Costik Reacts to IGF Awards: Die, Motherfuckers

I was going to link to a game in which you'd do something like trashing an office or skeet-shoot suited professionals, but then I realised I came to this site to look for a game.

We wouldn't be indie if the mainstream liked us. Don't sweat it: I have no clue what an IGF award is, but I know that PTT kicks butt.

I actually did look for that part of the video, and to my complete surprise, it actually did turn out to be insulting. I don't think it was intended that way, though. It looks like the person who prepared the joke was either feeling very awkward about it, or very stupid. I can imagine it being made as an afterthought, IGN staff trying desperately to brainstorm something funny at the last minute. Or maybe they have an overconfident manager who doesn't play computer games but always thinks he has the best ideas. Man, do I hate overconfident laymen in management positions...

(see, that's why I named the comment "count me in"; I'm not even thirty yet, but I am very angry, and already tired of it)

"Awkward" is how I would describe the entire event. Everybody seems like they would rather be somewhere else. The experience of discontinuity was probably prevalent.

I think it's not so much a matter of respect as self-respect. Gamedev has a little brother's complex: "look at me! I'm grown up too! I want to smoke like Rock and wear makeup like Cinema!". And indie games are a little brother of a little brother. The intended message seems to be: we have matured; we are a valid, serious branch of business; we are reliable, because we can play the game on your terms; we're predictable; we can have production values; we can make something marketable; we have our quirks but we know where their place is (namely, in the comic relief section of the evening). The organisers are looking to improve indie credibility, but not just any kind. It's about business credibility in particular.

Hopefully, this will end within a year or two, because indie is no longer the industry's wonder kid. It's Facebook time now.

P.S. Given the Canadian joke, I take it I should give up the hope of IGF ever becoming an international event, right? How does one start a local indie community?

Good thing I sold out before turning 25!

"I'm tired of being me," you said. Well I for one am not tired of reading you. That was a great post. You spoke the truth. Thank you.

By the way. You should probably write an entire post just to dis IGN some more. It looks like you have a lot more to say about them. And god knows they deserve it.

That video was a bad joke that appeared to be calling indie games amateurish crap. But why wouldn't you chalk that up to a lame attempt at humor, rather than an effort to slam indies at the IGF Awards? The rest of the awards I saw in that video -- I didn't watch a lot -- seemed to be pretty awkward. Award shows in general aren't very good. Even the Oscars, the highlight of the film year watched by millions, has a lot of jokes fall flat and presenters flub their lines.

As for the tuxedos and the VIP line, I don't see why either of those would make you mad.

It's a bad joke from a company that ruins everything it touches, itself sponsored by companies that ruin most of what they touch.

I don't mean 'take a break' like 'lighten up,' I mean 'think about something else for a week or two', maybe later on you can try to get the idea of an expensive awards show for things made on shoestring budgets in perspective.

Better yet, look at another indie community like film and see the parallels: a bunch of people doing what they can because it's fun, a separate group mining that work and talent for money, and a third group trying to find the formula for taking money from the second group.

There won't be a point in time when those things aren't true about any marketable good. You like talking about indie games because you gain something other than money from it, so dig in to the things you like about the field and try to relegate your anger over IGN whoring and related idiocy to its proper place, don't give it more thought or spend more words talking about it than it deserves.

You could have written that many words praising your 3 favorite games from the event and then crafted a one-sentence shot at IGN for the end of it and had something worth posting to your site.

/jeep/

While watching the award ceremony I saw the little skit that Mega64 did and initially thought that's what you were talking about. It confused me a bit since I thought the vid was done in pretty good taste. However, then I saw the D2D video. What crap, man.

Also, I completely agree with the awkwardness. No joke should be scripted unless it's genuine like the cactus thank you "speech." It almost seemed like some weird play. Everything about it was just strange, like a mix between indie and corporate.

Oh well, either way, some great games submitted and hopefully it succeeded in pushing the movement forward.

