Fame
Long, long ago, in a video game universe many light years from ours, there were only a few video game designers. These revered sages achieved legendary status, as they almost singlehandedly created the games for which they became famous.
It wasn't uncommon for one of these digital wizards to create the game idea, perform most of the design and programming work, and even play a rather large role in graphics generation. With a designer's hand in so many pies, it shouldn't be surprising that a few of these gurus achieved widespread fame far beyond their own universe.
Today, however, video games have become dazzlingly complex, with multiple levels and near-lifelike graphics. Games are put together not by small, intimate groups of college buddies, but by multi-department design and production teams. With all these players jockeying for position like players on a chessboard, it's becoming a lot tougher to make that "checkmate" move. Hey, isn't there a video game like that somewhere? Wonder if that guy got his fifteen minutes of fame.