Interview Developers are not Shakespeare, should not write books

[Annie Mitsoda]

I can see his point. Basically - games are an interactive medium, they share characteristics with but are not the SAME as novels, comic books, and movies. And they shouldn't be treated as the red-headed stepkid of any of those but appreciated because of its unique demands.

OK, so maybe I'm putting words in his mouth there. BASICALLY that is what I think. And that maybe GEE story in games shouldn't either be like "I'm Rock McLargeHuge and I'm shooting people to stop their EBIL PLANZ" or "TEXT: The Game!" but maybe JUST MAYBE incorporated into the gameplay a bit more, so you feel like shit is going on around you - not a pawn in a greater clickfest OR having the whole world stop so you can have eight pages of conversation in the middle of a battle. Having lore accessible to the player is nice and all, but if you give not even the smallest feeling of connection between the lore and the world itself, it's not background, it's just bloody text.

Anyhow.

Also game authors can be writers. They just have to know writing for games is a different beast than writing for everything else because of REASONS LISTED ABOVE. Fuck, I'd have rather read PAGES of WoW-brand quest text than the monstrosity that is the WoW Sunwell Trilogy by Richard A. Knaak. I was applying for a quest designer position at Blizz a long time ago and thought that knowing that lore would be "beneficial," and those fucking books made me want to stab someone in the eye. A combination of extra-sibiliant "sssss" PLUS dramatic italics! PLUS overused ellipsis (...) made me seriously scream in rage while reading it. I feel like Mr. Knaak owes me a goddamn apology. And the $25 those crappy books cost me.

MORE ANYHOW

I'm going to hold you people to the "I'd buy Brian Mitsoda's book" if he writes one. And he said since he played the Friggin Chicken guy, that's him, so a book by him will by default involve that dude. Also since he is a vegetarian be WOWED by his acting chops at pretending to like chicken! SO there.

 

[deuxhero]

There were books in Diablo I, not just skill books, but lore books were quite present..

 

[Davaris]

[
Interesting choice of word - 'logic'. You're actually going to try to defend that analogy? In this situation I would have gone with "Jesus fucking christ, you pedantic mother fucking assburgler dickheads. You know what I meant, let's move on. Bitches" Another popular choice would have been "Jeez, I was obviously kidding. Who could screw up an analogy that bad?"

Get some help for the hate.

I'm not sure how to formally disprove a bad analogy.

So why bother continuing?

This distinction doesn't exist between showing or telling in books.

That's because a game is not a book.

Do you remember those standardized tests when we were kids. There was always a section on analogies, with questions like:

shoe is to foot as hat is to ___ :

a) running
b) shame
c) head
d) blue

I have always assumed that those questions were freebies to make sure every school got some money. After this discussion, I'm not so sure.

If only insults were reasoned argument.