But I didn't cheer, I stood right up and sharted shouting, "This isn't what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia?! They just cheated us! This isn't fair! He didn't get out of the cockadoodie CAR!!"

What may be worst is that it is both

a. Not even a little bit funny (the Mega 64 thing before it got a total of one laugh from me, making the latter even worse)

b. Has nothing to do with indie games

I was expecting the jokes to be mostly about pretentious games, something like "Passage in Ten Seconds." But no, they're all just unfunny ideas with "retro" graphics added on. Maybe they intentionally made every idea so far off the mark from anything indie IN ORDER to not be seen as offensive. Which just pisses off everybody except for the idiots who laughed when the screen said "D-D-D-Dolphin!"

Also, being bitter about losing a hockey game to Canada at their Olympics is like watching Angels in the Outfield and getting pissed that the White Sox didn't win that game at the end.

..is a hint of things to come.

First you struggle, create and sink into poverty
Then you achieve, and gain some limelight
And crooks want to turn a quick buck on you
So you turn into a fad, compromise and wither
And then you will be free again

Hey well, somehow I serendipitously turned off the video when that part came up, maybe it was instinct. I tried watching it but it wouldn't let me FFWD to that. I believe you that it was offensive... BUT:

1. Hey, they might have been scripted jokes but man, wouldn't you want to script your jokes if you were hosting a ceremony like that? Besides, the jokes were funny! Like, the wig thing? Priceless!

2. Tuxes and dresses: what? Nothing wrong with how they were dressed. Also Cactus was dressed up for the event, just in his own way. It's normal to dress up for something that is special, esp when you are going to be in front of lots of people.

Sorry I just had to take exception to these two things. Presenters did a great job, great games entered (though I thought Monaco or Limbo should have won for audio (based on my non-VIP viewing of videos of these games...)

I found the parody funny. Not all of it, naturally, but the San Diego joke got me laughing and let's face it, that Balzac game? That could just as well be a real game somewhere...
(then again the animal skit (and balls) was a total miss for me, and Canadian army was too predictable even for parody)

I don't know if that show made me nostalgic for the award ceremonies we had in high school (because the quality of the material was about on the level of a team of volunteer 12 graders writing it... and then reading it on stage laughing at their own jokes) or something, but I kinda liked it.

I tried watching it but it wouldn't let me FFWD to that.

It only lets you skip to parts of the video you've already downloaded.

Hey, if they wanna force me to use up the maximum amount of their bandwidth I could possibly use, I guess that's on them...

Sorry but the whole thing was kind of a farce.

You could tell that most of the indies up there were feeling uncomfortable... even Cactus was overreacting a bit.
Why couldn't they have it in a simple setting with spokesmen speaking normally and not trying out stupid jokes for the crowd... is this the Oscars or the IGF?... what's this idiotic addiction for glamour?.... some of the people were even dressed up and stuff!!... come on!..
Chill out and give out the rewards like a friendly community.. not like fake Hollywood stars...

Next year can we have a couple of couches, some beers and some friendly chatter instead?

thx

The IGF awards were originally much more low key, but they also were pretty much ignored by everyone not directly involved. CMP made the decision to make them part of the mainstream awards ceremony, preceding it, which gave them much more prominence, and that was, I think, A Good Thing. However, I agree that while "glitz" may be appropriate for the mainstream awards, it's contextually jarring for the indie awards.

I remember years ago, when Bob Tucker hosted the Hugos, and came out to the podium toting a bottle of Jack Daniels, took a swig from the bottle, and opened the ceremonies with his trademark line: "Smoooooth!" I also remember Lin Carter showing up at the Hugos one year to receive an award with a black hooker on either arm. We need a bit more of this.

Incidentally, a bunch of people came up to me at GDC with a "good post" comment. I also had a chaotic conversation with Simon Carless at a party in which I had a sudden image of him as a wounded puppy. Also, Leigh Alexander tweeted that Kyle Gabler's wearing a tux doesn't affect his indie cred and I should seek therapy.

