think of it as a secular replacement for religious apocalypse. it makes more sense that way, and carries a similar level of guilt over the very fact of existence.

Just because something is goverment funded doesn’t mean it’s the result of hidden machinations put in place by the facists in their palaces or the Illuminati in the shadows.

that’s just what they want you to believe.

on a serious note, it would be very interesting to see who exactly was lobbying for this change. and then of course to follow up in a year or two and see what kind of correlation between lobbying and funding we find. i’m willing to be it’ll be strong.

But is it depressing because it’s somewhat plausible? I haven’t quite made up my mind on that yet, but this kind of thing tends to kick me right into paranoia.

You seem to overestimate how much the goverment is going to put into games. You can’t talk about big publishers overwhelming and dominating an industry and then complain when something steps in to lift the little guys up.

Also, stop reading 1984 and Deus Ex. Just because something is goverment funded doesn’t mean it’s the result of hidden machinations put in place by the facists in their palaces or the Illuminati in the shadows.

The same attitude made French cinematography a stinking cesspool with occasional shiny moment. Why? Because enterpreneurial risk is paid for by the government, therefore you don’t have to care about whether people will like it or not – if it blows, you still get a large part of your investment back. Which basically means that yes, with government support there will be more games from France, but it also means that there will be more shitty games from France. How this will benefit gamers is beyond me.

hell, i’m not very hot on the city of new york giving breaks to every tom, dick and harry with a video camera either; it’s a terrible fucking inconvenience if you have to get anywhere and does very little for the economy of new york city. even taking into account the local production studios in LIC and elsewhere, the fact that these breaks were sold as economically stimulating is fairly ridiculous.

it’s a great way to keep the mayor’s office of film and tv in business, however.

Let’s be honest here, the government isn’t forcing anyone to apply for tax benefits, just as the Nordic governments aren’t forcing anyone to apply for grants (eg. through the Nordic Game Program). If you want to make a game without any outside interference, you can do that, just like before. So where’s the problem?

I for one am happy that governments around the world are realizing that they should support their games industry. As a gamer, this means I can look forward to Dreamfall getting sequels (thanks in part to funding from the Norwegian government) and hopefully the spectacular-looking Metronome getting a publishing contract (as the devs have been given funding by the Nordic Game Program to continue work on the game independently), among other things. I like that.

Your “if it’s my tax money” is a very easy way to complain. The government doesn’t literally give money to certain developers (I can’t say this doesn’t happen in film, the government actually gives money to people who want to make movies… does that happen where you live?), it just asks less money from them.

Is it about your money or theirs then?

As for the artistic or moral content of a game, I think you’re being pessimistic with the government’s intentions. Okay, maybe they want to force content on us, but they want to spur the growth of the industry in the country above all.

What I want to stress is that this measure is not mandatory, nor forced on everyone’s throats, and not coming out directly off the taxpayer’s pocket.

PS: French people actually LIKE most french films… If they weren’t made on your tax money, why should you care?