Responsibilities of the Consumer in the Entertainment Industry?

[eliasfrost]

the problem is that the free marketplace, which is supposed to function so that good ideas are rewarded with patronage and bad ones ignored, has turned into a machine that arbitrates its ideas so as to perfectly coincide with demand, in other words they are artificially made to appeal to as many people as possible.

Why can't I see where the problem is? Good ideas are more likely to be rewarded than bad ones (FG is an example of this) and I find it very logical for companies to want to appeal to as many people as possible. If they succeed then there is probably a good reason for it. Also, they don't force people to buy their stuff, they convince them.

Might I ask that you read my post again? In it are counterpoints to all of your comments.

The work itself should be the ultimate reward - the money is only upkeep, an unfortunate prerequisite for future projects, and perhaps an opportunity for expansion. This has been reversed in the corporate world so that the objective is money, and the work of "art" is the means.

Actually, one of the reasons why I like the game industry is that developers are more keen on making good games than they are to make money, the publishers are the bad guys in that regard, with restricted creative freedom, not enough time, too narrow development scope and rushed releases. There's a reason why there's an exodus from the AAA market, big name developers are practically fleeing the AAA world to realize their true dreams as developers: to make good games.

The recent Game_Jam fiasco is a great example of how developers (especially indie devs) care far more about their projects than they do about money or image. There's no room for compromises when you're pouring your entire soul into a project that is about artistic integrity and personal goals. Even though the Game_Jam thing was about a reality tv thing going wrong, it shows just how much indie devs care about making games more than anything else.