4 ms·

I think its really cool that we are now making movies / documentaries of people in our field / industry that have done good work. I love to see our industry ev

I think its really cool that we are now making movies / documentaries of people in our field / industry that have done good work. I love to see our industry evolve to a place where the developers themselves can self fund a whole entire platform and make it sustainable long term. This documentary about the life of Evan You and how he succeeded in doing it is an inspiration to us all. Let the show begin !

ken 7y ago
I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least. Self funding for indie developers would be great but I don't see this helping. We don't have enough filmmakers or (I bet) enough audience attention and desire for many more of these.
- pstuart 7y ago
  > I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least. Completely understandable. It's an unfortunate aspect of humanity in general: the need for God(s) to worship and follow, as well as the need to be part of a group. If we can't change human nature at its core, we might as well leverage it for something good.
- z3t4 7y ago
  While I do like documentaries, the focus on popularity is perverse. And it's easily gamed by fake stars/collaborators , news puff pieces, and cheering crowds.
  - bawolff 7y ago
    I guess it works a little better if done for historical subjects where their contribution can be viewed from a distance. There are plenty of computer things and people from the 70s and 80s which would make great documentary subjects.
    - lowercased 7y ago
      Two I liked a lot were 'get lamp' about adventure/infocom folks, and ... I can't remember the other name, but it was a documentary about Commodore. Agreed - there's probably loads of interesting documentaries that could be made with people still alive. A movie on game consoles of the 60s and 70s would be great, imo. And there's probably some out there I don't know about.
- dentemple 7y ago
  On the other hand, it's nice to put a face behind the tools that we use everyday. It also helps to recognize the "human factor" behind the decisions being made with these tools (although YMMV on whether this documentary will succeed in doing so).
- faitswulff 7y ago
  RE: Hero worship Tangential, but I think that's one thing "Indie Game: The Movie" did really well - it covered the indie game devs while also really humanizing them and their weaknesses.

ken 7y ago

I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least. Self funding for indie developers would be great but I don't see this helping. We don't have enough filmmakers or (I bet) enough audience attention and desire for many more of these.

pstuart 7y ago
> I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least. Completely understandable. It's an unfortunate aspect of humanity in general: the need for God(s) to worship and follow, as well as the need to be part of a group. If we can't change human nature at its core, we might as well leverage it for something good.
z3t4 7y ago
While I do like documentaries, the focus on popularity is perverse. And it's easily gamed by fake stars/collaborators , news puff pieces, and cheering crowds.
- bawolff 7y ago
  I guess it works a little better if done for historical subjects where their contribution can be viewed from a distance. There are plenty of computer things and people from the 70s and 80s which would make great documentary subjects.
  - lowercased 7y ago
    Two I liked a lot were 'get lamp' about adventure/infocom folks, and ... I can't remember the other name, but it was a documentary about Commodore. Agreed - there's probably loads of interesting documentaries that could be made with people still alive. A movie on game consoles of the 60s and 70s would be great, imo. And there's probably some out there I don't know about.
dentemple 7y ago
On the other hand, it's nice to put a face behind the tools that we use everyday. It also helps to recognize the "human factor" behind the decisions being made with these tools (although YMMV on whether this documentary will succeed in doing so).
faitswulff 7y ago
RE: Hero worship Tangential, but I think that's one thing "Indie Game: The Movie" did really well - it covered the indie game devs while also really humanizing them and their weaknesses.