Bioshock Writer Fed Up With Industry

[TrevHead]

Considering the state the AAA industry is in right now can she expect any better from a shooter? She should get in with Telltale or work with indies like Dust An Eysian Tail. Or even better for her partner up with a good artist and musician and make a visual novel.

 

[IronMit]

So a writer's response to bad writing is to leave the industry? That'll sure solve a lot.

Wonder what would happen if every drop in the sea realised how small it is and how little influence it has on the power of a wave, and evaporated out of disappointment.

But that said, I find it funny that the writer of a game where an archeology student unexpectedly develops weapons training holds that there should be reasons for shooting people. I can think of plenty of reasons Lara Croft shouldn't have been shooting people as easily as she did.

Completely missed the point.

If anything it's a writers response to having their writing limited or constricted by having to justify mainstream gaming mechanics (shooting everyone in the head with universal soldier precision)

Ermm exactly... it sounds like a game writer would want to write Tomb Raider in such a way where Lara wouldn't develop weapon training in 5 mins...but the gameplay portion of the team would make it so. Thus the writer is not satisfied with the end product as a whole and has no power to change it because gameplay takes precedent.

So as an individual, a writer (who wants to be proud of his/her work) is considering to move to a different industry where this will not happen

 

[Eleuthera]

snip

Don't worry I'm not that easily offended.

My point is that there are some games out there with great stories, that I will never get to experience due to my sucking at those types of games (shooters and RTS-es come to mind). I barely managed to get through ME, and only because the story interested me. Every time I came upon another combat section my enjoyment of the game would drop a bit more, and if they happen to be "hard" they might even get me to give up the game completely.
There's still a game to be had with "just" the conversations/choices/exploration/scanning (ok, maybe drop that as well). It's a completely different type of game, I admit. And there's not nearly as big a market for those, so I'll keep slogging through the "game" bits to get to the parts I enjoy.

Note that I don't want the combat replaced by cutscenes, or even worse QTEs. I'd just enjoy it if (and I'll keep using ME for this) I could just send 3 other people of my crew to do the mission for me, "I'm sure Garrus, Tali and Mordin don't need me on this one, let them handle it." Never going to happen, but a man can dream

 

[hooblabla6262]

Get out of AAA games?

She's obviously a good writer, and would have no trouble finding work at a smaller studio which didn't just make shooters. So what's actually stopping her?

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

V

"You have to justify why am I shooting everything?" Well... the thing is you don't, You can work around that with the story. I mean, it's not like GAMES have as a main point the GAMEplay. If you cant a story centered product I'd say... read a book. I guess books couldn't really put gameplay over story, could they?

I think that Half Life 2 would be a really forgettable game with no story. Shooters with really strong stories, like Half Life, Bioshock, Mass Effect, FEAR would all be either terrible or boring as shit with a weak ass story tacked on to move the player from level to level. Also it's not just shooters. Zelda games, RPGs, Stealth games (Dishonored) are all things vastly improved with a strong story. A context-less romp around a dungeon may be fun but you would care after you're done.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Wha? Bioshock was an oversimplified mess from mechanics to story she has no right to complain.....

Oh wait complaining about the medium....that's like complaining about comics not having a good story all the time. Its not the comics fault the writers are forced to write for one drooling demographic.

 

[Dragonbums]

So... She admits she has the skills, but doesn't want to do the work to help make the medium better and wants to apply those skills elsewhere...

Pathetic.

That's not what she says.
She says she is grateful, and really proud of the stories she's produced for well renowned titles. She did however say that it just wasn't enough for her, and while she's confident that games will get to that spot, it won't really be in the near future.
She has a right to pursue her own happiness, and if she's becoming more and more dissatisfied with her stories-despite how top notch she is, then what is wrong with trying something else to get the maximum out of your talent?
She is not obligated to the game community. She is obligated to herself.
Her life, her talent, her choices.
If videogames aren't doing it for her at the moment, then why should she stick around becoming increasingly upset and dissatisfied for your benefit?

