作者：Jeff Vogel

当我开始于1994年编写游戏，并在1995年将其当成全职工作后，我便很快得出了一个结论，即关于那些将我所做的事当成谋生方法的人：“这些人都疯了。”

之后，随着年龄的增长，我便逐渐意识到自己也疯了。

随着年龄的增长，我悟出了一个真理：其实每个人都疯了。每个人都有自己的破坏性。没有人能够或者逃出这个世界。

这只是关于独立开发者将拥有更高的曝光度，更大的压力，以及较小的支持群组。这些元素都意味着，当这些开发破裂时，场面将非常壮观。Twitter只会帮助你更快，更轻松且更公开地进行“自我牺牲”。

许多人喜欢独立游戏是因为它们很明显地就是真人的产物。它们并不是吝啬且无灵魂的密友。它们还有角色。也许你不喜欢我的游戏，但你可以说在乎它。它们是爱的产物，是充满热情的大脑的产物。

因为我们非常关心这些大脑的产物，所以有时候我们也应该着眼于大脑本身。大脑花了一半的时间去接收比实际还多的赞美，而另外一半的时间则是作为被厌恶的对象。这真的是非常疯狂的大脑。

我想要写一些有关压力下的独立开发者的大脑的内容。我不想要同情。我只是认为有些人可能会对这个圈子的一些事感兴趣。

这是怎么回事？

多年来，iTunes（以及最近的Google Play）应用商店已经赚取了巨大的利益，每个人都想在这里谋得一席之位。

这是最没有灵魂，最无趣，以及基于度量标准的市场/可想象的道德自由区域。我们可以从中吸取所有的乐趣和创造性去从“鲸鱼”用户（游戏邦注：乐于一个月投入许多钱去玩《Candy Crush Saga》）手上赚取额外的收益。

所以在过去几周，当人们对艺电剥夺了它们关于《地下城守护者》的所有有趣回忆时，他们也注意到了一款小型免费，且基于广告支持的游戏《Flappy Bird》突然窜红起来。

说实话，这并不是一款优秀的游戏。这是一个名为Dong Nguyen的年轻的越南人只花3天时间便编写出来的游戏。其实它真的很简单，具有压倒性的难度，古怪的吸引力，并只是通过口头进行宣传。突然间这款游戏吸引了大量玩家的注意，并吸收了无数金钱的投入。

如果你认为关于《Flappy Bird》存在一些不好的元素，通过以下内容你便知道自己错了

网络的存在让一切都可以成为可能。《Flappy Bird》很简单，愚蠢，是派生产品，并且非常休闲，所以毫无疑问它能够自封为游戏的捍卫者。

为什么人们会对这款游戏表示抗议？

首先，它的游戏玩法与早前许多游戏非常相似。当然，《Flappy Bird》与过去几年里出现的“通过按压按键让直升飞机或小鸟保持在空中”的游戏非常相似。那又怎样？如果你编写的是任何一种类型的简单游戏，那么就有99.999%的机会是别人已经创造了这种游戏。

基于某些原因你并不能复制游戏玩法。如果你能这么做，小型开发者便永远都不会有机会。

（许多人宣称《Flappy Bird》剽窃了名为《Piou Piou》的游戏，如果你尝试着玩这两款游戏的话便会发现这种说法非常可笑。因为它们真的完全不相同。）

其次，其艺术风格与早期任天堂的游戏非常相似。是的，《Flappy Bird》的图像非常接近于上世纪出现的某些任天堂的游戏。但我并未看过任何证据表示其资产被盗用了。这只是相似而已。

所以呢？因为某些原因你并不能复制别人的艺术风格。如果你的艺术风格不可能与别人相似，那么小型开发者便永远都不会有机会。

最后，游戏非常粗糙。那又怎样？如果人们选择玩这款游戏，那也没人会将其选为最佳游戏。我认为《Candy Crush Saga》或手机版《地下城守护者》的玩家越来越聪明，并且能够通过花较少的钱在其它地方获得更多的乐趣。
》？

关于人类如何工作的粗糙教训

Dong Nguyen选择放弃。当一大笔财富向他敲门时，他却扭头走开了。当我在写这篇文章时，《Flappy Bird》已经撤离应用商店了。

我希望你们能够好好想想这一点。想想是什么理由能让你推开一座金山。说真的，你要好好想想为什么有人会选择这么做。

这并不是关于钱。

如果你曾经作为公共人物，特别是遭到讨厌的公共人物，那么这么做便有理由。

Dong Nguyen是个年轻人。他编写游戏只是出于乐趣，并单纯地推出游戏，但却发现自己成为了公众关注的焦点，并且许多关注都是消极的。这种压力该有多大啊，他真的还没准备好承受它们。

