We need a Scott McCloud for games...

I've finally gotten around to reading Scott McCloud's Reinventing Comics. Part of the reason for my waiting so long was that I heard it wasn't as groundbreaking as Understanding Comics.

But in this book he speaks specifically about the need to push the medium and the market further into diverse genres, original plots, and innovative exploration of the format.

His complaint of comics being stuck in a super-hero, for teenage boys, struck me as being parallel to the problem with video games.

And so -- the need for a Scott McCloud figure to push the limits of gaming.

However, what makes McCloud so successful in his arguments is that he utilises the medium (comic art) to get his point across.

And so, his gaming counterpart, would also need to make his/her argument accessible through the medium of video games.

The problem here is that gaming has long since left the one-man shop means of realisation (aside from 80's arcade-style flash games), and now games take a team to develop.

So perhaps, what I'm really calling for is a Game Development Company to create a system to return the means to the creative masses -- and make tool that would enable the Scott McCloud of video games to have a platform from which to speak his argument.

Hell, if they did that, I might even see if I could fill McCloud's boots.