Prosumer

Here is a word that I have only recently discovered. One that I doubt we’ll be seeing in the Oxford Dictionary anytime soon. Prosumers; this neologism is the head on collision of producer and consumer. The idea that the consumer and producers would merge in the production of, in this case at least, games. This can almost be seen in Half Life, but what I expect will grow into a much more definitive genre before long.

Half Life isn’t really recognized for Half Life as much as it’s recognized for the shear quantity and quality of the community mod work. Few of us brought Half Life 2, for example, for the core game but for the opportunity to play any one of the hundreds of mods it would spawn after its release. This is prosumerism, a professional industry standard product released and customized to fit by the consumer. Another example of this would be Second Life, a game that is so massive in it’s customization that it’s not so much a professional game anymore as it is our (that is to say, the general public’s) creation. Second Life is nothing without direct community customization. This is the direct result of the massive demand for new and interesting products to hit the market, and in my opinion, the world population feeling a certain lack of identity.