 

[zefichan]

The phrase "be the change you want to see in the world" comes to mind when I read this article. If she wants to abandon ship

If she was male, you'd be cheering for him.

See, in the real world, what she does is how sane people act.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

It could be she is writing stories for the wrong games too. If she is having a problem trying to justify in the story why the player has to shoot enemies and keep the game moving she could try her hand at point and click adventure games. Personally, I feel some point and click games have some of the best game stories like the Syberia games which I absolutely love.

At the same time though it does sound like she wants games to have better stories but doesn't want to be the one responsible in making the stories better.

Yeah, if she leaves, she just shoots her own argument in the foot. I get that she is frustrated and tired but people have to push on sometimes.

My suggestion, focus your talents on games that are more story driven: point n' click, slower paced games, japanese style rpgs. It's a matter of where you apply the work

 

[Pebkio]

Complaining the writers aren't in charge of game production is akin to complaining that movie makers aren't in charge of game production.

Anyone remember Kingdom's of Amalur: Reckoning? Written by R.A. Salvatore. Good game; terrible story... at least for the medium. I don't think a well-written story can translate well into a game, because it game isn't just "read".

It also sounds like she's complaining about working on the wrong types of games. "Oh, I'm so upset because stories in FPS games are treated as optional. Boo hoo hoo. What? Point-and-click adventure games? RPGS? What are those?" So she's had some bad experiences in the AAA field and wants to blame gaming as a whole? She didn't even try to go into the independent field before writing gaming off as having less depth than other forms of entertainment. Well she can just kiss my gigantic, chair-shaped, butt. She can also go ahead and quit because the last thing we need is that kind of attitude.

 

[Colt47]

Well, it's mostly because games over the last few years have largely gone the direction of sameness in the AAA industry where the authors are working. Just about all the major AAA games either involve massively killing enemies or sports, and sports games don't need a story. Adventure and strategy games have the potential for good stories while avoiding the whole mass killing thing that has been adopted. Kind of ironic that the anti-violence advocates actually pointed out a major flaw in the trend of video games over the past few years and everyone kept saying they were crazy.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

You know, now that I've been thinking about it, I can't help but feel that she's shot her Tomb Raider co-writer, Rhianna Pratchett in the foot, as earlier this year she launched the #1reasontobe campaign to counterbalance #1reasonwhy, so basically listing why it's awesome to be in the games industry (as a woman). So now she basically openly says that Pratchett her campaign is nonsense and that the best thing to do is abandon ship because a creative worker of their calibre will never get the respect they deserve in the industry.


Captcha: Top notch, indeed~

 

[xPixelatedx]

Yes, yes I know, you wish you were making movies instead.
Is what a lot of people suspect of game writers and this:

As she sees it, it's a consequence of the lopsided ratios of technical staff to creative staff in development studios -

kind of confirms it. Personally I think this gen had too much damn story and suffered a great deal (game play and mechanic wise) because of it. I did like Bioshock, but that's basically my limit and it's RARE that I have an actual desire to play a game like that. I'd rather just play something like Contra, Mega Man, or Ghouls'N Ghosts; something that speaks more through what it shows and plays rather then what it says and reads. Please don't misinterpret me, She seems to be a damned good story teller... but I think shes right, games may not be the proper venue for her. I think she, and everyone else, would be happier is she wrote books or scripts.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Gamelay matters more over story but that doesn't mean story has to take a backseat. I've plenty plenty of games where the story is as important as the playing. It's been done, what she's saying can't be done right now. Besides, she should be working on fixing any problems she sees if games are so important to her. To be honest, though, this sounds like somebody venting. I think she'll cool down and realise the sillyness of her statements.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Well good luck to her. I'd love to see some more Bioshock's and Tomb Raider's done with an even stronger focus on story but the games industry does sound like a fucking terrible place to work in.

