Artist in the Long Tail of Future

Style is the dress of thoughts - Earl Chesterfield

Renowned MMO designer Raph Koster says the games are going to be a commodity and driven by the long tail. This means about all the games will be played just by a few people. More importantly, there will be a lot more games played just a few people than games played by a many people.

What does this mean for the game designers? Are they out of their jobs - people can design games for themselves and for others? I think no. Game designers are going to be more important.

Artist, as game designer, is going to be much more important. Right now there are a lot many bloggers, but a popular blogger is not one who puts new content every fortnight (I would put about this as the creativity limit of an average person), but who blogs about 3-4 times a day - all of them rich content making a lot of sense. A blogger alone will not be able to produce content at such high rate. Less so a game player will be able to produce a game.

What this means - artists will come as teams, or companies, brands having their distinct style. Artists will deal with technology a lot more. I expect emergence of (probably) simple and beautifully packaged tools of the likes of ipod, and of companies like Apple.

An Artist and a Critic

An artist creates, a critic appreciates. In computer science, the verification of a solution once it is found is considered by many researchers to be easier than finding the solution (that is, many believe P ≠ NP). These researchers also believe that finding a solution would take much longer than verifying it. This supports the (sort of) obvious facts:

- An artist probably has to work much much harder than a critic.

- There are many more critics than artists (more generally, few people would take the more difficult job).

- Why do many people hate to be a boss? A boss verifies while the subordinate creates (this is even truer in cases where subordinates work pretty independent from the boss and do not have to consult them). In this aspect, although the boss earns more, he is doing the easier job. The boss though has his own boss, and he must be creative to handle the aspects he needs to report to his own boss - this is a much bigger responsibility. Many people hate to take more responsibility and at the same time giving up creative work.

- Why do some programmers like to reinvent the wheel? It makes them feel more creative. They fail to realize their creativity would be composing the existing frameworks and libraries and creating new value.

- Why do many go for MBA? MBA is a shortcut to getting rich by applying the well-known methods into practice. The ones who go for MBA are also the ones who like to be the boss. They take more responsibility and sacrifice some creative work.

- Why do some go for research, even though probably they would make more money in industry? They want a work that can make them feel more creative. They also want to stay ahead in time (in terms of what is known).

- Why is there a lot of gap between research and what is applied in the world (at least in AI)? The creators do not want to market and sell. They do not want to look at the real world, which is too ugly for them (unworthy of their time!). Many researchers are theorists and believe their work as the true advancement of human knowledge. The people from industry are too practical and prefer solutions that work now - a task that most researchers do not have time or inclination to do.

- Why is there a lot of opportunities for new startups? There is a huge gap between known research and what is applied in the world. An entrepreneur also has to think creatively what can be sold and to who.

Excerpts from "Art Knowledge News"

I've subscribed to Art Knowledge News, daily news from the arts world. I collect some of the best:

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Tabitha_Vevers.html

Succinctly shows the pain of rape. The pain only the victim feels, the others cannot.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Marmottan_Monet_Museum.html

Impressionists show a new way of looking and feeling.

They live in dreams.   


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Pablo_Picasso_Challenging_The_Past.html

Picasso's new way of showing things - motion in cubism.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com//Peabody_Essex_Museum_Polar_Ladscape.html

Lines depicting an unusual landscape. Makes me feel chilly.


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Teun_Hocks.html

Deviated from my path to catch some music. My wife says came back to path looking for music.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Mari_Kloeppel.html

Beautiful Portrait of a Horse.





http://www.artknowledgenews.com//Liz_Arnold.html

Love Bite. Am I a chocolate? Fantastic.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com//The_Puppet_Show.html

Puppet show. Puppets watching the show, you stupid!
 

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Gemeentemuseum_Den_Haag_Love_Art_Passion.html


Intense colors rob my attention.

http://www.artknowledgenews.com//Jean_Dubuffet_Solo.html

A cow and a grass in proportion.


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Helen_Levitt.html

Please, some space for me too.


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Havana_Biennial.html

Music never is out of style.


http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2010-06-08-22-49-23-largest-ever-show-of-harold-edgertons-stop-action-photography-opens.html

Frozen in time.