A good year for narrative, a cliffhanger for games

 Narrative News  No Responses »
Dec 212012
 

As the final stanzas of 2012 are chanted by the monks of time, it’s time to put on our reflective hats (as these hats are made of tinfoil, they’re also useful for deflecting Mayan apocalypti, which is convenient today). It may be bias on my part, but it feels like this has been an extremely important year for narrative(s) in and around games.

Inside our virtual metaverse, The Walking Dead delivered a moving and emotionally-responsive narrative, while Day Z, XCOM and FTL gave players plenty of systems from which to spawn their own emergent stories. Text-game tool Twine took off in certain circles, providing a medium for non-programmers to express themselves through interactive fictions. I plan to play as many Twine games as I can over the holiday period, and report back on my favourites, put here’s an initial recommendation: Cyberqueen, from the most recent Ludum Dare competition (it’s entirely text-based, but probably NSFW if your co-workers have good eyesight).

In my personal world, my company – SeeThrough Studios – managed to win “Best Writing in a Game” at Freeplay 2012 for Flatland: Fallen Angle, which was very gratifying, and I made my first solo game: Purgatorio. (And I started this blog, of course.)

But much of my headspace this half of the year was dominated by game-related narratives that took place in the “real world”. Continue reading »

Don’t jump to conclusions – we’re complicated

 Writing about games writing  3 Responses »
Dec 132012
 

I had an interesting mix of responses to my previous post, where I gently suggested that one particular little internet shitstorm (on Nightmare Mode) could have been handled better. But the best thing that has come out of it for me has been a renewed appreciation for the complexities of individuals and group dynamics, from a whole variety of angles, and a welcome reminder that one should line up jumps to conclusions very carefully.

The most appreciative response I got was from Adam Ruch himself, who seemed genuinely devastated by the response his post had received. I was just calling it as I saw it, but he was thankful that someone else was willing to put themselves on the line over this. (For the record Adam and I live in the same city, but haven’t ever met.)

But I wasn’t the only one who was in his corner. Most interesting was seeing his conversation with Leena van Deventer. Leena is probably the most strident, taker-of-no-bullshit feminist games I know in person. Her Facebook and twitter often full of indignation at entitled men. (She also recently co-authored this article on the #1ReasonWhy phenomenon.) If one were to look at the recent gender/privilege conversation in a simplistic way, it would be easy enough to bundle Leena’s opinions in with the opinions of those who were attacking Adam’s article. But people are complicated. Continue reading »

The road to games criticism is paved with good intentions

 Writing about games writing  3 Responses »
Dec 112012
 

Image from Hug MarineThis is a response to the ongoing discussion about in-game relationships, gender and privilege on Nightmare Mode, sparked by Kim Moss’s You Know What’s Gross? We Often Play Nice Guys™ In Games With Romance Options, and Adam Ruch’s counter, Romancing the silicon wafer.

I’m not sure I’m in the best head-space today to write this. Then again, maybe’s my glumness may be the perfect angle to approach this topic from.

Sheri Graner Ray (co-founder of Women in Games International) gave a great talk at GCAP this year about diversity in the games industry. And one of the main things she tried to get across was that continuing to frame these types of arguments in anger ultimately doesn’t get anyone anywhere – it just leads to backlash and further conflict. That’s why #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe were so great – they were about acknowledgement of a problem and hope for the future, rather than righteous fury.

I’m a thirty-something white, male human. I’m flawed and I know it. I just want to put that out there up front. Anything I ever say is quite likely to be wrong or at least biased, in some respect or other. This is what makes it hard to be a writer – every time I put anything out there, I have to fight the fear that I’m going to upset people, make myself look stupid or like a privileged idiot, or whatever else. And these things will undoubtedly happen, because nothing I write can ever express every nuance of what I want it to. Continue reading »

Some thoughts on why games aren’t mainstream (even though they are)

 Writing about games writing  No Responses »
Dec 062012
 

A recent Helen Lewis column on New Statesman lamenting the lack of solid games criticism in the mainstream media kicked off a bit of a shitstorm in critical circles. She’s since been good enough to post two responses to her article: the first from developer Ed Stern (“Do we really need more games criticism?”), and the second from critic Brendan Keogh (“Hells yes! But we have a lot already.”). I’d like to offer a few thoughts on Helen’s original question: why is it that despite their ubiquity, games don’t often grace the pages of traditional news/criticism publications (other than in “buying guide”-style reviews)?

As a new(ish) media form, it is natural to seek the approval and endorsement of the establishment (not pictured), even if only so that games can benefit from the kind of social support that is received by other art-forms. It is just as natural for the establishment to resist, proclaiming that what already exists is clearly more valuable than what is new. But is there something special about games that has allowed them to become so widespread in our lives, while remaining so utterly invisible when it comes to any acceptence of their cultural importance? There are no are likely numerous factors, but I’d like to look at a couple that I believe to be central. Continue reading »

Talking story in RPGs with Planescape: Torment’s Chris Avellone

 Gamasutra, Interview  No Responses »
Dec 012012
 

My interview with Obsidian Entertainment’s Chris Avellone has just gone up on Gamasutra. Chris and I had this chat sitting on strange orange carpet in the vastness of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre during GCAP 2012. The focus of our discussion is the narrative-strong RPGs that Chris and Obsidian is famous for, including their recent Kickstarter success, Project Eternity, which is a deliberate return to theold-school stylings of games like Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate. Here’s a snippet:

In games, do you feel that you need to be able to let the players decide for themselves what’s meaningful or important?

CA: I think it’s fine to suggest a theme, and suggest a question to the player, but ultimately let them find their own answer in the environment. New Vegas obviously had one critical end point, but at the same time, the overarching goal of the game was just to find out where you stand with all these factions. Do you agree with their philosophies? All of them have good and negative points about them. Or do you feel that you have a better vision for the world? And if so, just go out and create your own story. I think that’s how you have to approach the narrative of games. Sort of like an open world narrative.

Read the entire interview on Gamasutra.