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Well, I know this question has been discussed here and probably here, but my point to re-discuss this topic, is to get an overview of how community especially the high scorers evaluate the current state of the site, especially after around 3 years of the site launch. My points are:

  • Are we attracting more game dev. professionals here ?
  • Are we attracting artists and designers, or SE sites are more aimed towards programmers in nature?
  • How do you evaluate the current state of the site, QA quality, Signal/Ratio, I know a lot of the kids just want to make the next big MMO, and I know it's not going anywhere but maybe attracting more professionals will raise the overall quality?
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Your points about moderation and traffic seem to be different enough from the main question about attracting professionals -- perhaps consider asking them seperately? \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Nov 17, 2013 at 16:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, I think you are right I will split them. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 16:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ Since you aren't a professional in game development and I think you've given some pretty nice answers, I don't think being a professional is a requirement. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:29

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It's really hard to say if we are attracting more or fewer professionals -- that isn't a metric we gather (or one we reliably could). There are probably more professional visitors than are obvious to you, because many of them will want to hide that fact from the general population, for various reasons.

Personally, I don't really think it matters that much how many industry professionals we attract to the site. What matters is the ability to give quality answers and/or ask quality questions and help maintain and improve the utility of the overall site.

It is not necessarily true that a professional game developer will by definition be capable of giving better answers or asking better questions. Consequently, why does it matter what percentage of our population consists of professional game developers (or even professional non-game developers)? What value does it add, exactly?

My opinion is that it does not necessarily add any value. The individual person adds (or subtracts) value from the site. It isn't their job title that does.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, professionals tend to have better knowledge, statistically speaking (at least) I think this tends to be true. I don't know if someone (like me) with few personal projects and some 3D experience will be able to contribute as much as someone with several games delivered. The problem with game industry in general is that it's being exclusive. A lot of the great techniques seems to stay exclusive for certain companies, having more of these people might benefit the whole community. What am talking about may not be true. In the end contribution is a personal preference.. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:11
  • \$\begingroup\$ and please note that I was not talking about patents. I am talking about general coding, design and optimization practices. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ As a professional, I can assure you that it's a false assumption that being a professional implies having better knowledge. There are several hobbyists on this site I'd rather work with than some of the co-workers I have had in my career. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ Further, you also have to remember that a professional's knowledge is for professional projects, and the needs of those projects often differ wildly from hobbyist projects, such that a technique or bit of knowledge that served well on a professional game would not necessarily be that beneficial for a hobbyist. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ tldr: smart people are smart people, but professionals are not necessarily smart people. \$\endgroup\$
    – user1430
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ Well, maybe I have been misinformed. Thanks for the insight. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:28
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You can't make this place enjoyable for both professionals and hobbyists in the same measure. If you want to bring in professionals, turn this into a site which deals with professional matters only, and make it inaccessible to the hobbyists.

Imagine important professional game developer's name coming here. Do you think he'd just waste his time telling some random user about how to make his shader work? Because that's the level the questions we get reach to.

Similarly, do you think he'd ask an important and meaningful question while knowing it would swim around in a sea of "halp! my code doesn't work" questions?

I'm pretty sure the stackexchange isn't exactly meant to attract that many professionals either, judging by its current policies. It's very open so it's likely the hobbyists are the main target.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Stackoverflow for instance has many of the most reputable professionals around "Jon Skeet" for instance, and they answer alot of the basic questions why wouldn't pro game devs come here? there are a lot of beginners on SO. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 16:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ SO is about basic questions. At least half of what is there is about debugging code or asking for a piece of code that does some particular thing. \$\endgroup\$
    – user15805
    Nov 17, 2013 at 16:56
  • \$\begingroup\$ You also need to tell us what you would expect from a professional. So, what would you expect a professional to do here exactly? If it is answering the same questions as the other users, chances are the difference in answer quality won't be very huge. \$\endgroup\$
    – user15805
    Nov 17, 2013 at 16:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ please check my comment on Josh's answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – concept3d
    Nov 17, 2013 at 17:13

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