERY Confusing

[Txiasaeia]

Ha. I was wondering about the significance of "death of the auteur," not "auteur" itself. Remember, at the time of my posts the linked article didn't work. People sometimes use fancy-schmancy words that they don't know the meaning of so that people think that they're clever.

Master of Arts in English literature, thesis track (focusing on Wiliam Gibson and the role of technology as a substitute for religion in Neuromancer, Count Zero & Mona Lisa Overdrive). Also, I can assure you that I do not need

Re:VERY Confusing

[8tim8]

Auteur is French for author. Back in the 60's, French film critics got into the idea that a film could be seen as a product of a single person, not a group of people, and that person was usually the director. Today, we talk about a Quentin Tarentino film or an Alfred Hitchcock film, but back then it was unusual to think of a single person influencing a film with a particular style. So the author of the linked article is using auteur to mean a single person who influences a game with their style, like Pet

Re:VERY Confusing

[the darn]

It's essentially a synonym for "Artist," often used in cinematic circles.

Re:VERY Confusing

[DAldredge]

IOW, it is used by people who have no real skills who wish to look smart?

definition

[lysander]

auteur n: a filmmaker who has a personal style and keeps creative control over his or her works

Re:VERY Confusing

[hai.uchida]

"Auteur" is a film term for one who writes, produces and directs... Say, Woody Allen. It is used with a bit of sarcasm more often than not.

Kind of like saying "artiste" instead of "artist."

correct URL

[Anonymous Coward]

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/10/deat h_of_the_au.html [blogs.com]

Broken link

[NetDanzr]

The correct link is http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/10/dea t h_of_the_au.html [blogs.com]

That said, I agree that there isn't a single author to blame or praise in most big-company games. And this is why current games largely suck. Group projects sound nice, but their real purpose is for everybody to share the praise and nobody to share the blame, and this is exactly what has been happening in the gaming industry. Not all is lost, though. There are still some developers (most notably Chris Crawford and

who is the author of a movie?

[gl4ss]

this isn't exaclty a new 'problem'.

if you want to put a name to a game you just choose the one who is most famous and who you're going to use for the pr.

There can be only one

[torchdragon]

There should still always be one person attached to the game. Design by committee has always had problems in timeline management and product quality control. A single vision is required to put out a solid product that performs strongly in what it's designed to do. "Group" projects tend to never see the light of day due to feature-creep, budget problems, and a general lack of quality. "Ownership" on the other hand is a different idea. Responsibility is another idea as well. Credit should be given where credit is due because yes, games are no longer developed by a single person.

Re:There can be only one

[bob65]

For projects involving a creative element, it is probably a good idea to have one "single vision". Perhaps that's why we have directors for movies.

Look at Film

[DreadPiratePizz]

Motion pictures parallel this. Back in the early 1900s and the late 1800s, they were made by one or two people, while now, hundreds of people work on a hollywood production. When you go and see a movie, most people realize that it's a collaborative effort, and that there is no one "author". The Director or DP contributes as much to the film as the scriptwriter, and the actors themselves bring their own take on the role.

Now back to videogames. The author of the article seems to be confused as to who the "author" is of a game. Just like a film, it is the production company. Bungie, Blizzard, Bioware ARE the authors of the game. He wants to have somebody to give the blame. Well, look at the level designer in the credits. Email him about poor level design. Look for the AI programmer, and email him about bad pathfinding. Film critics havn't had any trouble blaming directors or actors or scriptwriters in the past. Why would it be so hard with videogames?

that's not true

[c0chese]

The only games I play at the moment are the Avernum series by Spiderweb Software. Great RPGs designed by one man, Jeff Vogel.

Re:that's not true

[Rallion]

I salute your good taste, sir. Those games are absolutely fantastic.

Geneforge is almost as good, but the interface is a little clunky for my taste. Not even badly designed, just slow. That's what we get for letting a Mac user write code! (I'm kidding, you crazy, angry bastards.)

Nostalgia

[Spy der Mann]

I remember old games:

Mission Impossible (c64). Wonderful gameplay.
Project Firestart (c64). A survival horror classic.
Flashback (PC). Platform game with a great story.

Ah yes, those were the days... if you want to ask me, i preferred good 'ol written dialogues (Loom, PC - LucasArts). Graphics just required a good painter and a scanner.

