• OK, it's on.
  • Please note that many, many Email Addresses used for spam, are not accepted at registration. Select a respectable Free email.
  • Done now. Domine miserere nobis.

Corporate Culture

Cognisant

Prolific Member
Local time
Yesterday 7:13 PM
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
10,564
-->
What is it?
What causes it?
Why and how does it ruin everything?

I don't know but I'll share my observations and theories.

A reoccurring theme I've noticed is the prioritization of appearances over substance, I've seen this in video games, I've seen it in cinema, I've seen it in consumer products, heck I've even seen food made predominantly to look good rather than taste good.

For example: https://doughnuttime.com.au/
They were really popular in Brisbane for about a year and I think what kept them going was everyone trying their doughnuts because they're a feast for the eyes (in fact the ones on the website are toned down from what they used to be) but so sugary and so stuffed full of filling that even a 120kg guy like myself got two bites in and I had to give up, they're expensive (for doughnuts) and I had to bin it 5min after buying it because it was just absolutely sickening.

I can sorta see how that happens, you make a doughnut stand and your best selling doughnuts are you best looking doughnuts so you give the people what they want, you make better looking doughnuts, you're not sure how people are actually managing to eat them but hey more sales means you're doing good right? I can see how a lot of businesses fall into the same trap, very linear and cinematic videogames that look good but don't actually play good, movies with big name actors and heavy use of CGI spectacle, even before you sell these things to the public you need to sell them to producers/investors and they want to see what they're paying for.

 

The Grey Man

τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει
Local time
Today 1:13 AM
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Messages
859
-->
Location
Canada
This is connected to what you were saying about Star Wars earlier. I think that what happened to the movie and video game industries is analogous to what happened to the American West: once stable lines of communication were established between the remote outposts and the rest of civilization, the rugged pioneer became obsolete. The people who fund these enterprises don't want real artists in charge of them anymore because real artists take risks and fail, and failure is bad for business.

I'm tempted to say that the solution is subsidies, despite everything. The alternative seems to be a world full of ugly, worthless junk. Opera, for example, needs donations to survive, whether charitable or tax-based.
 

Cognisant

Prolific Member
Local time
Yesterday 7:13 PM
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
10,564
-->
Opera is dying because it's not competitive with modern entertainment, the gaming and cinema industries have the exact opposite problem, a lack of (competent) competition. Perhaps subsidizing small studios could create more competitors and thus an environment in which more competent competitors could emerge but I don't think it's a lack of game developers that's the problem.

I think game developers, the programmers, artists, writers, musicians, etc, that we have now are incredibly talented, it's a cutthroat industry and you need to be damn good at what you do to get into it at that level. I think there's a philosophical problem at a management level hence why this thread is in the philosophy section, I think their priorities are messed up and that's causing a lot of effort by extremely talented people to go to waste.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the perfect example of this, it's hard to call it a bad game because there's so many aspects of the game that are fantastic and are clearly a labor of love, but the game is a mess because there was clearly a lack of focus on an upper management level. That game has some very fundamental problems (game design problems) that should have been identified and resolved very early stage in the development process.
 

The Grey Man

τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει
Local time
Today 1:13 AM
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Messages
859
-->
Location
Canada
No army of technicians can compensate for the absence of a captain to lead them. I suspect that the release of Cyberpunk 2077 despite its flawed design is due to the fact that the project was driven, not by any artistic motive, but by the corporate inertia of CD Projekt, behind which is the same financial necessity that compels Disney and Activision to sell us the decapitated corpses of Star Wars and Call of Duty every year instead of betting their money on something fresh. The problem is that art alone, of all the works of man, has an intrinsic value independent of and incommensurable with its extrinsic market value. The merit of a work of art can no more be decided democratically than a political candidate's electoral victory is evidence of his virtue, which is why I advocate the subsidization of art, despite my general distrust of government.
 

BurnedOut

Beloved Antichrist
Local time
Today 11:43 AM
Joined
Apr 19, 2016
Messages
1,309
-->
Location
A fucking black hole
Cyberpunk 2077 is the perfect example of this, it's hard to call it a bad game because there's so many aspects of the game that are fantastic and are clearly a labor of love, but the game is a mess because there was clearly a lack of focus on an upper management level. That game has some very fundamental problems (game design problems) that should have been identified and resolved very early stage in the development process.
Talk about Mirror Edge (1). The game is actually very different than a simple FPS. They ended up making a different breed of action by combining parkour with aesthetics that provided one of the most authentic cyberpunk experiences without overdoing the cyberpunk part. They made the game relatable to traceurs, to escapists, to the realists. They probably did not mean to but they ended up doing that anyway. It was an innovation.

Ultimately it failed because of the many intrinsic problems it has with its plot, NPC animations and basic storytelling. It seemed like the people who made the game got into a tussle with the producers and amidst the fight, somebody's arse ended up hitting the metaphorical upload button.

Mirror's Edge OST
 

sushi

Prolific Member
Local time
Today 6:13 AM
Joined
Aug 15, 2013
Messages
1,735
-->
Hierarchy is emergent in any organization

we all need authority and guidance to tell us what to do, and this lead to corporatism.
 
Top Bottom