Just to be clear: IGF, good thing. Tuxes and glitz, rankles my punk soul, but I realize I'm not typical, and I don't really give a rat's ass. The IGN video, fucking appalling.

How about this:

"some chickie from IGN"

I'll tell you what. IGN may be all of the nasty corporate things you've said. But does that mean you've got the right to objectify and demean their employees? Do you really think it's cool to call a woman a 'chickie'?

Are you a fucking gangsta rapper as well?

You are reprehensible, Costik.

I would have loved to have been there. Yeah, the IGN video was lame. But I would have loved to watch an angry and sexist man storm out in a fit of pique because he got annoyed about a video made by what he calls the 'sublime idiots' of IGN.

Richie, please let me help you reconsider the claims you made. I don't care if Costik is going to reply to you, what you commented cracked me up so much I can't keep from writing a response.

First, regarding your apparent scorn of Jessica Chobot labelled as "IGN chickie". She came from a modelling background, catapulted into gaming press by an online posted picture of her licking on a PSP. She obviously never was a hardcore gamer, and watching those IGN video flicks where her attractive looks are utilized it is clear she is not positively/obsessively into gaming.

Secondly, you called someone a "sexist" for not respecting such a marketing stunt (in this case a person) and expressing it by applying a mildly pejorative label.

It is high time you realize Jessica Chobot is flesh for the market. And it is her handlers and keepers at IGN who are sexists, abusing her just as well as the stereotypical testosterone-driven gamer demographic.

Admit it, reflect on it, reconsider -- prove us there is recovery from this flawed "Political Correctness".

I dunno, MC Costik's new single "Chickies and Vodka" was pretty fly.

A little late to the party, but I thought I may as well respond.

First, I think you missed the point of the joke. The joke was that the IGN games were BAD games, and they were challenging us to make GOOD games. The BAD games were supposed to be so bad as to be funny.

The reason no one else walked out is because:
A) Most people were more willing to laugh
B) People were actually enjoying the show
C) The joke wasn't making fun of indie games

On that note, even if it were, it's absurd to walk out. Every year for the past five years, the hosts or the prize winners have basically (and sometimes literally) said "Fuck you" to all of the AAA devs/pubs in the room. Should they all walk out? Or should they laugh at the ribbing and say to themselves, yeah, that's funny, we kinda deserve that. And smile.

I disagree with you about Erin and Kyle, I thought they were fantastic and hilarious, but that's a matter of taste. The video shamefully doesn't do it justice as the crowd isn't miked, so it sounds like all of their jokes fall flat when in fact the whole room was laughing. But I'll admit that my euphoria could have clouded my judgement in this regard.

As for them dressing up, I know that when I hosted it, I dressed up because I wanted to look frickin rad and pay my respects to the developers that I was handing awards to. It's also fun to play dress up. Even punks wear eyeliner.

Finally, the tone of your post is really hangdog and depressing. To me, the great thing about indies is how we raise each other up, not tear each other down. I know you have a myriad of disclaimers in your post about how "maybe I shouldn't feel this way but...", but I encourage you to take a look at Brandon Boyer's rant from the indie rant session. Here's to 2010 being the death of snark in the games press.

And, as my own final disclaimer, I like you and the work you've done and continue to do, and I suppose people reacted strongly to your post because you've got a pretty big megaphone and this post was just wrong in many many ways.

Hi Andy,

I appreciate the effort IGF put into the event, but there is no point in copying another awards ceremony that is more in line with triple-ah bizz than anything indie. Something more cozy would be OK; less flash&glitz, saving on the expenses so that the awards can be more juicy or more categories can be rewarded.

*ANTI-DISCLAIMER: The author is both directly and indirectly interested in juicier awards for next year. \;b

Re: IBelanszky
So we don't have to respect people who are former models/look good because they're probably not hardcore gamers. Awesome. It's a shame she isn't black, then we could have used another slightly derogative slur, like "darky".

