Scene Groups Ethics

Written by Magic

Prologue

Groups are the 'building stones' of our scene. Groups shape the PC and the Amiga Scene. Without groups like for example Pulse, The Black Lotus, Orange, Byterapers, TPOLM, Fudge, Matrix, Trauma, Purple or Acme on PC or Nerve Axis, Depth, Endzeit, Floppy, Capsule, Mellow Chips, Nah-kolor, Abyss or Skarla on Amiga there wouldn't be any scene. A logical fact, but what's this article really about then? It's about a certain irritating factor in the scene that denies the existance of this logical fact.

The Dominating Big Scene Groups

Is the scene too blind to see what is happening? Or do we all just ignore it? The big and known groups attract key-members from other groups to keep the name breathing. Of course in the past this already happened every now and then, but today with e-mail and IRC it's very easy to do this. For example just recently Scoopex attracted THE coder from the Danish Amiga group Depth. Without this coder (read: Optima of Depth) Depth can hardly release anything but the Official Eurocharts. Depth can't grow to a TOP group.

The sometimes historical, at least known and famous name of the bigger group(s) seem to be a free ticket to attract any coder, musician or graphician the organizers need. Certainly an advantage, but if they use it to attract for example the best coder of a 'middle class' group, this group will never have the chance to grow even bigger. Don't the big and famous groups destroy the scene in this way, aren't they selfish?

The Talents Stream Across The Scene

Like I wrote in my column for The Official Eurocharts issue 35 (Amiga), known groups actually become some kind of label. Some have even used this method for years. Why can't they just attract members who aren't the 'driving force' of other not so known groups? If the big groups don't ask, the not so known groups will have a chance to reach the TOP, which will benefit the scene for sure... Otherwise it's obvious who will have the highest rankings the comming years... How boring...

A few top groups even dominate the 'talents stream' across the scene. It's like soccer I guess. Look at the most famous soccer team in your country, they headhunt the best players (members) of other 'smaller' soccer teams as well. No matter if the 'smaller' team had better results the last one or two years. The famous/legendary name of the BIG team is enough to get the players they need. Just like what is happening in the scene of today.

Epilogue

This is really a negative developement of the electronic highway facilities like e-mail and IRC. Though the known, big groups always produce quality releases, the smaller, not so known groups don't have a chance to evolve, no matter whether they have a better history than the known group in the previous year(s) before. It's simply a matter of Scene Ethics... -

Magic/Nah-kolor