[MUD-Dev] off-line pk

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phillip Lenhardt
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 11:51 AM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] off-line pk

> On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 02:06:34PM -0700, Koster, Raph wrote:

>> Er, the cost of distributing any sizable game that makes money is
>> quite large, and does require distributors and a retail outlet.
 
> I thought the core question here was:
 
>         "Are we in danger of losing our creative freedom due to
>         externally or internally imposed content restrictions that
>         prevent us from creating or distributing our work?"
 
> And the Comics Code did exactly that. The Code restricted the
> types of stories you could tell. And worse, since the major
> distributors and retailers required Code approval, you couldn't
> just ignore the Code because you wouldn't be able to get your work
> to your audience. For example, before the Code there was a horror
> comics genre (like "Tales from the Crypt"). Because of the Code's
> content restrictions the horror genre languished until the early
> 70s when the CCA relaxed the Code.

There is some fear that games rated M will fail to find sufficient
market because of the "no M games" policies of retailers such as
WalMart and Target. I am not entirely sure that forcing triple-A
titles to not rely on the things that make them M is such a bad idea
for the industry--there is a lot of over-reliance on those
elements. :)

> I agree, if there were a Games Code Authority all the major games
> publishers would have to conform to it. But in today's world you
> _could_ ignore such a code and still get your work to an audience
> large enough to sustain it via the web, napster, etc.

Yup. I still go back to my original statement, that

>>>> We've got a ways to go before we're as vilified as comics were
>>>> when the Comics Code was imposed. It's a valid concern, but the
>>>> situation is not that dire.
 
We'd need to be that vilified in order for those alternative
channels to go away (or go underground).

-Raph
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