@Raitendo: the point that was being made was obviously not "isn't gamer therefore doesn't deserve respect", it was (if I can paraphrase my understanding of IBelanszky's intentions): since she's not a gamer, therefore she has no obvious qualifications to function as a spokesperson for a gaming award at a gaming event. Her appearance is therefore inappropriate, confusing, and hard to make sense of... unless of course she was simply there to function as "spokesbody"/"eye candy", which is transparently the case.

Now, assuming you agree that such a state of affairs is demeaning and/or exploitative, then since she is complicit in this -- along with IGN and of course everyone stupid enough to (explicitly or implicitly) encourage this sort of behaviour in this day and age -- therefore she, IGN, her audience, etc. do not deserve our respect, because in their actions they have demonstrated their lack of respect for us, and for themselves.

Of course the bigger issue of whether or not pornography/etc. is inherently exploitative or not is a much more complex kettle of fish. But this thread is a simpler matter -- so simple that I'm not sure how you could have overlooked the argument that was actually being made, and instead assumed an argument that would obviously never be made by anyone.

Unless of course this misunderstanding on your part was simply a pretense to escalate your baseless "sexist" accusations to baseless "racist" accusations.

Seriously: she licked a PSP. That is everything that is wrong with our culture in a nutshell. Well, okay, it's a small fragment of what is wrong, but it's still wrong.

@Costik: I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to chat at GDC, I saw you walk past during IGS but you seemed like you had somewhere to go :(

While I can definitely see how someone might be offended by the video, my feeling is that it's simply ignorant. Of course, the fact that offensive comments may be attributable to ignorance in no way minimizes or excuses the offensiveness. But it's at least understandable, in that you could see how someone clueless enough to find that video good enough to air would be equally clueless as to its potential to offend.

Anyway don't feel so bad; I'm also dreadfully weary of being a curmudgeon, but if you don't do it then who will?! With great power comes great responsibility. :)

Hi raigan,

"Chickie" is a derogative word used to refer to young women.
"Darky" is a derogative word used to refer to black people.

Would you say it's baseless to call somebody using the word "darky" to belittle a black person a racist?

Even if you really don't think she's worthy of any respect because of the organization that employs her, or because she might have been selected to the function because she looks good (how about the fact that she's a GREAT presenter? No, let's not acknowledge she has any qualities beyond her good looks), is calling her "chickie" the right way to go about things?

Would you say it's OK to call Robert Mugabe a "nigger"/"darky" (or even any word that makes a reference to his skin colour, if you think "chickie" isn't as belittling as "darky") because we can all agree he's not worthy of our respect? That's exactly how bizarre your argument is.

Since you persist in pulling race into this, I have the *perfect* example of a derogatory term which might hopefully allow you to understand how those of us on the other side of this argument feel: Uncle Tom.

I really don't see what can be problematic with labeling Chobot a "chickie" when she has sold out not only herself but all women, by being complicit in the sort of behaviour that ought to no longer exist. Let's not even get into how her behaviour also leads the boys to see this sort of thing as normalized and not something wrong.

When you compromise yourself and others -- harming society by continuing to perpetrate behaviours and treatments which have no place in the 21st century -- for your own short-term gain, then you are indeed not worthy of respect.

If "chicky" is a loaded term for you, perhaps we can agree on "vacuous strumpet" instead?

The issue of good looks is completely besides the point; (previous host) Andy Shatz is a total hottie in a tux, but he ALSO has some relevance to the community, and thus functioned as a complete human being rather than an ambulatory fetish object.

I don't understand what it is that you're referring to when you say "she has sold out not only herself but all women, by being complicit in the sort of behaviour that ought to no longer exist". Please elaborate.

I guess the part where she agreed to function as a booth babe for IGN?

I lol'd.