并不是第一次出现这种情况了。我记得《Fez》的作者Phil Fish便曾一怒之下取消了《Fez 2》的发布并退出了产业。我并不是Phil Fish。所以我不会知道当这种情况发生时他的脑子里在想些什么。但这的确发生了，我完全可以理解。

真的很难理解为什么有些人会扼杀掉一款能够赚大钱的产品。也许有人会说：“他有钱，怎么会在乎这些呢？”

其实我想对你说的是，有些东西是钱根本买不到的。如果你发疯了，你便不可能通过花钱让自己恢复。有些人可以得到这种关注，但并非所有人都可以。

我也疯了。

我已经成为一些厌恶者对象。就像我便收到来自愤怒的精神分裂患者的电子邮件。他们表示想看到我破产，并希望我的孩子永远都不会上大学。

我把信息发给好友看并问道：“说实话，我是否该为自己的安全担心？”

我总是会遇到这些事，并且我脸皮也很厚。但即使这样，它们还是对我造成了影响。毕竟我们也是人类。一条愤怒的信息总是比十条友好的信息来得有影响。这具有真正的精神重量。一旦你知道存在这样的信息，请关掉你的计算机并避免接收Twitter上的消息。

当我的游戏有了它们自己的Humble Bundle（游戏邦注：是一系列在网络上售卖和分发的关于电子游戏、音乐专辑或者电子书的收藏包）时，我本该高兴的。我指的是在某种程度上来说。这将帮助我将孩子送到大学去，并且谁还能对此表示反驳呢？

我花了一周时间待在房间里与这种恐惧感相抗衡。当我的开发者/作家/美术师朋友发现自己也处于类似的情况时，他们也是如此。有人问过我：“一切都进展得很顺利。为什么我一直都觉得害怕？”我们从未期待也不值得同情，但这的确发生着。

当独立开发者成为了当下人们的厌恶目标时，公众的反应便会是一样的。

假设有一天我遭到了许多辱骂，我便有可能失去理智或选择退出。然而人们将会这么说我：真是个懦夫。真是无能。真是白痴。为什么他要如此在意呢？为什么他不会只是将社交媒体关掉呢？为什么他不能像我一样坚强呢？

当然了，所有的这些话都是来自那些从未经历过与我们同样的事或未能站在同样的立场进行思考的人。

题外话

人们只会取笑PR和市场营销者多没灵魂，但却不知道应对大众是件多困难，多耗时间与技能的事。为了在备受瞩目的情况下获得情感上的宽慰，你便需要在自己与来自公众的原生反馈间建立一道保护层。

如果Dong Nguyen拥有自己的PR专家，并远离论坛，只是编写着自己的游戏，他便能够赚到许多钱。然而，就像他对自己说的那样，这并不是他想过的生活，我并不能为此责怪他。

但如果你曾经看过一个公众人物（不论是政治家，演员，歌手还是游戏设计师）毫无预兆地宣布退出，那么现在面对这种情况你便会觉得是合理的。

当然了，我们做不了什么

现实就是现实。如果没有网络，我们开发的东西可能根本就不能吸引别人的注意并获得成功，但你必须将好与坏结合在一起。如果你想得到关注，你就必须面对别人的讨厌。

有时候，网络上的所有玩家都在寻求他们自己的咆哮盒子。寻找一个地方能够引导他们朝着自己所选择的目标进行咆哮。一边是青少年，另一边是社会中的正义之人，他们的想法无处不在。每个人都有不同的意见，而咆哮其实也是一种乐趣。

人们有权利提供反馈。如果我想要大声说出对于《地下城守护者》或者其它游戏的看法，我便能够这么做。如果你将自己的作品带向公众，他们就有权利做出回应。

咆哮真的很烦。（尽管一个人的咆哮可能对于另外一个人来说勇敢的说教者。）人们会咆哮是因为这是有效的。如果有人写道：“有些开发者很蠢并且他的游戏很糟糕”，当开发者读到这一内容时便会很受伤。但你不能阻止这样的言论。这只是关于我们大脑的运行。

我不认为这种情况会发生改变。这并不是关于一个破碎的系统。这是关于理解，同情，并记得你所谈论的对象是来自另外一个人的作品。一个真正的人是带有情感之类的东西。而人类又出人意料的脆弱。

当然，那么说可能不会做出任何改变。讨厌者会继续讨厌。咆哮也会继续出现。但如果这能偶然带给人们警示，也算是好事吧。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Why Indie Developers Go Insane

By Jeff Vogel

After I started writing games in 1994 and went full-time in 1995, I soon came to a conclusion about the people who do what I do for a living: “These people are all crazy.”

