I know it isn't the point of the article but...damn, this guy couldn't get a job. Like the easiest thing was to spend thousands of hours developing this game? Hm, kind of sad.
I feel like you are, indeed, missing the point: this guy wasn't successful despite his passion project. He was successful because of his passion project.
For those of us who know exactly what they would do with the opportunity to spend thousands of hours on a calling, this guy is an inspiration.
It wasn't a calling, it was something he did when nothing else worked. I am sure he enjoyed it, he wouldn't have done it otherwise...but that isn't my point. My point is that it isn't inspiring...at all.
It would be interesting to know what he actually thinks but I know because I have actually been in that situation (unf, more than once). It isn't fun, it is soul-destroying to pour your being into something you love with no reward. Even if you are "successful", that initial experience of feeling trapped taints it (indeed, the whole point is that you are immune to notions of success/failure and the experience changes your notion of success...if you come into thinking about success then you will get washed out in a few months).
And he was successful despite it. He would have done okay whatever he did. It is just a little unfortunate that he had go down that path, imo.
Is it possible that we read a completely different article?
He was a huge fan of Harvest Moon and he wanted to make a spiritual successor. Paragraph 3: “I think it makes sense that I worked entirely alone,” Eric says. “I wanted to do all the music, the art.”
The article does talk about how he was not getting hired for the jobs he wanted, and he knew he'd have to level up his skillset. However, it's also self-evident that within a year he'd secured a publisher and taken an advance... so his job search became an educational pursuit which became an opportunity to build something that by any sane definition is a labour of love.
I'm not weirded out that you're not inspired, because it doesn't sound like you're the sort of person that would become inspired to create something like what's described. And that is fine, right?
Many of us, however, are inspired by stories like this. It's not just video games, either... but Braid comes to mind as an example of something that could never have come from Electronic Arts. It's also the only game that Roger Ebert conceded constitutes art.
For what it's worth, I'm sorry that your projects didn't work out. Arguably, if doing something you love isn't its own reward, then you might be doing the wrong thing.
