Know Your Role

Geez!!! I just started this thing and I rarely post... I guess I just suck at blogging.

Anyway... another contentious issue in gaming. Writing.

This first article, an opinion piece made a case that writers were of little use in game dev... and perhaps were even a hindrance... http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17902

Circle the wagons!!! Hoo Boy. Did this stir up a hornets' nest... and rebuttal from a member of the IGDA Writers SIG (International Game Developers Association Writers Special Interest Group... phew)... http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17963

And then... a little more personal...
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18005

Now, I'm a writer and designer. I've worked on many projects of different scope, size, type... You name it. This comes down to an issue of scope and influence and knowing your role.

Funny thing...
The first article against the inclusion of writers in game dev reminds me of the arguments I used to hear when I started in the industry... only they were being used to make a case against designers.

Game Design was once seen as an 'open' discipline. That is to say, anyone could do it. By this I mean anyone could fill the role. Lead Game Designers were often the Lead Programmer or Artist. The growth of the scope and size of projects made this impossible uphold. Specialization becomes inevitable when projects and teams grow.

However, the idea that ANYONE could design a game persisted... this time I don't just mean filling the role. I mean that anyone (everyone) had the ability to design. This was not wrong... (I mean anyone can do anhything right? Yeesh), but it WAS wrong-thinking and caused friction in the industry and in individual studios. You had programmers, artists, janitors, second-guessing designers. Now, of course it comes with the territory. It IS true that anyone can think of a game idea, and so the perception was, anyone can design a game. I'll leave that up to you to decide...

Suffice it to say that Game Design has become more of a recognized skill... Training is even becoming widespread in various post-secondary institutions.

Now, game writing is going through the same growing pains. The thing is, much like game design once was (and to a certain extent still is), writing at its most basic, is seen as something anyone can do, at least physically. Launch Wordperfect and start typing. However, it doesn't mean they can do it with any amount of talent... and believe me... we've seen that lack of talent in games.

Granted games are mostly about gameplay (mechanics), but when projects are as big as they are getting today, when budgets are as huge, when expectations are as high... Everything MUST be polished to blinding gleam to stand out. Plus there are definitely game types where story plays more of a role. This will become the norm as new ways of presenting narrative in games emerge. The Narrative Designer will become a specialized part of the dev team... right from the start of a project.

What it comes down to is this... Knowing your role. You may think you know more about how to do someone else's job that they do, but you probably don't.

I can program (somewhat), and draw (somewhat), but I recognize two things in the colleagues I've worked with...
1. The programmers know how to program better than I do. The artists know how to 'art' better than I do ;)
2. I trust their abilities and knowledge in their fields.

A game dev team is just that... a team. Everyone on the team has a job to do, a role to play in the development of a game. Everyone should trust that the other members of the team are as dedicated and trained in the area of expertise... AND bigger projects mean bigger teams, more secialized teams... INCLUDING writers.