GAME DEVELOPERS THAT DON'T... LIKE MAKING GAMES...?

Well, the industry is big.
And as you might have noticed, the state of some parts is different from others. Thinking of AAA publishers, most developers are not allowed to make the games they really want, or want to be working on. To continue in such an environment, apathy towards it will be rather helpful, as opposed to wanting to do great stuff - and than having to work on standard trash that is supposed to sell better. (which .. I'll stop here, yeah)

Of course, there is also a reason many developers simply quit and then try to go the indie route (thinking of many kickstarters) - they love expressing themselves in games and want to see great games in the world. There will be just as passionate people as you in the industry. Depending on where you are and what you are trying to do.

Also, as passion and enjoyment goes .. it is much more about your attitude towards it than anything else! Many people who love their jobs did not start out liking them, but got to love them.
Your best friend is not wrong, certainly. There are some possible traps - but there is no reason to believe you cannot keep your passion and love.
It can end up being true, or it can end up being wrong.

Thing is, most people, when they think of making their love, passion, or hobby into a job, they think it will be just the same as what they are doing now, just that they get paid for it. Many do not do their research, simple as that.
Of course, there will be parts of the job you do not like. Any job will have parts you do not like - but because of their love, many expect to love "everything" and then end up disappointed discovering this rule applies to their love as well!

There are reviewers as well who hate playing through so many of the games, but still retain their love and passion for videogames in general.

What will be important for you is to realize where you will need to accept hard work and even annoying and frustrating experiences as part of your job. And still keep a healthy attitude towards the portions you do enjoy and you do love.
Keep that passion.
There is a different working attitude when you feel you "have" to do something, which makes it end up less fun.
However, when you realize you are feeling that way, you can take a step back, give yourself a breather, spend some of your free time just making and playing games in a fun environment, and you should be fine. This is something you can work with.

Zachary has a very good point there. People work for different reasons, and make games for different reasons. They all have their purpose.

I think a large part of it is that they have no control over what game they are making. If you were forced to make a game you didn't like over and over, you'd probably feel the same. That's apparently how a lot of companies operate, sadly. You'll just have to get lucky and find one that doesn't. Or start your own, if you're really brave.

author=Nivlacart
What do you guys think about the thought of a portion of the game industry just in it for the lucrative market over the enjoyment of making something exciting?

With the explosion of marketing opportunities for indie games, it's no surprise there's people who are apparently just in it for the cash. In a lot of business, it's considered better to think of your product as a means to an end, rather than be into it for the love of it, since the latter can lead to getting emotionally overinvested in something that might need to be sacrificed.

My best friend once warned me 'If you make something you love your job, you will come to hate the thing you love' and I fear that. Do you think out there, it's true?

Man. Jobs are scary.

Not really; it depends what you love about the thing you love. For example, I am super happy working freelance art, because I really like being given a set of limitations and working within them to make something someone else likes. Other artists might not like that so much, because it limits their creative freedom.

The secret is more to love the job itself- if you enjoy working in the environment, it doesn't matter so much whether you're passionate about the product. (In fact, passion can lead to problems, if you allow it to mess up your ability to compromise or work with others!)

author=Nivlacart
What do you guys think about the thought of a portion of the game industry just in it for the lucrative market over the enjoyment of making something exciting?

I'd be willing to say that a majority of the professional game design industry has that kind of attitude. Pretty much every major publisher except for Nintendo, Atlus, NIS, and a few others just pump out whatever they think will sell. Just look at EA, Activision, and Ubisoft. Although Ubisoft isn't actually making functional games anymore.

Smaller companies tend to be a little more creative, although they're all starting to fall into the "confuse-retro-with-a-pixellated-mess" or "make-it-look-like-Minecraft" rut. The gaming industry is as profitable as ever with micro-transactions, premium items, pre-order bonuses, having to pay to be a beta tester, etc. that people are getting into it as a paying job, as opposed to twenty years ago where people thought you were either insane or a huge nerd to take a job in the gaming industry.

I don't think the people you're working with ever "loved" the idea of game design. I think they saw computer programming as a profitable degree, and picked the least soul-crushing thing they could for a job related to it. It's like the joke about dentists: You walk into a dentist's convention, and everybody there just looks grumpy or pissed off. You find one smiling guy and ask him why everybody looks so upset. He replies with "These guys went to school and took the job just for the money. I actually like teeth". It's not super funny, but it really drives home the point of why you shouldn't do something just for the money.

I'm in a similar position as you but with Psychology. A lot of people around me just want the money that will come with our doctorates in a few years, but I'm in it because I enjoy observing the insanity going on around me.

As an English Teacher, I've experienced the same sort of apathy coming from literally every. single. language teacher with over 2 years of experience I've come to work with. It's a curious fact indeed. My best friend, who's a webdesign and math teacher, is totally the opposite, with 15 years of experience on her shoulders and completely enthusiastic about every single new class and student. go figure.


I love teaching but dropped out of it in favour of pursing true creative expression / freedom and due to the terrible corporate environment which prevented me from truly providing knowledge and instead just forced me to provide cheap ass entertainment.

If your work is about making game then it's not unusual that you'll have something else as a hobby.

bahleted

Most people in the industry don't simply make games. They just make small parts, like you have people doing only concept art, only making graphics assets, only recording sound effects, only composing music, only testing gameplay etc. These people don't get to decide on what's in the game, they just do what they're told to.

If it's something you do 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, chances are you get bored of it at some point.

To compare it to my area of work, there are a lot of ESL teachers here who come here purely for the money, and don't care. They don't make good teachers, obviously, they just worry about getting to the end of their contract and not getting screwed out of a paycheck. The same falls on some schools here, since they just want to cram as many students in class as possible, and make the parents happy so they keep paying. These would both be the equivalent of 'I'm in this industry for the money, not for the games'. I'm sure it happens in every industry, its just more apparent the quality difference in teaching/game design, since they do require a bit more care than just making cars, but I guarantee all jobs where they only approach it with 'more money, don't care otherwise' also suffer in customer satisfaction.

Of course, you also have the people who came in caring, and the industry just ground them to the point that they're numb. Teachers who came to Korea thinking they're going to teach and be amazing...and have the school owner tell them they couldn't care one bit if the students learn, just keep them in class for an hour and keep them happy. Don't you dare challenge them, because then mommy complains. Same would go for game designers, why did you make that piece of art game? It barely sold! Make shooter clone#417. Again, I'm sure similar industries (animation, movies, etc) have similar stories.