This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on August 16, 2008.

A post on the MTV Multiplayer Blog today attempts to answer one of the age old questions of video games: why doesn’t a game’s director get his name on the box?

It’s a good question as librarians routinely suggest books based on the author. Furthermore, with the game industry regularly comparing themselves to the movie industry, film’s “auteur theory” has never made the jump.

There could be any number of reasons for this. A book will usually only have one author and collaborations between two or more authors is rare. The auteur theory in film studies declares that the director is the final voice in the creation of a movie. So in these industries, the “creator” of a work is very clear cut and librarians can use that information to suggest other works that may be of interest to a patron.

The problem with games is that there’s no cut and dried creator of a game. Right now, two very different entities could be considered the “author” of a game. The first, which would tie in most closely with the writer of a book or the director of a movie is the game’s lead developer.

God of War creator David Jaffe has added a post to his always entertaining personal blog on this subject and he comes down firmly on the side of giving credit to the lead developer. And why shouldn’t he? He is one of the few rock star developers in the game world. He has even posted a picture of the time Sony printed his name on the Twisted Metal (PS1) box as the lead developer. Jaffe’s name was removed from later printings of the game though.

Aside from Jaffe, Hideo Kojima (creator of the Metal Gear series) is the only developer to regularly get his name on the box. The rarity of a developer’s name on the box likely comes down to the fact that few developers are known by name and the sheer size of most game development teams. This is what lead to the backlash against Ubisoft’s whizkid Jade Raymond. Raymond was touted as the mastermind behind Assassin’s Creed even though it was unclear to the public whether or not she was the lead developer.

A more accurate selection for a game’s “author” might be the entire development house behind it. Games made by Valve are routinely held up as some of gaming’s best. A game with “Valve” listed as the developer is considered a quality game, even though Valve’s current trio of hits, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal, share few (if any) key developers. The company’s latest project, Left 4 Dead, brings a fourth development team into the mix that wasn’t even a part of Valve when development on the game started. Yet, the game still gets credit as a “Valve Game” in the press.

Of course, the development house theory is further complicated by the fact that not every development house is given credit on the box. The developer is often hidden completely from view. Can you name the developer behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl? It’s unlikely as Nintendo deliberately hid the name of the development team, preferring to market the game as being developed by Nintendo. Often, the only credit will appear in the instruction booklet or on screen in the first few seconds after a game is booted up.

Jaffe points out that the biggest selling point of a game lies in what franchise it belongs to. And in this case, few franchises are the domain of just one lead developer or one development house. Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario and is the lead developer on all of the games in the “main” Mario series. But what about Mario Kart Wii or Super Paper Mario or New Super Mario Bros.? Miyamoto had little connection to these games (some weren’t even developed at Nintendo), but he still gets most of the credit (or blame as the case may be).

Neither theory has any form of acceptance over the other. Both are used often in gaming circles to link games together. Although I personally prefer the development house theory. A true definition of a game’s author that makes all parties happy and gives credit to everyone that deserves credit actually might never come. At this point, all we can do is hope that good developers keep creating good games.