Harnessing Collective Intelligence: The Future of Game Development
Imagine an average video game development process: it usually involves a team of one to fifty individuals, each contributing their expertise to the project. However, have you ever considered what could happen if we include everyone into a single feedback loop of creating a superior product? In this post, we'll explore how we can magnify the game development process beyond the conventional team and encompass every software engineer, every player - everyone.
A Shift in Perspective: Force Multiplication
When we talk about force multiplication in the context of game development, we're looking beyond the immediate team. Every software engineer - whether they're a part of the team or not - and every player, becomes a potential contributor. How, you might ask?
Open Source Meets Gaming
As with most software, every game is composed of code. With open-source principles, this code is accessible to any individual. They can review it, modify it, and create a pull request (PR) suggesting changes to the game. It might be a new feature, an enhancement of an existing one, or a bug fix - the possibilities are endless.
Rewarding Contributions: Stock Ranking System
To manage these incoming contributions, a group of main contributors would rank each PR. The ranking is done on a scale from 0 to the game's stock price. These "stocks" serve as tokens of recognition for the contributors' efforts. At the end of the month, everyone who contributed to the game during the previous month receives a share of the game's profits equal to their stock amount.
Introducing DAO Game Development
This community-driven approach to game development is an embodiment of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) model. A DAO is a type of organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members, and not influenced by a central government.
In DAO game development, not only can you contribute code, but you may also get rewarded for playing and providing valuable ideas on how to improve the game. Your intimate understanding of the game dynamics as a player can lead to insights that might be overlooked by developers, thus offering a unique perspective on the game's potential improvements.
Invest in Your Gaming Experience
Going a step further, this model also allows you to buy the game or invest in specific feature developments. Want to see a particular functionality in the game? Instead of waiting for the development team to possibly implement it, you can directly invest in it and expedite its creation.
Final Thoughts
This proposed model is all about inclusion and collective growth. It signifies the potential power of collective intelligence and the exciting possibilities it can unleash. So whether you're a software engineer, a gamer, or someone with an innovative idea, you could contribute to creating games that are truly by the people, for the people, and ultimately, owned by the people.