GDC 2014 - Darian

TAKEAWAYS: 

• Roundtable talks were quite different from regular lectures in that everyone got to pitch in, ask questions, answer them, and get a bit more personal with experiences. A good place to get into meaningful conversation, get some good advice, and make connections. I had somewhat of an easier time participating in roundtables and talking to many of the other attendees afterwards. These talks can function much in the same way that parties do-- only you've already narrowed down a fine topic of conversation.

  • Media/Works of fiction aren't solely a source of entertainment. Fiction reflects directly off of society, while also influencing it. People have every right to be aggravated by problematic aspects of a work of fiction. This is something I have known and am happy to say has actually been reinforced in some of the talks I've attended. It's important for us as creators to keep in mind that our work can impact people in extremely negative ways. 

  • Indie startups tend to rely too much on kickstarters. A big problem is people that start one for someone who isn't really passionate about the game, or it's only a hobby and they drop it. This happens often. You have to figure out how your project is getting funded from beginning to end without mixing it with any other project. If you're really going for a kickstarter, start at a smaller scale. For example, getting small funding for a free game while promising vanity type rewards with deep meanings. Things like having the backer's picture in the game, name in credits, special thank you in-game or on the website. Additionally, never accept to do free work or you won't be taken seriously. The same goes towards hiring others. Example: You can take care of the visual aspects of your game, but can't really do much about the programming-- work out a "skill trade" deal with one. You make art assets for their game and they program for yours. These are things that a lot of people do when they do not have the funds to pay for skills.

A lot of what was said was extremely important on many different levels, and while most of the talks I attended were not explicitly "visual art" talks, they still apply to all of us. I'll try my best to condense what I feel are the most beneficial points of some of the talks I attended. A majority of my notes are a mess of bullet points that I'll continue to fix up and put them up on my art process blog. In the meantime, have some notes on these two very important talks:

Game Writer's Roundtable: Tricks, Tips and Techniques: Beginners & Students

• • How do you boostrap as a writer? What books would you recommend?

    • The three books authored by the Game Writing SIG are a good place to start

      • Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Video Games (ed. Bateman)

      • Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing (ed. Despain)

      • Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG (ed. Despain)

    • Also Character Development & Storytelling For Games  (Sheldon)

  • Writing samples:

    • Most companies will ask for writing samples.

      • Think about what you submit

      • Research the companies you’re applying to and see what they want.

        • What is their philosophy?

        • Find out and make sure your portfolio matches that.

      • Submit something appropriate and professional

        • Erotica is probably a bad idea, but that hasn’t stopped people from doing it

  • What about working remotely?

    • Make sure you have your clients understand what the vision is and that you agree with it, because you’re not going to have ftf communication all the time. Clients need to understand their milestones and deliverables to you, too

    • When you don’t get a chance to do research – give a variety of samples but make sure they know your range

    • Ask good questions

    • Remote work is a double edged sword, and its success depends on the game.

      • One writer went full time because she always felt like she was in a vacuum

        • Working remotely, you get a lot less control, and you have to accept that.

        • Accept that you’re at a distance from the project

        • Communication is vital. In-house provides instant access and instant change

      • Working remotely can be a challenge

        • Understand what discipline what people are after.

        • Worldbuilding/concept are easier from remote, for example

  • Job Hunting

    • Crytek had 5 openings and got 1500 responses.

      • With that kind of competition, don’t get cute with your resume

      • This is not the place to show your creativity

    • Sending full scripts is very mean to people who have to read your resume.

      • Hit the sweet spot

  • What should writers charge for their work?

    • Look up the company. See what they’ve published and see if they have money.

    • The editorial freelancers’ association tries to provide matches to existing structure

    • There’s a freelancer survey out there

    • Contract & other issues:

      • If you’re just starting out, go more towards the minimum

      • Get the # of revisions you’re  expected to do locked down in your contract.

      • Get payments attached to milestones

      • Charge an upfront fee if you can. (25-35% in example)

      • Have a rights clause attached to final payment

      • Get a kill clause. It protects both sides

    • GET A CONTRACT.

      • There are templates available

      • Work with your client to work out specifics

      • Look up work for hire agreements and copyright laws

    • Reference: the Mike Monteiro “F*ck You, Pay Me” video

    • E-lance holds money in escrow.  It’s potentially useful if there are trust or communication issues with a client

    • NEVER WORK FOR FREE

      • If you do, they mostly won’t respect the work you do. Get /something/, even if it’s delayed or small or a t-shirt

      • When they talk to you about all the exposure, tell them that people die of exposure

Misogyny, Racism, and Homophobia: Where Do Video Games Stand?

