The Mandate by Perihelion Interactive
“One Rule, no Quarter” states the Mandate homepage proudly showing off a game. A game fully funded by the players themselves over Kickstarter and PayPal. I too have proudly decided to show my allegiance. An allegiance not to the faceless corporations that publish games like FIFA Five million or NHL L33t Haxxor, but rather to these companies that are making interesting and amazing games that are fully funded by the players and designers. People who actually love games.
A new page is unfolding in the history of games. Decades ago when games were simple things ran on even simpler machines, most games were published straight from the creators garage and bought by a set of loyal fans. As times went on however games like movies and TV shows before them became an outlet for mass marketing and the quality declined. People no longer made good games because they wanted to play them, but they made crappy games that they thought would sell enough to increase their profit margins. Something was lost, but now it is being reclaimed. Games are again being made by people who actually play them, not simply people who have a business decree.
Project Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment
Games like the Mandate and Project Eternity represent an ideal that I can totally get behind: games funded by the players whom want them. Imagine that? Designers whom actually want to make the game they are designing rather than it simply being another tired Call of Duty clone, and players whom fund it if they desire to play it. All we have to do is vote with our wallets as we did before, with none of those middle-men in between us and our games.
Personally I was too late to support Project Eternity, but I’ve pledged what money I could for the Mandate and am hopeful that when these games come out they will signal an end to companies like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. Companies that are deciding what kinds of games we want and should play.
Hail to the glorious revolution! Let us see where this takes us.
A Rhyme of Dice and Mice 