Notes on an Arcade Collective
From arcade scripters to game creators and webmasters too, everyone is battling each other for a tiny stake in a crowded market: the arcade industry is individualistic, self-centred and it's 'every man for himself'.
Right here on TA for example, there's a lot of camaraderie in the forums and people help each other out to an extent, but ultimately the majority of us are aware that we're here to make some money for ourselves.
Part of the reason why the larger arcades (Newgrounds, Miniclip etc) are untouchable, is because they operate as businesses with a payroll and management structure. They generate large amounts of content and can afford to commission new games and develop unique arcade features for their userbases.
I think there's a niche somewhere between the big sites and our individual arcades; a niche for an 'Arcade Collective'. I'm thinking of a project that involves 4-5 people at most. Start from scratch build a new arcade. Roles are split amongst project members as is the intitial cost and also future revenue. Stakes are divided equally.
This would remain a spare time activity just as most of our indvidual arcades are, but the collecive manpower would mean that the project has a chance of growing at tenfold the rate of any individual arcade and therefore can reap tenfold the benefits too.
Ideas on this would be welcome. Fors and againsts. Pitfalls and problems...
|