[ken]

I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least.

Self funding for indie developers would be great but I don't see this helping. We don't have enough filmmakers or (I bet) enough audience attention and desire for many more of these.

[pstuart]

> I would say the hero worship and the "win the popularity lottery" model for software success are two of the attributes of the industry I like the least.

Completely understandable. It's an unfortunate aspect of humanity in general: the need for God(s) to worship and follow, as well as the need to be part of a group.

If we can't change human nature at its core, we might as well leverage it for something good.

[z3t4]

While I do like documentaries, the focus on popularity is perverse. And it's easily gamed by fake stars/collaborators , news puff pieces, and cheering crowds.

[bawolff]

I guess it works a little better if done for historical subjects where their contribution can be viewed from a distance.

There are plenty of computer things and people from the 70s and 80s which would make great documentary subjects.

[lowercased]

Two I liked a lot were 'get lamp' about adventure/infocom folks, and ... I can't remember the other name, but it was a documentary about Commodore.

Agreed - there's probably loads of interesting documentaries that could be made with people still alive. A movie on game consoles of the 60s and 70s would be great, imo. And there's probably some out there I don't know about.

[dentemple]

On the other hand, it's nice to put a face behind the tools that we use everyday.

It also helps to recognize the "human factor" behind the decisions being made with these tools (although YMMV on whether this documentary will succeed in doing so).

[faitswulff]

RE: Hero worship

Tangential, but I think that's one thing "Indie Game: The Movie" did really well - it covered the indie game devs while also really humanizing them and their weaknesses.