For the Love of Anomie

Recently, I was asked to do a podcast with the Brainy Gamer himself, Michael Abbot. I started to say something but couldn't think of the right words to finish the thought. It has to do with innovation and trending in times of need. It's linked to the sociological concept of anomie (Merton's not Durkheim's).

In a nutshell, Anomie is: The gap between the culturally favored goals and an individual's access to the means to achieve those goals. In other words, the culturally favored goal here in America is money, success, to be on top. There are several things that happen here in the breakdown. Merton called these the five modes of adaptation.

While there is a lot of exposition to be done on these concepts, the crux of this is innovation. New and maybe 'not so legal' ways of making the money. Drug dealing, for example, is an innovative coping mechanism for achieving culturally favored goals while ignoring legitimate means.

I started talking about lower classes having to be innovative to achieve the culturally favored goals but I couldn't think of a way to describe the application of this idea to the game industry.

This is what I wanted to say:

"During difficult times, large companies are going to do exactly what they have been doing; more of the same with less personnel. In gaming industry terms, they will produce sequels and games similar to those that have been successful before. Gamers will enjoy these games because they have little else to find, little else to do BUT play those games given difficulty now with job layoffs and the depression that is going on now. However, during this time, those who have A). Time because they might not be working in a corporate environment as much and B). a want to create a 'new and innovative' game will try and do so. This is why, as we have seen recently, small game studios or even just individuals with enough time and expertise, produce such amazing indie titles lately.

A depression equals unbridled room for innovators to explore due to normal business being stagnant. Typically, these innovations, once conditions improve, will become the norm. Those innovations might even provide a means through which the depression ends."

There, I feel better.