RE How to Kick the Retail Habit

[Dave Erickson]

Here's my response to Richard's Blog entry of 3-19: How to Kick the Retail Habit (wherein he equated developers going to mainstream publishing with drug addiction):

It�s not only developers who are addicted to the mainstream, it�s consumers and website operators too.

For example, I can go to Warfare HQ and find a review of Aliens vs. Predator. At Wargamer, I find a review of Ubi Soft�s latest first person shooter. In their forums, I can talk to others about my passion for Talonsoft and Close Combat (Some mainstream junkies are beyond help. The best we can do is to just make them comfortable in their last moments with their mainstream titles), or I can discuss the latest former mainstream developer to test the quasi-indie waters. When questions appear on the forums such as �What turn based wargame should I buy?� the answer comes back �Conflict Middle East.� Yes, sports fans, Conflict Middle East, circa 1991. So utterly addicted are we to the crack of the mainstream that we feel we must dig out old DOS and Windows 3.1 games, despite the multitude of great indie wargames released over the past 5 years or so. V for Victory, anyone?

No wonder indie developers are tempted by mainstream dope. What these poor souls need is an intervention, a halfway house, a world where their wares are seen as more than just obscure games with bad graphics.

What is needed is the promotion of an indie community, a website, say, devoted exclusively to indie wargames, by indie wargamers, for indie wargamers. I would like one day to be able to go to a site and find a preview of Salvo (What�s a Salvo?), an objective review of Campaign on the Danube (Say what?), and a strategy analysis of the Stolberg Corridor scenario from CC2: Danger Forward (Now you�re just making stuff up!). Then we can go to the forum and discuss the next installment of the Horse & Musket 2 series or how the upcoming Defend the Alamo 2 might differ from the original. (Hint: I bet it has better graphics.)

Seriously, I don�t think there�s a developer in the world who wants to be associated with junk basket shovelware. Credibility is hard enough to come by as it is. Instead, why not get out there and promote the coming together of a real indie community of gamers, developers, and writers? Then we�ll really have something of value.