Ah, pearls of wisdom.

Or is it pearly wisdom?

Pearls of wisdom before swine.

Wise pigs are annoyed by singing.  Unwise pigs are bacon.

err i am hungry, let me eat some ham

It's a funny comment, but a bit scary for people actually wanting to get into the industry, like me - especially when you're reading what Lost Garden has to say.

The Games Industry is something you have to love.  I have been offered nice jobs outside of Games and always turned them down because (despite all the frustration, pain, bitching and complaining) it's something I love.

Yeah, I guess. Hmmm. But you always kinda wish there was ... I mean, the Industry certainly has its big blockbusters, but where's our Easy Rider, or our Donnie Darko? The small, risky stuff? It's the kind of thing I want to do and it's also the kind of thing that seems to be so frowned upon nowadays.

I guess the best thing to do would be to do would be to study Computer Science and then slowly drift off into Game Design/Development. Only the future will tell.

If you do Compsci, be sure to pick your courses and projects with an eye on gaming. I am trying to steer myself back towards the industry, but with a job at a mainstream IT company, I have very little time to work to that end.

Thanks :) It's what I'm planning to do.

Independent developers - Fate is the little brother of Diablo 2. The profit margins on shareware is enormous.

Its just a question of time untill the industry has smaller projects with small money and big ideas... It's growing so big, that someday there will be LOTS of people like Ron that are just siting in the sofa waiting for an oportunitie, and when day get togeather, BOOM small budget games!!!!!

You're a sick, sick man.

I donno Ron, I have a great non-gaming job and had been working for a bit before going to GDC this year.  I'm pretty sure that I'd be depressed watching people write awesome games and get hired by Value or EA etc while I piddled away at my stuff.

But, sitting there, knowing I loved my current non-gaming job, that I could expirement with crazy stuff when I got home (as I still have energy to do so) was a great feeling....hopefully it'll last.

I know what you mean.

I used to spend a bit of time hanging out at the local game developer with my mates who worked there (meanwhile I had a job writing CAD software).  Although I thought they had the job I'd always wanted as a kid, I quickly realised that being a small-cog in a big EA type developer would have been less rewarding for me than to play a big part in something non-game related.  Being assigned to lens-flare in the latest movie tie-in just wasn't me...

I think casual games are where it is at for me.

Whup, good deal.  I think as more game programmers realize they can find happiness outside of the gaming industry, the big studios will have no choice  but to treat people better.

The whole indie game scene is great for that, and thanks to the wonderful community around it (for now at least) I think it'll only get better.

Game school graduates? That might've been my schoolmates that went to GDC this year, the lucky bastards. They made 'The Blob', the game that was Edge's download game of the month a few mags ago. I wouldn't accuse them of having a naive view of the games industry though... as far as I can tell, everyone around me pretty much knows they're in for a rough ride, but still want to pursue their dream.

Surely they can't be faulted for that.

No, of course not!  I think we're more jealous than anything.  :-)

'Inexperience is bliss', if I may pervert the famous phrase invented by The Matrix.

Please don't credit anything to 'The Matrix', it's a magpie of creative genius. Rather than standing upon the shoulders of giants to reach higher they are holding a fractured mirror reflecting bits of those giants.
It would be fine if it weren't for all those people who think it's a work of genius. It's just one simple question used to justify 9 hours of fighting scenes, the end.

I can't accept your arguments on account of my being really extremely serious with what I said above.

My personal favorite quote of GDC came from you, Ron:

"Picking up girls by pretending to be me does NOT work."

The time has come to share the truth. It's been over 10 years; surely you understand by now we are not the ignorant ones to blame for all that has happened. We the people, the addicts, those who know that the essence of the word "gameplay" is defined partially by your two legendary Monkey Island games, still want and have the right to know- You've mentioned multiple times you had it all planned out, after all. Please Ron, share with us the true Monkey Island 3 story one way or another and you will definately make the world a better place!
(PS. I believe a great burden will come off of you and you might even consider changing your domain name from grumpygamer.com to satisfiedgamer.com ! ... Ok, nevermind this part.)

Reminds me of my IT ordeal.
"IT is the world! IT is the future!"

Ok then! Sounds like fun! I'll enroll!

Now, in a nutshell, I'd rather be working in a production line somewhere in the back of a factory than ever having to deal with anything in that industry again.

Be honest, Ron, that quote was from YOU, wasn't it?

Alantean.
              The Matrix actually is a real work of genius because we have to understand how the system works in order to figure out what happened to Neo and Smith. It is not a simple compilation of kung fu sequences. So next time you think of it as "one simple question used to justify nine hours of fighting scenes", watch all three films in a row and study the scripts, then you'll realize that almost every moment in the film has a purpose in the story and impacts future events such as the romance shown between Niobe and Morpheus.

You could have at least given a **spoiler** warning, lol. I haven't seen them yet.

Sorry Kroms. Its just that the Matrix is one of those films that is such a big part of pop culture that its like as if "everyone knows the story" like star wars and lord of the rings. What i said above is not a really big spoiler to the story. If u want to see the films and understand the story, this is the order of watching/playing:
                           a. Watch the Matrix
                           b.Watch the Animatrix
                           c.Watch the Matrix reloaded
                           d.Play Enter the matrix
                           e.Watch Matrix Revolutions
                           f.Play Path of Neo
                           g.Play Matrix online

See the whole thing, trust me it'll be worth it.

I wouldn't play Enter the Matrix neither Path of Neo again even if my life depends on it.

I wouldn't watch the second or third Matrix films again even if my life depended on it.

The first one was genius. The other two managed to successfully define in a cinematic sense the words "flailing" and "hamfisted".

Getting old bitter and mean are you (grumpy even?).  The fear of those smiling young dick heads taking your jobs.. you, who made your bones while they were still going for cheerleaders in jpeg format! Outrageous ..

Ron,

Please give us some idea of how you fill up your day?