The language that we use to discuss things also influences our ability to think about them because the frame of reference becomes inherently bound up in that language. Locally, one of the main ways we talk about games, from the industry side at least, is bound up in the idea of original I.P. versus work for hire, with that discussion also spilling out into our audience. You don’t have to dig far on tsumea to find a heated debate on the perceived merits of original I.P.
But film-makers, novellists, and musicians don’t talk about creating original I.P., so what makes us different? I’d argue nothing – just the frames of reference we’ve built around the discussion. Those other mediums might talk specifically about engaging audiences, but they also have their strong creative voices saying ‘make the sorts of things you want to see’.