Talk:Game developer

Merge discussion

Lowellian suggested that this article be merged with game designer. I disagree since the term "game developer" is more generic than "game designer." In computer and video game development, the game designer is a specific and unambiguous role. Every person involved with the creation of the game can be referred to as a "game developer" including the game designer. Now this is probably not true in the case of developers of other types of games mentioned in the article, but the game designer article is almost completely about the computer and video game designer role. Merging it with this article would unbalance it. Instead, I've expanded the definitions a bit and provided links to other articles for those interested in those specific roles. Below is a comment from the article proper which Lowellian removed with his edit:

This article is not this same as "Game designer" because that article is mostly about game designers - the individuals - rather than the companies, which is what this article is about. They are related and do overlap somewhat, but they are not the same topic.

Lowellian stated in his edit:

i disagree; especially in the cases of small companies, there is no distinct line between individuals and companies; both are similar enough to be written about in one article

I don't think the issue is about the size of companies. Most video and computer game developers have very distinct roles which contributers play. Many of those involved with the creation of video/computer games do contribute to the game design, but the one person who has the final say of what goes into the game is the game designer. All this is mentioned in the game designer article.

If you feel we need to merge this article with the game designer article, please discuss it here first before re-inserting the merge message or merging the articles. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:30, Oct 26, 2004 (UTC)

There is no clear distinction between game designer and game developer. One does not necessarily refer to a company and one does not necessarily refer to a single individual. The two terms are used interchangeably. —Lowellian (talk)[[]] 11:57, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

Let me put it this way: what information could you put into one article that you couldn't also put in the other? Notice how the game development redirects to game design (and yes, I created that final redirect, but if you look at the history of the article game development, it was never much of a real article and redirected by the article's own creator immediately after he or she created it). I'm well aware of how game programming teams often make one or more persons the game designer who might not even participate in coding the game, but that's very specific to video game development and doesn't apply to other gaming genres, wherein game designer and game developer are used interchangeably. If I said that Gary Gygax was a game designer, I think you'd have a hard time trying to prove he wasn't. If I said Gygax was a game developer, I think you'd still have a hard time trying to prove he wasn't. If I said Steve Jackson Games was a game designer, could you say it wasn't? If I said SGI was a game developer, again, could you say it wasn't? If you look at the official titles of people in gaming companies, some are called "game designers" and others are called "game developers". —Lowellian (talk)[[]] 12:11, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)