Like others have said though I bet she would do well with smaller companies, like Double Fine for example. They seem to have a much stronger focus on story telling.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

You know, now that I've been thinking about it, I can't help but feel that she's shot her Tomb Raider co-writer, Rhianna Pratchett in the foot, as earlier this year she launched the #1reasontobe campaign to counterbalance #1reasonwhy, so basically listing why it's awesome to be in the games industry (as a woman). So now she basically openly says that Pratchett her campaign is nonsense and that the best thing to do is abandon ship because a creative worker of their calibre will never get the respect they deserve in the industry.


Captcha: Top notch, indeed~

I don't mean to be rude but I think you missed the point here.

As far as I can remember the #reasontobe thing was about sexual equality and this is about designers equality. Nothing to do with the fact that Susan is female (as far as we know).

 

[AuronFtw]

The phrase "be the change you want to see in the world" comes to mind when I read this article. If she wants to abandon ship and not be a contributor to paving the way for better storytelling in games then good riddance.

That would be logical if she was the queen of the gaming universe. Unfortunately, she's a writer. She can't seriously influence how publishers and devs do their jobs, which is what would be required before the industry gets the point she wants it to be at.

The current companies are all (mostly, if you want to be pedantic and point out indie companies) focused on cranking out Gears of Medal of Battle of Uncharted Angry Dudebros VII, not anything with a touching story - and because all that effort is going into graphics, guns, cutscenes and other fake-depth game aspects, the story always suffers as a result. She's looking for a time when the actual story is what DRIVES the game - the story is what the game is built around, with narrative aspects and even game mechanics lending themselves to the driving plot.

Currently that's really fucking rare. Story is what people fill in the gaps with - particularly in the big name games, it's just a way to bridge all the shooting galleries together. The characters don't develop, they don't bond with each other or even with the player in most cases. Companies never "focus" on the story because they're convinced idiot dudebros make up the entirety of the gaming market, so they don't even bother trying to appeal to anyone with IQ above a dish of soap - and that's what this writer has a problem with. The medium as a whole is suffering because of the dudebro tunnelvision.

Should dudebro games stop being made? Obviously not, they're still a big market. But should games be made ONLY for dudebros? No, that's fucking stupid, and that's the problem she has right now. Until writers get the power to change the direction their entire company goes in with future titles (hint: they never will), it's fucking bonkers to blame her for her desire to "abandon ship."

 

[Woodsey]

"Susan O'Connor knows a thing or two about writing for video games. A games writer for nearly a decade, she's worked on... this year's Tomb Raider."

Heh. Definitely only a thing or two, then.

To be fair though, she's right. I can't actually believe the Tomb Raider guys had the balls to come out and say they'd lowered the number of people you shoot over the course of development. Anyone not looking to simply make the biggest homogenised blend that would appeal to as many people as possible would have focused that game far more on stealth, and reduced the enemy count ten-fold.

Oh for christ sake. They're games, can you really be so dense as to be surprised when the GAMEplay of the GAME take more precedence over story?

And why are we so concerned about being compared to other media? Games have different rules to films and books, and by trying to make games more like them, you cheapen the medium.

If this is the kind of person we have writing games, I'm glad she's gone.

Although I would agree that people's constant looking to other mediums - cinema in particular - cheapens gaming, I think you're rather missing the point the larger point, which is that narrative and gameplay should not be competing forces. One can be subordinate to the other but they shouldn't be excused when they jar, which they often do.

 

[Fappy]

So... She admits she has the skills, but doesn't want to do the work to help make the medium better and wants to apply those skills elsewhere...

Pathetic.

She's under no obligation to sacrifice a potentially happy career to improve the industry for everyone else. If she thinks she'd be happier writing in another medium, more power to her.

It could be she is writing stories for the wrong games too. If she is having a problem trying to justify in the story why the player has to shoot enemies and keep the game moving she could try her hand at point and click adventure games. Personally, I feel some point and click games have some of the best game stories like the Syberia games which I absolutely love.

At the same time though it does sound like she wants games to have better stories but doesn't want to be the one responsible in making the stories better.

I agree. I feel she should probably branch out and look at her options before going cold-turkey. There are a lot of genres out there that are more flexible and accentuate good writing better than action/shooters.