But now, we require a good 3D engine, a whole team of artists, coordinating the voice actors, doing the 3D scanning of real live stunt doubles...

hey, i just wanna play, k? :( I miss the old days...

Re:Nostalgia

[wheany]

They don't require you to supply the artists.

You can still "just play."

I'll go one step further...

[MiceHead]

I'd say that both individuals and entire development studios should grab more recognition for their creations. If you browse Mobygames [mobygames.com], games are listed by publisher:

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault by Electronic Arts
• Star Wars Battlefront by Lucasarts
• Asheron's Call by Microsoft
• Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay by Vivendi
• ...etc...

You have to dig to find out who actually developed a software title (2015, Pandemic, Turbine, and Starbreeze, above), which is the opposite of how it works in literature. One could argue that this is because entertainment software publishers often fund development of a title, but I think the same is true with books, in the form of royalty advances. Most people who have read Cryptonomicon will be able to tell you that it was written by Stephenson, (rather than by Avon Books). I think this makes a great deal of sense for the consumer; sharks [jumptheshark.com] aside, one of an author's works can serve as a recommendation for another. The same is not often true when you compare publishers. Burke puts this as follows:

What seems clear to me is that middlebrow games criticism cannot function without some reference to authors: a critic needs to know who to blame or praise, how to assign and imagine intentionality, how to accessibly discuss the intertextual relations between games.

The gaming public does, indeed, seem to care who's recognized for a title. Development studios should be lauded for their successes, just as book authors are. To wit, we'll be self-publishing our next title. I'll personally bear responsibility for the game, whether it unleashes a horrible plague upon the world, or becomes a hit.

I'm sorta hoping for the latter.

____________________________
Inago Rage [dejobaan.com] - Bound between rooftoops and create your own 3D arenas.
Give the Stress Test [dejobaan.net] a go, and let us know if you enjoy it.

Good point

[rsilvergun]

but I don't see anything wrong with associating games and development houses. In fact, I like it. When I buy a game made by Treasure or Tri-Ace, I know exactly what I'm getting (Same for Acclaim, it goes both ways :) ). If it's teams of people building them games, the only sensible way to identify who makes what is by team, and teams are usually broken up by publisher.

It's the same for anime actually. I don't worry about who directed Evangelion or FLCL, I just know it's Gainex, so it'll rock.

The fact

Re:I'll go one step further...

[Trixter]

You have to dig to find out who actually developed a software title

You don't have to dig very hard; it's listed on the main rap sheet of any game in the database.

--Trixter, one of MobyGames' founders

What does this guy want??

[AltaMannen]

Article: "What seems clear to me is that middlebrow games criticism cannot function without some reference to authors: a critic needs to know who to blame or praise, how to assign and imagine intentionality, how to accessibly discuss the intertextual relations between games."

Why is it necessary to have an author reference that is different from the developer of the game? I firmly believe that teams of talented people make better games than any single person would be able to do, and that teams of less talen

How to reference videogames?

[TheLoneDanger]

I have occasionally used examples from videogames in my essays for college. Sometimes it is just to mention a particular game scenario, sometimes I quote a line from the game, and none of the standards we are told to use to write our essays seem to have any guidelines on how to properly reference a videogame.

I just use the name of the developing studio as the author and the publishing company as the publisher. I haven't encountered any problems yet for this practice, but that may just be because I have len

Re:How to reference videogames?

[MilenCent]

Hey wow, I know a professor here at Georgia Southern, Dr. Janice Walker, who I believe I heard the other day musing about coming up with a method of citing video games in college papers. Don't know if she's come up with anything yet, however when she does it'll probably make it into a reference manual somewhere.

Re:How to reference videogames?

[Haeleth]

Treat it like any other collaborative work. I got away with a reference to "Takahashi et al., Xenogears (Costa Mesa, 1998)" in a paper, at any rate...

a:The team

[AzraelKans]

Easy: the author of a game is the TEAM (bungie, id, lionhead) or maybe the lead designer (director/writer) Peter Mollineux, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto. Or havent you heard of the expression "is a George Lucas Film" or "Fellini film"? MGS actually says "a hideo kojima game" in the intro title.

next question.

Also the author of an engine is its lead programmer/designer
John carmack, Derreck Smart, etc.