Play Meter

(contilwedfrom pag e 41 )
for the creative person. I have m y ow n idea about that,
and should I realize my goa l a nd eventually be in a
position to do something about that, the peo ple I hire
will be on this kind of program. They'll have a
minimal subsistence salary, bur they'll have the chance
to reap rew a rds along with the company, because if
they make a lo r of money for the comp any , they should
have a piece of it.
Presently, though , what happens is manage-
ment thinks if these creative guys m ake a lor of
money , they won't need the m a nagement people
anymo re . They 'll go and form their own company.
And, you know, they're probably right. o they keep
them down on the fa rm , so to peak.
PLAY M ETE R : So it's your feeling the designing
segment of the industry is no r adequ atel y compen-
sated?
KI RK: Th at's right.
Let me tell you another thing . Manage ment
regularly receives unsolicited ga me concepts in the
form of letters from the ou tside. I don't know at what
regula rity they've been coming in fo r the Ia r cou ple of
yea rs, bur with the va ri o us companies I've been
involved with, kids have se nt in letters with game
designs. And man ageme nt has been know n to rake the
idea ou trig ht. After a ll , rhe ga m e idea was unso licited ,
a nd they had no lega l o bliga tio n ro compensate rh a r
perso n whatsoever, even though compensation m ay
h ave spur red more ideas. In fact, rh;r ·s how I go t m y
starr in this business. For about five years, I would
write letters to game ma nufacturers, giving them a
number of game ideas that they used without com-
pens ation . And then when I eventually came to work
for them, I was thrilled .
Most m a nufacturers realize rhar when you
rake a creative perso n and give him the o ppo rtunity to
create, he's so thrilled at hav ing that opportunity he
doesn't even think about protecting himself
financially. And I know in my case I had to sign what
they described as a standard form, which stared that
eve rything I invented or said or thought belo nged to
them. I think th at compensation fo r a parent was
somewhere in rhe neighbo rhood o f S 100. And for
someone starting our, like me , he 'll fa ll for it because
all he wants to do is make games. Bur rhi creates pro-
blems later on.
So th at's a problem. There 's roo much a
potential, especially in this industry, for peop le to be
exploited. And that dries up the well. There presently
is no r a clea r understanding between designers and
management as to what constitutes a fair compen-
sa tion . For myself, my contracts have changed
drastically from those early days , bur that change has
nor come easy.
PLA Y M ETE R : You were saying sometime back
that designers don't necess arily have to be computer
programmers. Bur how does someone who is nor a
computer programmer show his game idea to
someone and how does he protect himself?
66
KIRK : Wh a t usually happens is someone who has
a n ide a presents his idea to management ora lly, ideally
in the form of a storyboard where he m ake a limited
number of drawings o r sketches which help illustrate
the concept he 's go t in hi s head. Bur we have a cou ple
of prob lems right here.
First, you have the problem of non -disclo ure.
I've spent enormous amo unts of rime just going
through rhe lega l entanglements o f no n-disclosu res.
In o rder to discuss a concept with a m a nufacturer
involves a substantial amount of lega l nego ti a tio ns
because you have to protect your idea. And you'll find
the m a nufacturers a re reluctant to listen to a nyo ne 's
ideas and sign o rne sort of ag reement that they won't
stea l it fro m you. One company even h as a release
form which they send our to peo ple submitting ga me
ideas which says, in effect, tell us you r idea, bur we
don't have to rei I you if we like it o r no r; we don't have
to compensate you in any way if we decide to build it or
a ny parr o f it; you are submitting this idea to us
trusting totally o n o ur goodwill ro compensate you in
so me way later dow n the line. If you had a ga me idea,
tell me, would you a pp roach someo ne with that
at titude ?
PLAY METE R: You said there were rw o problems
with su bmitting ga me ideas to ma nufacturers. What is
rhe seco nd problem ?
KIRK: The second problem is management itself
doesn't have the slightest idea if the game co ncept is
good or no r. This is what I told you earlier, in this
industry, we've go r peop le in upper management who
never go to the arcade, who don't play the games o n
the street, who haven 't the slig htest feel fo r wha t
makes a good ga me , and these are the people who a re
dict ating what goes out the door.
Ma nageme nt is so fa r removed from the acti o n
o n the street th at they trul y don't know what a good
game is. And , as a resu lt, they've a ll boug ht a lo t o f
false prophets. When thing we re goi ng well and they
were m aking a lo t o f m o ney, they be lieved a lot of
people who came in and aid, "Have I go t a ga me fo r
you!" If these management people knew anything
about game concepts, they would've know n these
game concepts weren't worth pursuing. Bur there's
no way for them to know unless they're o ur o n the
street.
Until rhe m anagement of these ga me com-
pa nies is undert aken by peo ple like myself who pl ay
o n the street, this problem will continue. What you
h ave, basica ll y, is mo ney and m anage ment peo ple at
o ne end a nd the creative peo ple at the other. And,
since rhe money/ m anagement people can't tell what
game concepts are good and which are nor, it's always
pot-luck with them .
•
ext time: H ow the decline in games created a
timidity among manufacturers to risk on new game
ideas, plus the lack of name recognition for today's
designers.
PLAY METER. May 1. 1965