Then, as I got older, I realized that I am crazy too.

Then, as I got even older, I switched to a better truth: Everyone is crazy. Every human has his or her damage. Nobody gets out of this world alive.

It’s just that indie developers tend to have high visibility, high stress, and small support groups. These factors mean that, when these devs break, you see it, and it’s spectacular. Twitter has only helped to make self-immolation faster, easier, and more public.

A lot of people love indie games because they can so clearly be the product of real people. They aren’t focus-grouped, penny-pinching, soulless chum. At their best, they have character. You might not like my games, but you can tell I CARE. They’re works of love, recognizably the product of passionate brains.

And, since we care about the product of these brains so much, it’s sometimes worthy to look at the brains themselves. Brains that spend half their time receiving more accolades than they deserve and half their time being the target of laserlike hate. These crazy, crazy brains.

I wanted to write a bit about the brain of the indie developer under stress. I don’t want pity. I just think someone might find it interesting to read what it can be like to be in this particular box.

What Brought This On?

For years now, the iTunes (and lately Google Play) app store has been this gigantic, rushing torrent of infinite money, and everyone has scrambled to grab their piece.

It’s the most soulless, joyless, metric-obsessed market/ethics-free-zone imaginable. There is nothing that can’t and won’t have all fun and creativity sucked out of it to earn an extra penny from the “whales” (i.e. compulsives) who will happily shell out a hundred bucks a month to get Candy Crush Saga to let them play Bejeweled. (Hot tip: Uninstall Candy Crush Saga and play all the Bejeweled you want forever ad-free for three bucks.)

So for the last couple weeks, people, when they weren’t raging about EA’s pillaging all of their happy memories of Dungeon Keeper, were noting the runaway success of a tiny, free, ad-supported game called Flappy Bird.

Let’s be clear. It’s not a great game. It was written in three days by a young Vietnamese man named Dong Nguyen. It’s really simple, crushingly difficult, pretty derivative, weirdly addictive, and marketed purely by word of mouth. And it became a huge hit, sucking the attention away from a million equally derivative money-sinks.

According to the author, Flappy Bird was averaging $50K a day. So here come the haters …

If You Think There Is Something Bad About Flappy Bird, Here Is Why You Are Wrong

The Internet exists to crap all over everything. And Flappy Bird is simple, silly, derivative, and casual-friendly, so it was sure to bring the self-styled Defenders of Gaming out of the woodwork.

And why do people object to it?

One. The gameplay is similar to many earlier games. Well, of course. Flappy Bird is very similar to a host of press-the-button-to-make-the-helicopter-or-bird-stay-in-the-air games going back years. So what? Here’s a news flash. If you write any sort of simple game, there is a %99.999 chance somebody already did it.

You can’t copyright gameplay for a reason. If you could, small developers (including me) would never stand a chance.

(Many have claimed that Flappy Bird is a ripoff of a game called Piou Piou, which is laughable if you bother to actually try the games. They play entirely differently.)

Two. The art style is super-similar to early Nintendo games. Yes, Flappy Bird’s art is reeeeeally close to some Nintendo games that came out in the last century. I’ve never seen proof that assets were lifted. It’s just similar.

So what? Again, you can’t copyright an art style, for a reason. If your art style could never be similar to someone else’s, small developers (including me) would never stand a chance.

Three. The game is pretty rough. So what? If people choose to play it, nobody voted you the Queen of Gaming. It is so, SO not your business. I think players of Candy Crush Saga or mobile Dungeon Keeper are getting rooked and could get a lot more similar fun elsewhere for way less money, but I’m not running up and down the subway slapping the iPhones out of their hands.

Want to see people hate on Flappy Birds for no good reason? Look at this gross bit of anti-journalism from Kotaku. As of my writing this, the article begins with an update that basically says, “We changed the title of this article as it was pure slander.” (Kotaku has since apologized for this piece, so thanks for that, I guess.)

Or look at this vicious example. Or this straight-out slander from the famed game critics of, um, canada.com. (At least Kotaku apologized.) Or, on in the best pretentious grad student style, this hilariously bizarre article in The Atlantic.

