"Lazy" game developers...

[CFFJR]

I've been hearing something kinda disturbing in the past few...years.

Maybe I should blame this on my own overexposure to gamefaqs/the internet in general.

Anyway, I've been hearing, from many "gamers", that in any one game/series or another, whenever something isn't implemented or is removed or changed, its because the game developers are becoming "lazy".

To put it simply, this boggles my fucking mind.

Some people actually refer to the process of adding "feature x" as being "easy"; apparently these guys are master programmers too.

Seriously though, this line of thinking simply doesn't make sense. Your typical modern game, with a typical development team and a typical budget, usually takes about 2 years to complete. Any sort of the so called "blockbuster" games can easily take far longer, and its common now for games to come out after a 3-5 year development cycle. And people are calling developers lazy?!

I don't know about anyone else, but if I worked on one singular project exclusively for a 5 year period (hell, even 2, which is average now, remember), I'd probably be on the brink of insanity. You ask me, the developers who work on these massive titles are almost dedicated to a fault.

I feel like the crazy amount of work that goes in to making games is vastly unappreciated by most people, and honestly it pisses me off.

I'll grant that despite the situation, there are of course still good and bad games, and the distinction can be big or small depending on the player, but the vicious way people respond when they don't like something is embarrassing.

Seems to me this is more of the modern Me generation making demands, not understanding or caring about the complications behind the technology that simplifies their lives.

Thoughts?

[Flake]

I'd say that developers are pretty lazy but that it's not the programmers fault. It's the people who look at Call of Duty and think to themselves 'how can I cash in on that?'.

Which is fine - these companies exist to make money, after all. But no new thoughts, concepts, or paradigms are created. Just take an existing game archetype, slap your own name on it, add multiplayer (whether it works or not) and then hope that the gramers pick it up and make your company filthy rich.

That's what I mean when I call developers lazy.

[noiseredux]

I'd say that developers are pretty lazy but that it's not the programmers fault. It's the people who look at Call of Duty and think to themselves 'how can I cash in on that?'.

Which is fine - these companies exist to make money, after all. But no new thoughts, concepts, or paradigms are created. Just take an existing game archetype, slap your own name on it, add multiplayer (whether it works or not) and then hope that the gramers pick it up and make your company filthy rich.

That's what I mean when I call developers lazy.

or the FFXIV "we'll fix it later" mentality?

[CFFJR]

I'd say that developers are pretty lazy but that it's not the programmers fault. It's the people who look at Call of Duty and think to themselves 'how can I cash in on that?'.

Which is fine - these companies exist to make money, after all. But no new thoughts, concepts, or paradigms are created. Just take an existing game archetype, slap your own name on it, add multiplayer (whether it works or not) and then hope that the gramers pick it up and make your company filthy rich.

That's what I mean when I call developers lazy.

You know, I totally see your point and I never thought of that. However, it strikes me as more of a publisher thing than a developer thing. Activision style you know?

Thing is, I hear people referring to companies like Bethesda as being lazy. Bethesda, who releases an internally developed game every 3-4 years.

[Gamerforlife]

I like it when people tell it like it is. That's why I like Yahtzee even though his videos are primarily aimed at comedy. He calls games out for so much bullshit that other people typically give them a pass on.

Sometimes you see things in games that simply can't be described in any other way than to call it lazy. Does making a game take a lot of work? Yeah, so what? So does everything else in life. Big deal. That doesn't mean there aren't still examples of things of things in games that are lazy, uninspired, unoriginal, or just plain lazily designed.

Course, that's just my opinion, but if I see something that is just crap, I'm gonna call it crap no matter how much work went into it. On the flip side, I'll be sure to point out anything GOOD I see as well. It's all about being objective I think

Honestly though, you look at the substantial amount of copying in the industry today, I can't help but think that game developers ARE lazy

[CFFJR]

I like it when people tell it like it is. That's why I like Yahtzee even though his videos are primarily aimed at comedy. He calls games out for so much bullshit that other people typically give them a pass on.

Sometimes you see things in games that simply can't be described in any other way than to call it lazy. Does making a game take a lot of work? Yeah, so what? So does everything else in life. Big deal. That doesn't mean there aren't still examples of things of things in games that are lazy, uninspired, unoriginal, or just plain lazily designed.

Course, that's just my opinion, but if I see something that is just crap, I'm gonna call it crap no matter how much work went into it. On the flip side, I'll be sure to point out anything GOOD I see as well. It's all about being objective I think

Honestly though, you look at the substantial amount of copying in the industry today, I can't help but think that game developers ARE lazy

I'm not saying you're wrong about this, and I honestly like guys like Yahtzee for the same reason you do. But Yahtzee is honest. Honest enough to admit when a game he hates does something right too.

But I see a major difference between actual criticism of a poor product, and self entitled "my way" bitching.

Which do you think is more common?

[Gamerforlife]

I like it when people tell it like it is. That's why I like Yahtzee even though his videos are primarily aimed at comedy. He calls games out for so much bullshit that other people typically give them a pass on.

Sometimes you see things in games that simply can't be described in any other way than to call it lazy. Does making a game take a lot of work? Yeah, so what? So does everything else in life. Big deal. That doesn't mean there aren't still examples of things of things in games that are lazy, uninspired, unoriginal, or just plain lazily designed.

Course, that's just my opinion, but if I see something that is just crap, I'm gonna call it crap no matter how much work went into it. On the flip side, I'll be sure to point out anything GOOD I see as well. It's all about being objective I think

Honestly though, you look at the substantial amount of copying in the industry today, I can't help but think that game developers ARE lazy

I'm not saying you're wrong about this, and I honestly like guys like Yahtzee for the same reason you do. But Yahtzee is honest. Honest enough to admit when a game he hates does something right too.

But I see a major difference between actual criticism of a poor product, and self entitled "my way" bitching.

Which do you think is more common?

Depends where you go. If it's gamefaqs....yeah, mostly bitching. Sometimes though, people legimitedly believe that their way is the better way. Then you have to wonder if their comments can be considered legitimite criticism

[Jonesy47]

I tend to agree with the first poster but there are shining examples of laziness out there for sure.

Look at final fantasy XIII.

They did nothing but focus on the graphics of the game. NOTHING else seemed to have been given any attention. It seemed like a very lazily put together game. If it had been brought out on ps2 with ps2 graphics, NOBODY would have played it at all aside from the biggest of the fanboys. This is a game that had a 5 year development cycle also, so time spent developing a game means nothing. If development time meant so much, then duke nukem forever or spore would be the best games ever made, but theyre not.

Overall, id say youre right, tho. Games take a lot of effort to be made anymore. I think when people talk about the laziness of game makers, theyre referring more to the ideas present in the game as opposed to the actual effort put into programming the game itself.

[Hatta]

I don't think it's being lazy as much as it is being cheap. People in the gaming industry work very hard. It's bad management that causes most of these problems. Idiot MBAs who'd rather work their people twice as hard than hire. Because who cares if you can ship a working product in a year, it's this quarter's numbers that matter.

[flamepanther]

To be fair, the programmers I know personally are lazy. They don't work in the game industry, but from what I've seen, the same personality archetype still exists there.

Sometimes lazy is good though, if you're really smart about it. Writing a program once instead of doing a bunch of the same math yourself over and over is a smart, lazy choice that pays off and allows you to get more done with less effort. That kind of lazy works great. Laziness that isn't results-conscious is what causes trouble.

One way or the other, yes, developers are lazy. So what?