Orson Scott Card Joins Firefall

[Jake Martinez]

Like most mid 30's nerds, I have read Enders Game. I have also tried to read various other things written by Mr. Card, and have come to the conclusion that he used up all of his available talent on 1 and a half novels.

Seriously, I couldn't be less excited about this announcement than if they had announced they were going into collaboration with John Ringo *shudder*

And while we're on the subject of video games and authors... R.A. Salvatore is a mediocre author on par with most succesful slash fiction writers. Dear video game companies: STOP HIRING HIM TO "CRAFT LORE". He's bad at it.

Marginally good at making cool archetypical characters, but he's no JRR Tolkien (or George Martin) so stop trying to get him to be one...

 

[bificommander]

On the practical point, what good is a character driven story in an Online FPS? That's going to be, what, a few cutscenes maybe? That's hardly going to make or break your game. If I thought they were planning something new, like a narrative between the online missions, that'd be cool. But for such an interactive narrative style, I don't think they'd bring an author of totally non-interactive novels.

And on the political side: I do not check if every one of my fiction authors subscribes to my political views, and I don't care. When said authors start shouting their opinions publicly, it gets trickier but I don't object per se. But when the views are as extreme as Card's... yeah, I quit. I loved/hated his comment on why he wasn't a homophobe. Because his church preaches forgiveness to sinners if they admit they sinned and agree to stop. And then he went on to elaborate on how wrong it is for those sinners to pretend they're not sinning. And of course Card is with the group who feels being gay is a choice. So essentially, his defense against being called a homophobe is saying he's willing to forgive people who he believes have stopped being gay. And he can't even finish that comment without a condemnation of the other gays. Y'know, actual gays who don't drop to their knees to ask for forgiveness for ever not following Card's rules. Mr Card, in the real world, that is not enough to be considered not a homophobe. I'm really worried that Card might actually think he's being reasonable there, and that he thinks someone is only a homophobe when he hunts down everyone who was ever attacted to someone of the same gender.

 

[neoptolemus]

I absolutely loved the Ender series. It's a shame to hear the author is such a douchebag.

I feel it relevant to bring up the point Extra Credits made about bringing writers in during the later stages of development to clean up the mess they've created. It's just not good practice. Nevertheless I'm still interested in Firefall and intend to try it when it's out.

 

[dochmbi]

Mmmm, interesting.

This reminds me: I was way to young when I read Enders Game and Enders Shadow. Still good books though.

This might be worth checking out.

EDIT: Love how so many people are hating this man for some silly things he said that few would take seriously. Tolerance FTW!

EDIT EDIT: Not that I am saying that what he is saying is smart, I just love to see a complete 180 on this issue with some people.

I am a tolerant person, but I have no tolerance for bigotry and intolerance.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/No-Tolerance-for-Intoleran-by-A-C-Grayling-090213-776.html

 

[chronobreak]

It will be interesting to see this concept come to life, I think Card is brilliant, but I hope they find a good balance between story and gameplay.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Mmmm, interesting.

This reminds me: I was way to young when I read Enders Game and Enders Shadow. Still good books though.

This might be worth checking out.

EDIT: Love how so many people are hating this man for some silly things he said that few would take seriously. Tolerance FTW!

EDIT EDIT: Not that I am saying that what he is saying is smart, I just love to see a complete 180 on this issue with some people.

I am a tolerant person, but I have no tolerance for bigotry and intolerance.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/No-Tolerance-for-Intoleran-by-A-C-Grayling-090213-776.html

I can see your point, but let's play a little thought puzzle.

You say you have "no tolerance for bigotry and intolerance".

I have tolerance for any viewpoint, and I use a specific website (Not ED) that allows any viewpoint to be expressed, even if it goes against what the site creators believe in.

Now tell me, which in your mind is more tolerant?

 

[Arsen]

Wow.

The fact that someone does not agree with gay marriage gives people the right to ostracize a person's credibility? I'm still a big Stephen King fan, but he makes these blatant insinuations against right winged people here and there. You know what I do? I just kind of let it pass...

To each his own.

With that being said...many people on these forums have some growing up to do. I know some people immediately quality people as "being wrong, immoral, bigoted, prejudiced, etc" the second they don't agree with something you view as right, but to scapegoat somebody as being an atrocious human being is just wrong. He's a good guy regardless of what his views on gay marriage are. Gay marriage is not the modern day Civil Rights movement...get over yourselves.

 

[Rutskarn]

Wow.

The fact that someone does not agree with gay marriage gives people the right to ostracize a person's credibility? I'm still a big Stephen King fan, but he makes these blatant insinuations against right winged people here and there. You know what I do? I just kind of let it pass...

To each his own.

With that being said...many people on these forums have some growing up to do. I know some people immediately quality people as "being wrong, immoral, bigoted, prejudiced, etc" the second they don't agree with something you view as right, but to scapegoat somebody as being an atrocious human being is just wrong. He's a good guy regardless of what his views on gay marriage are. Gay marriage is not the modern day Civil Rights movement...get over yourselves.

No, "I don't agree with this definition of marriage," isn't too objectionable. I mean, I can disagree, but I'll let it slide. Orson's sounding more like, "THIS WILL CAUSE OUR DOOM! ACTIVELY REVOLT AGAINST THIS! SMASH THE STATE!" That's rather more objectionable. I can let that slide too, in that I'll read stuff he writes, but I can understand why someone wouldn't.

"He's a good guy regardless of what his views on gay marriage are." See, we don't have access to interviews where he talks about his puppy orphanages or the time he donated his kidney to a hobo. The only evidence we've got is, "I don't think these people should be allowed to marry, and more importantly, I don't believe any state that allows that should be tolerated. I believe it should be revolted against." How can we then conclude "he's a good guy"? All we've got to evaluate him on is bigotry.

 

[Worgen]

never read any of his books but his politics marks him as retarded so at best he is a reason for me not to get something

 

[Rythe]

Wow... The bigotry and hypocrisy in this thread is amazing.

So many people are assuming Orson is unlikable, or stupid, or any number of things just because of his political and religious views. I also get the feeling that many are dismissing his ability as a writer for the same reasons.

It's funny that the people shouting 'Intolerance!' are so often intolerant themselves.

By the way, it is possible for him to have his viewpoints and not be a homophobe. If he treats someone he knows is gay like any other human being, he's not a homophobe. You'd think that this wouldn't be that hard to figure out.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Indie studio Red 5 has brought in sci-fi heavyweight Orson Scott Card to help craft the story for its upcoming shooter Firefall [http://www.firefallthegame.com/].

Uh uh, I'm not falling for that again. I thoroughly enjoyed Advent Rising and the much lauded story written by Mr. Card. But what happened to the PSP game and the planned trilogy? It got the can. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...you can't fool me again.

 

[LobsterFeng]

Yeesh, I had no idea how much Mormon hate was on this site.

Spoiler

I'm a Mormon

OT: I thought he was never going to write anything again because he had a stroke or something. Surprised he's taking this job.