• • Social Injustice

    • Ranges from mysogyny, racism, homophobia, queerphobia, transphobia, ethnocentrism, and so much more

    • Realize that:

      • Social injustice is systematic and ingrained

      • Social injustice is not exclusive

      • We don't go after people-- we go after what they say or do

      • Games will be named, yes, even your favorite games

      • We're talking about a specific, problematic piece

      • We're NOT saying the team vision is problematic

      • Game Content is our focus and what they say about us as a society

• Issue of Representation

  • As creators, we are somewhat empowered to change the topics in games

  • Representation is extremely important

    • Minorities feel omitted by popular culture

    • Media shows unrealistic views of beauty as well as negative influences

    • It is up to us to craft media

• IDENTITY CONFLICT

  • Self identity vs. Perceptive

  • Example: GTA5

    • game does everything to remind you that transwomen are objects of ridicule.

    • Enables the rest of people to not treat trans people as PEOPLE but a JOKE

    • This affects IDENTITY

      • People have every right to be aggravated and indigent when their experiences and identities are trivialized, especially in an insensitive manner. When this is catering to an audience for profits it is even MORE aggravating

      • These mentalities don't come out of a vacuum. they reflect off of society and how the audience thinks. Enabling harmful mentalities only worsens the issues and essentially trivializes its impact.

• STEREOTYPES

  • Why do they exist? Why can they be useful?

    • Stereotypes are shortcuts that make people more easily accessible because they allow us to group people into smaller sets.

  • What is the issue?

    • Many stereotypes are negative.

    • Effects of exposure to sex stereotyped video game characters has a negative impact on tolerance of sexual harassment

    • Emerging patterns in games are problematic

    • Playing with prejudice:

      • the prevalence and consequences of racial stereotypes in games

      • This means that whites are represented as romanticized heroes versus People of Color, which were shown as athletic, violent brutes, effeminate gays, trans prostitutes

• REJECTING STEREOTYPES

  • Why do it?

    • It's lazy and boring!

    • Social responsibility

    • Tired of same old straight white cis male protagonist (with a little stubble)

      • Be willing to challenge the default. Push back on executives.

      • Shifting demographics: younger audience expects diversity

      • It starts with us pushing back on our colleagues

• REALISM

  • • Old Tired Arguments

      • "Women weren't soldiers in medieval times!" "Women were treated that way!" "But dragons are legit"

        • POOR ASSUMPTIONS. Laughable excuses. 

        • You can find plenty of women on history books. Others you can't because those were written by the victors and usually that's men (wow!!! surprise!!!)

      • "But the audience doesn't respond as well to heroes who aren't white males!" - i.e. those games sell fewer copies

      • Those "untypical" games simply don't have the investment the typical blockbusters do

    • Adhering to sexism in a fantasy world that does not adhere to any others is problematic

      • Women, girls, minorities deserve to fully participate in fantasy constructs the same way white hetero cis males do

      • Example: Game of Thrones

        • Even though the narrative has some strongly characterized women, that does not diminish the problematic aspects of the overall narrative's treatment of women

    • If you want to make meaningful games, we need to stop falling back on the realism excuse

• DYNAMICS

  • • Need to make hooks into the mechanics of the game

    • Need to respect social justice

    • Needs to take stances and create deeper systemic meetings

    • Example: Assassin's Creed: Liberation

      • Three different personae mechanic for Aveline. 

      • Deals not only with narrative issues, but also mechanics and how you interact with the world

      • Puts the experience in the player's hands

    • Example: Papers, Please!

      • Puts you in a difficult position:

        • Break up families?

        • Take away from your own people?

        • Racial profiling

        • Hate yourself for the things you do in game

  • ENABLED THROUGH INTERACTION

    • Dynamic Problems

      • • Creating interesting dynamics

        • Must be aware of how easy it is to do it wrong

      • Avoid oversimplification. We have to expect it to be hard.

• KEY POINTS

  • • We don't do a great job demographically

    • Minorities fall into negative stereotypes

    • When we try to push back against these negative stereotypes, there are ridiculous lazy default "realism or historically accurate" arguments that don't apply to the game in many other ways

• Where do video games stand?

  • In a problematic area. Problematic content and representation problem.

• What can we do? What are the initial steps?

  • • Step one

      • Understanding there is a problem. You are the way this changes.

    • Step two

      • Spread the message. Speak up. We can't always rationally and clearly explain. Have backup because you are not the only one this bothers.

    • Step three

      • Don't get discouraged. This is a long and hard path. Keep going!

    • Step four

      • Create the game. If enough of us can get to this point, we're starting to get somewhere!

• LET'S START TODAY TO CHANGE THE CORE EXPERIENCE OF THE PLAYER AND CHALLENGE THE PRETENSE OF HOW OTHERS VIEW THE WAY WE MAKE GAMES.

• THIS PROBLEM IS SOLVED WITH ACTIONS. NOT THROUGH WORDS.