Game Writers RANT! (flamers welcome)

Landfish · 2000-09-21T23:06:11

(Madkeith: This is very abrasive, but very relevant. Your call, man.) Current Game writing sucks. It sucks big *&%$. Here we are, birth of a new medium, a powerful new medium. Could blossom into something profoundly incredible for the human race, and we get lines like: "Evil Beware!" There are two problems with the writing in the current game industry. One for independant, smaller game developers, and one for the big names. We''ll start with the big names. It''s the same thing as Hollywood, only worse. A bunch of rich guys think they know what video games should be like, and so they have completely squelched out any progress. And what do they think video games should be like? Hollywood movies. Gore, breasts, and a dash of plot thrown in to tie it all together. In order of importance. The there''s the small fish. Little companies, only a few guys. The issue here is, either the coder or the artist thinks he can write because he ran a campagn of D&D for a year back in high school. Or, worse yet, they have a pretentious dweeb of a "designer" or "writer", some kid who thinks he can write. Truth is, this kid couldn''t write a good short story, much less a freaking video game (which is, despite common belief, way harder than writing anything else.) This kid throws together some cliches, and a plot about collecting four magic doo dads to save the world, and a cardboard cut out of a main character. Don''t think I''m not taliing about you. Don''t think I am not talking about myself. We need to wise up. I don''t know shit about writing. I''ve read a lot of books. I''ve read a lot of books on writing. But all of us are ignoring the real potential here, the birth of a new medium, the most powerful literary techniques known to man, here, as yet undiscovered, by us, because we don''t seem to care, we''d rather write something that played like freaking D&D! The best thing we can do, is start treating the game medium as an artistic medium. When we set out to write a game, we need to hold oursleves to the same standards as any other medium.Read that last sentence again. This does not mean making movie-like games or book-like games! It means making our games AS GOOD as the stuff the pros make in the other genres. That''s what pisses me off about all of the losers in this forum (finish the sentence before you assume that''s you) who criticize the thinking we do. y''know, the ones who think games are just fine as they are now? Those people might as well go back in time and destroy the first written words, as far as I''m concerned. They''re holding the rest of us back! Lowering our standards. They''re sayign "Diablo II is good enough... we don''t need to do better..." We need to do way better! Games are such a fledgling medium, we haven''t had a Citizen Kane, or a Godfather, or even a Star Wars! We just suck, we''re way behind, and we have nobody but ourselves and the industry we make up to blame! The people who maintain that the industry doesn''t need dedicated writers can rot in hell. There is nothing we need more. We sure as hell don''t need better faster graphics engines. I don''t care about graphics anymore, they''re gonna get better no matter what happens. but the writing sure isn''t. I hate selfish people. I hate hasbro. I hate microsoft. I hate people who think game writing is fine as it is, what the programmer writes in between code, to give the player some direction. It makes me want to punch my computer. I hate f*cking Geoff Howland, who when I (as a total newbie) inquired about a Writing Section, implied to me that there would be no purpose of such a thing. Who downplayed the role of a writer, because he, like myself, is a designer with a massive ego. The bastard saw it as a threat to his creative control over a story. Well wise us, Mr. George Lucas, when you write the story yourself, it SUCKS! Let the people who know what they''re doin have a shot! PART TWO. To the writers... I know where you are coming from. You see the problem, you think you can fix it. Or you just want to try your hand at writing for a game. PLEASE GOD, just go out, and become a good writer first. Lord knows we need some, in this freaking industry. It''ll be the hardest thing you''ll ever do. Normal writer''s will shun you for being a game wirter, because from atop their high horses they see games as a toy. The game industry will shun you because it feels it doesn''t need you. And just becoming a writer is hard enough! But please, know this. A good writer always thinks he can be better. Learn something about literary technique, about symbolism about why amnesiac main characters blow goats. Please accept that you CAN learn a lot from the other media, film, theatre, literature. Don''t be a prick like the rest of the industry... If anyone made it this far, feel free to flame away. I''m feeling confrontational today. ====== "The unexamined life is not worth living." -Socrates "Question everything. Especially Landfish." -Matt

Writing for Games Game Design

Started by Landfish September 05, 2000 09:58 PM

91 comments, last by Landfish 24 years, 2 months ago

Knarkles

271

September 21, 2000 12:34 AM

quote: Original post by mason

Good writers know exactly why they suck.

Hey, cool. I know I suck because I can''t think of a good basic idea for stories. I must be a good writer, then.

-Jussi

Anonymous

September 21, 2000 05:31 PM

Hell Yeah Landfish! I hate books

Moth

122

September 21, 2000 11:06 PM

Hmm. If I want to know if something I''ve written is any good, I badger someone else into reading it. Preferably another writer who I can trust to tell me if it''s not. Other than that... I can''t think of anything. So, what''s the secret? What are the five steps to being a great writer? ;P

Game Writers RANT! (flamers welcome)

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Game Writers RANT! (flamers welcome)

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