Or read the petty, jealous comments of any article on it. I promise you the author has. Every single one. Which is why this happened …

Rough Lessons In How Humans Work

Dong Nguyen quit. A fortune coming through the door, and he walked away. As I write this, Flappy Bird has been removed from app stores.

Think about this. I mean you, personally. Think about what it would take to make you run from a gold mine like this. Really. Think about why someone would do this.

This is not about money.

If you’ve experienced any time as a public figure, especially one that is mainly hated on, it makes a lot of sense.

Dong Nguyen is a young guy. He wrote a game for fun, put it out there, and found himself at the target end of a massive wave of attention, much of it negative. I can’t stress enough how insanely terrifying this can be, and he wasn’t ready.

Hardly the first time this happened. Remember when Phil Fish, the successful author of Fez, canceled Fez 2 and quit the industry in a fit of pique? I’ve never been Phil Fish. I don’t know exactly what was happening in his head when this happened. But it did happen, and I can totally relate.

It can be hard to understand why someone would kill a product that’s making a fortune. Anyone can say, “Oh, gee. He has money. Who cares?”

Well, I promise you, there are things that money can’t buy. If you are going mad, you can’t buy yourself sane. Some people can take this sort of attention. Not everyone. And some people can take it, but it makes them … weird.

I’m Crazy Too.

I’ve been the target of my fair share of hate. Real example: E-mails from angry schizophrenics. People who tell me they hope I go out of business and my kids never go to college. Pictures of me Photoshopped in various unflattering ways.

And, of course, the occasional truly unhinged message that I forward to my friends and ask, “Tell me honestly. Should I be worried about my safety here?”

I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I have a pretty thick skin. Even then, this stuff has an effect. You can’t help it. It’s part of being human. One angry message has more effect than ten friendly ones. It has a real psychic weight. And, once you know it’s there, turning off your computer and avoiding Twitter doesn’t remove it.

When my games had their own Humble Bundle, I should have been happy. I mean, I was, in a way. It’ll help send my kids to college, and who could argue with that?

Yet, I spent that week in my room quivering with terror. When my developer/writer/artist friends find themselves in similar situations, they are often the same. I’ve been asked, “This is going so well. Why do I feel horrible all the time?” We neither expect nor deserve sympathy, but that’s what happens.

And when an indie dev becomes the hate target of the day, isn’t up to it, and loses it a bit, the public responses are the same.

Suppose one day I get one insult too many, I go nuts and quit or freak out. Here’s what people will say about me: What a weakling. What a wimp. What an idiot. Why does he care? Why doesn’t he just turn the social media off? Why can’t he be tough and awesome like me? Screw that guy.

All this, of course, from people who have never experienced being in even remotely the same position.

A Quick Aside

Everyone jokes about how supposedly soulless PR and marketing people are, but dealing with the masses is difficult, time-consuming, and an actual skill. To survive emotionally in a high-profile situation, you need a layer of protection between yourself and the raw feedback of humanity.

If Dong Nguyen got a PR flack, stayed off forums, and just wrote games, he could make a lot of money. However, as he has said himself, this isn’t the sort of life he wants to live, and I can’t blame him.

But if you’ve ever seen a public figure (politician, actor, musician, and yes, game designer) have a weird, inexplicable public flame-out, it might make a little bit more sense now.

Nothing Can Be Done, Of Course.

Reality is what it is. We devs would never have our attention and success without the Internet, but you have to take the good with the bad. If you want the attention, you also have to face the Hate Machine.

Sometimes it seems (accurately or not) like every gamer on the Internet seeks out their own little rantbox. A place to direct rage at their chosen target. Young male teens on one side, social justice warriors on the other, general cranks everywhere. Everyone has their axe to grind, and shouting is fun.

People have the right to give feedback, too. If I want to call out the Dungeon Keeper app or the hacky articles I linked to above, it’s something I should be allowed to do. If you make your work public, people get to respond.

Trolling is annoying. (Though one man’s troll is another man’s brave truth-teller.) People troll because it works. When someone writes, “[Some developer] is a moron and his games suck,” and the developer reads it, it hurts. You can’t prevent it. It’s just how our brains work.

I don’t think this can ever change. (Though less slander from reporters who should know better would be nice, of course.) It’s not about a broken system. It’s about understanding, empathy, and remembering that the work you are shouting about was written by another human. An actual human, with feelings and stuff. And humans can be surprisingly fragile.

Saying that won’t make any difference, of course. Haters gonna’ hate. Trolls gonna’ troll. But it feels nice to remind people occasionally, just the same.(source:blogspot)