In One and One, Game|Life asks a member of the gaming industry two questions: one about gaming, and one about something completely random.
Warren Spector is an icon in the videogame industry, having worked on such classic games as System Shock and Deus Ex. The founder of Junction Point Studios, Spector is currently working on an untitled project for Disney.
As an iconic member of the industry, you're considered the "creator" of a number of games, but obviously were not the only person involved in their design. Does being singled out in this way ever cause any unique challenges or difficulties? Is there any benefit to such "auteur" status?
__Spector: __I've always said that game development is the most intensely collaborative endeavor I can imagine. I've always found it odd that the press and public -- even publishers -- so often ascribe a game's success to the work of a single individual. Basically, you're only as good as the team around you, especially when you're talking about a single game, or two games -- and given how immature a medium we are, that's often the entire sample you have.
But there are a handful of people -- Sid Meier... Will Wright... the usual gang of suspects -- who have a body of work large enough that you have to start saying, "Hm... maybe there's something to this auteur stuff."
I mean, when you can look at 10 or more games, made by a bunch of different teams, and see recurring gameplay ideas, thematic concerns and so on, you have to start looking for the things that carry over from game to game. That can be a license... or a publisher... But just as often, you come back to a single individual who can motivate a team to explore specific game ideas and play styles consistently and with great creative and commercial success.
In my cynical moments, I lament the human drive to oversimplify complicated situations, the need to brand a game somehow, and a lot of folks probably get more credit than they deserve, But really, in some cases, you just have to say, "Yep, there goes an auteur," and go buy his or her game.
What magazines do you read most often?
Spector: I subscribe to so many magazines it's kind of pathetic. I'm kind of a car freak, so Car & Driver, Road & Track and Automobile are monthly treats... I try to keep up with The Economist and The Week and Entertainment Weekly. A bunch of game magazines, of course.
But my number one choice is The New Yorker. I'm convinced The New Yorker is the best reading on the planet -- and they do it each and every week. By far my favorite magazine, mostly because it's about absolutely everything on the planet -- politics, culture, the arts, personalities, humor... Every issue introduces me to something I didn't know a thing about. Nothing better than my weekly New Yorker fix!
