Even the Winners are
Losers in 38 Studios Fallout
With all of the financial trouble coming out of
Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, quite a number of Rhode Islanders are probably
justified in saying “I told you so.” And probably another bunch aren’t
justified, but are saying it anyways.
But here’s the thing, beyond the “things
worked out the way I said they would” factor, do you actually feel good?
I don’t. I can’t rejoice in this turn of events. I
certainly doubted the feasibility of it, but I wanted those doubts to be proven
wrong. Was anyone truly hoping that 38 Studios would fail? They shouldn’t have
been. Success would’ve been sweet.
But the
problem remains that this was approved in the first place. It shouldn’t have
been. You can practically hear the thoughts that were running through our
politicians’ heads; World of Warcraft makes
gazillions of dollars. Imagine if we could get in on it.
You can see how easily
that temptation could sway people to advocate for this sort thing, especially
if they’re almost entirely unfamiliar with the world of video games except that
it makes a ton of money. Notice that the national press rarely plays up the
gaming industry’s flops, instead focusing on the amazing successes of games
like World of
Warcraft and Call of Duty. Does anyone but gaming media focus on
failures of titles like Sonic Unleashed?
What’s
becoming increasingly apparent in all this is that large swathes of our
government are suckers. It’s bad when they get swindled by the Institute for
International Sport, or when a Major League Baseball pitcher comes along
offering to create a World of Warcraft-killer. It’s bad not only because it
costs the state tons of money, but also because it undermines the credibility
of our government.
It’s surprising how much incompetence a credible
government can get away with (acquisitions by the U.S. Defense Department come
to mind). Rhode Island
doesn’t have the luxury of having a highly-credible government.
We’re perceived
(wrongly) by even our own citizens as being exceedingly corrupt. Know-a-guyism
remains a powerful tool for success. And then you see our politicians fall for
prestige projects like the Institute for International Sport or 38 Studios.
What
remains astounding to me is just how little of the beauty of Rhode Island our politicians see. Take our
small business community. These are some of the most vibrant, interesting, and
truly dynamic businesses in our state. And yet, they face a hostile business
climate almost completely aimed at cutting them off at the knees. They’ve
received almost none of the help that GTECH and 38 Studios got.
That’s a huge issue here. Our politicians are
overly focused on luring outsiders to the state through sweetheart deals,
instead of focusing on what actually attracts people to Rhode Island ; its culture and people.
People
are truly enamored with Rhode Island ,
how much art per square mile we pack into it; how much food we create. Our
quirky small businesses are the ones doing all the work to find new economic
niches, and they get nothing for it; not even recognition.
Instead of focusing
on making Rhode Island
function for the people who already live here, we’re attempting to forcibly
graft large outside businesses onto it. We can’t compete with the lumbering
bulls.
Instead of playing to our strengths; our small
size, our access to the ocean, our cultural dominance, and even our
agricultural production; the economic “plan” for Rhode Island seems to be find big company
and lure big company to move here.
We must work to create a better climate;
some of that will mean attacking laws that stifle innovation, such as the ones
that make Rhode Island one of the most hostile states towards cooperatives. And
occasionally, this will mean guaranteeing loans for businesses. Some have
criticized this as “picking winners and losers.” But perhaps that would be all
right, if the winners weren’t always outsiders, and the losers weren’t always
Rhode Islanders.
A native-born Rhode Islander, educated in Providence Public
Schools, went to college in North Carolina