Aging creatives: Adapt or die

by Alexander Sliwinski { Dec 6th 2006 at 5:55AM }

Not all game designers are like the youthful Cliffy B. or David Jaffe, some are quite chronologically enhanced. One such aging creative, J.D. Alley, has written a piece about facing his own extinction. The 62 year-old discusses how he's survived in the gaming industry. Although there is a lot of explanation, bending and weaving throughout the piece, it's actually an interesting story of how to survive in the long term, like this gem quote, "We operate in a tough, demanding and competitive business that rewards success modestly and almost inevitably punishes failure with extinction. There are not many second chances in our business and those studios that have survived a gross miscalculation more than once can be counted on one hand."

J.D. Alley lays it all out there and in the end makes it sounds like the older you get, the more cutting edge you've got to be. Those young whippersnappers are always ready to take over, but having the wisdom and influence that comes with age, coupled with the recognition that one must always be riding the wave of innovation is how to make it in the long term.

Tags: adapt, aging creatives, AgingCreatives, evolution, gamasutra

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

herman_munsters_stunt_double @ Dec 6th 2006 6:49AM

Adaptation is most definitely the key; having been in this business for twenty years now, I've gone from games journalism to graphics, design, QA, production - heck, the only thing I haven't done is coding!

(And considering how many people I've seen burn out from that particular job, not a road I want to go down...)

*gets out rocking chair and a hot mug of Horlicks*

WebPimp @ Dec 6th 2006 9:42AM

herman:

I can totally agree with you. Being a coder myself for the last 15 years of my life, the only way I have been able to stay "on top" is to constantly use new toolsets and the like. It's a bitch. Thankfully though, I love to code so I haven't had a burnout session yet.

If you can survive the beat down by "the man", then you'll come out on top.