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I say "developer" is only for code, "designer" can be any system, level, or character designer (ooh they use spreadsheets!), "artist" is only for drawing things. Marketing douchebags are "marketing douchebags". And since I'm indie, I'm all of those.
But some studios just don't care and have stupid titles; as long as thy get paid it doesn't matter to them. WTF cares what some idiot screaming in a forum says?
Sorry, but you are wrong. Everyone on the team is a game developer. Game developer is a term for those who make games. They develop the game. You can't restrict the term "developer" to those who just write code. A developer in the classic term just someone who develops. Develops is a term to create or construct. Thus a game developer is anyone who creates or constructs a game. This can be an engineer, designer, artist, etc.
I've been in the games industry for a decade and can tell you that this isn't a debate or even up for question for those experienced in the field. It's simply how we give credit to the whole team. A game engineer is one who writes code for the game, a developer is anyone on the team who works toward creating the game. Also, you should learn to respect marketing. Done right and respectfully, it's a powerful way to connect to your audience. Just like a community manager.
Overall don't gatekeep titles. It's not great and would be like if someone came along and challenged you on calling yourself "indie". Overall it's not a good feel or look.
Idk man.. seems like that would make GameDev mean anything and nothing. Just for the record, I have no stakes in this discussion, I really don't care. I just find it weird to blur a word like that. Is the game company's canteen cook also a game dev? The person who plugged in the monitors? The CEO? The HR person? And so on..
I agree tho that this entire discussion feels a little like gatekeeping and would prefer everyone getting some credit for the game development over pedantic hairsplitting.
A game developer doesn't mean anything and nothing. It's someone who works on the game. So in a typical conversation with a player, a player would likely want to ask a game developer a question, that question could be best answered by a designer, artist, engineer, creative director, or even marketing. It really depends on the question but the player is just going to request a "game developer"
Ooh, a whole decade! I've been developing games ("developing") since the '80s. You are literally the guy I referred to, in a studio, with a stupid title. If you'd called yourself a developer without being able to write code at some companies I've worked at, you'd have a conversation with HR. As it is, people can get away with it but it's not true. Words have meanings, even when savages from a fallen age misuse them.
Actual customer service/community managers are fine, we need those; working indie that's the worst part, not having them. But I'm with Bill Hicks on marketing douchebags.
I write code and do so well. It doesn't matter, you seem like you are just lashing out and being very insulting. I was simply giving my insight and showing that I've been around enough to know. I am not trying to gatekeep the title of being a game builder from people and I don't think anyone in our industry should. To call people savages is pretty backward to me. What if I told you games have been developed without the use of code at all? How do you make a game with zero game developers creating it?
Also, I watched it and while Bill Hicks said he wasn't going to make it a joke, he immediately made it into a joke. Additionally, I'm not saying put a dollar sign on everything. I would say that's the type of marketing that doesn't need to exist, that is the marketing that isn't respectful. Respectable marketing is about telling people who might want to play your games, about your games. That's all it is. You shouldn't just release games into a void and hope for the best.