Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

An Alternative Future – Part 2.

We’ve all heard the predictions that the next generation of games consoles will herald a new era of user contributed content. Gamers can use in-game tools to create new maps and costumes. Hobbyists can use tools that comes with games to create basic mods, with new weapons and playmodes. Amateur developers can download software development kits to create their own games that they can upload and share. You will be able to customise and personalise your game experience. It’s all about choice! It’s all about creating and downloading what you want!

So what’s the catch?

All is well in PC land

User-contributed content sounds great, and we can look at the PC market to see how it can be done right. Wallpapers and icon themes for your desktop, MSN, AIM, MP3 player, and any else you can think of are easy to download and install. Anyone can get a free website and upload their designs for anyone to download. Mods and skins are freely and readily available for a lot of PC games, and anyone can upload their speedruns or machinima videos. Create your own videos and upload them to YouTube. All for free. It is all about choice. It is all about creating and downloading what you want.

Consoles are full of promise

So what about the console market? It’s going to be just as free right? A great big melting pot of creative consumer juices … ewh, I apologise for that very poor metaphor. The point is that console manufacturers are promoting user-contributed content and personalisation. Microsoft has talked about XBOX Live Marketplace becoming the “YouTube for games”. Nintendo is asking users to make their own Miis. Sony has talked about using Linux to develop homebrew games for Playstation 3. That’s the big sell, but what have we actually got so far? Nothing.

Promise that is so far unfulfilled

We can look at the mobile phone market to see how things can be done wrong (for the consumer). In the mobile phone market, the carriers generally control what goes onto your phone and how it gets there. They will lock your phone down and try to sell you all sorts of crap at the highest prices that you can bear. Buy this new ring-tone. Buy this wallpaper. Buy this crappy game. They’ll spam you with advertisements for services that you don’t really want. If you want more, they are the group who will supply it to you at a tidy profit.

Is this the direction that consoles are headed? Where are the tools to make your own horse armour that you can send to your friends? Where are the tools that let you record your own Godfather gameplay tutorial to share with the world? User-created content hasn’t materialised; we’re buying content using a system that doesn’t let us create and share. We’re buying whatever they want to try to sell us at the highest prices we can bear.

Let’s assume that user-created content is coming to consoles

Maybe it’s too early. Maybe there just isn’t that hit game that comes with a decent level-building tool. Maybe the framework for uploading and sharing levels and skins is something console manufacturers are working on and it will be rolled out as soon as possible. Maybe we have to wait for the final versions of XNA, PS3 Linux, and Wiinix to be made available for download. Let’s assume these things all happen. What should gamers do? Well I have one piece of advice:

- “Don’t Give Away Your Content.”

The big gaming companies have expressed an interest in cashing in on an expected flood of user-created content. They want to capitalise on what you’ve made, turning your hours of work (however enjoyable) into money, money, money. If they are going to charge you $2.50 for horse armour, shouldn’t you be getting a cut if they use your skins to get people to buy their games or maintain their subscriptions? Imagine the advertising: “subscribe to this game to gain access to thousands of user-contributed models and maps”.

It’s a two-way street, but money only goes one way

Is it reasonable to ask for a cut? Will console manufacturers actually determine how much utility they gain by having user-contributed content available and then carefully decide how much your contribution was worth so that they can send you out a monthly cheque? No! Not on your life! What’s the point of user-contributed content if it’s going to cost them money? There’s any number of chumps who will upload content for free and they can always approach the good ones with “real contracts” (that’s how Counter Strike started).

So what is reasonable? What about “in-store” credit? So if you contribute skins that get downloaded by a lot of people you get Microsoft Points, or Wii Points, or whatever that you can use to buy extra levels and downloadable games. Any other thoughts? I don’t know what is equitable, but dammit I want something before I pour hours into making this in-game character look just like Jack Thompson!

As always, all feedback is appreciated. Please keep an eye out the next and final article in this series: “Why Do We Always Play At Your House?”