Also, I’m with Amaranthar in that I’m not going to buy a 360 just for this, though I’m tempted. It would make “fifteen dollars” what… a couple hundred? For something I’d probably never touch again? Waiting for PC port. =/

Business is, inherently, a corruptive influence on everything that is non-business.

Only crazy people believe such things.

Only crazy artists. And not all artists are people. ^_^

I have many many games none of you have ever seen. Many of them work, are playable and fun. Marketing has not mattered to them, and may never matter. Would you play guitar if you had no possible earnings from it? I would, and I do.

Now, one of the places where I disagree with Jon is that I think marketing can often make games BETTER. Speaking here of inbound marketing, not just “selling,” of course.

I don’t believe if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.

Marketing is “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service” according to merriam-webster.com. So when he set up a website to promote the product, when he did interviews to discuss the product, when he selected a price point for the product, he was engaging in marketing.

Don’t get me wrong, I think underneath those statements is a fair point. Sometimes, while trying to market a game, compromises are made that negatively impact the game. But that’s true of every step in the chain.

I don’t see what is so controversial about what he said. Jon said he values making his game and serving the idea with integrity more than he values marketing it or making money off it.

That’s not what he said at all.

Jonathan Blow wrote:

Marketing is not, in fact, a need.

Blow claims that marketing is unnecessary. He claims that this is “fact.” Marketing is a universal discipline that is necessary to everything from yard sales to career development, from charities to government. Marketing is not, in fact, unnecessary. You can’t be a producer without engaging in some form of marketing.

Contrary to popular belief, even great products don’t sell themselves. Newton’s laws are applicable to commerce. Marketing is momentum. No momentum, no market.

Getting enough people to buy your game such that you make money is not a need, if you really care about the integrity of what you are making.

Blow claims that people who strive to generate revenue from sale of their products do not care about the integrity of their products. Clearly wrong. This is why people who are not experts on a topic should not pretend to be experts on the topic.

That integrity is the primary need; earning enough money through selling that thing, such that you can make more without taking up another job or whatever, is a luxury.

Profit is vital to the continued operation of any business, including charities. I’ve already written on this subject at length. As Drucker wrote, “Profit is not the primary goal, but rather an essential condition for the company’s continued existence.”

People bend to this luxury all the time. There are lots of ways to rationalize it. But I think it is usually due to weakness — or rather, lack of commitment to principles.

The purpose of profit is to ensure that corporations can continue delivering on their promises to consumers over the long term. Generating profit is a matter of integrity, not “weakness” or a “lack of commitment to principles.”

Among indies there is some kind of desire to be more like bigger companies, to be “professional” about making games. Owning a business and making money and having business cards is all part of that. But if you really care about games, it’s a huge mistake, and being “professional” will only hurt your work and cause it to be mediocre.

Blow’s message is that if you’re a professional, you don’t really care about games, and because you’re not a “true believer,” your work is “mediocre.” Since Blow apparently excludes you, Raph, Blow’s rule is more to the effect of “you’re not a true believer unless I say so.”

Business is, inherently, a corruptive influence on everything that is non-business.

Only crazy people believe such things.

Please don’t make a habit of taking my words out of context in some attempt at character assassination.

Don’t worry. They are jealous.

It’s always been my hope for a MMORPG that’s loaded with puzzling things to explore. Time is a cool thing, I’ve also wanted to see music and mechanical elements in the puzzles, as well as historical lost lore tied to it all.

Making money is a bad prime directive. Make a good game, and they will come. The internet allows for anything that’s good and cool to spread faster than wildfire. And people are looking for cool things.

I’m not seeing where good marketing is a requirement to making the game you set out to create in the first place.

Whether you believe business and/or marketing is/are bad or not, you still have to agree that it has times where it’s very useful and times where it is an abject failure. Funding the creation of multiple projects, success, creating an excellent game without reference to potential sales, abject failure. When you really boil down Jonathan’s arguments, it seems to me that he would just prefer everyone create excellent games without reference to potential sales.

You may not agree, but don’t act like he is some pompus ass for daring to state that the business side can get in the way of the pure creation side.