The Voices My Voice Follows: Videogames

Previously, I spoke about the authors who inspire me.  Originally, I intended this follow up piece to be about both videogames and boardgames.  But I quickly realized there's too many of each to write about them in the same place, so I'm splitting them up.  Today I'll talk about the videogames that inspire me (and the ones that I play the most often).  I'll start with the ones I've talked about the most here.

StarCraft: StarCraft was one of the first PC games I ever owned.  I'd played WarCraft II on the Mac and my step-brothers owned WarCraft: Orcs and Humans.  But StarCraft was all mine.  I've always slightly leaned more toward Sci-fi worlds than fantasy, and I really enjoyed RTS games.  StarCraft's real strength, to me, is that there's a bigger story going on than what we see, and we can know that but still stay focused in on the game.  At it's heart, the games in the series are about the relationships between characters, but these relationships play out on grand scale.

WarCraft: WarCraft II was a game I picked up because I'd heard a lot about it and because I'd played a few Blizzard games before (more than I realized at the time, actually).  I loved it.  The characters weren't really there yet, but the story was interesting, especially in that depending on if you played Orcs or Humans, it would end differently.  I was amused by the things the characters would say if clicked on, and the game world has grown far beyond what it was.  The writing may not always be top notch, but it's clear Blizzard spends a lot of time planning where the games can go and where things were before the moment they exist in, and that kind of world building always resonates with me.

Diablo: To be completely honest, Diablo was definitely the third place Blizzard franchise for me.  I played mostly because my friends did and I wanted to play games with them.  Diablo III really changed that for me. While I still play mostly co-op, D3 was the first time I really wanted to push through the whole story alone and try different difficulties.  I know that a lot of people feel like D3 doesn't live up to the standards of Diablo II, but I think they have different goals in mind.  I like where Blizzard seems to be going and I'm curious to see what's going to come in the next expansion.

Assassin's Creed: Assassin's Creed, I think, speaks to a lot of people's urge to be the guy that's so badass that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it.  At least, that's what it does for me.  I'm still not quite sure I know what to think of the storyline with Desmond.  I really liked Altair's story, wasn't a little hesitant for most of Ezio's, and enjoyed Conner's, but I'm just not sure of my investment in Desmond.  I didn't like him much in the first game, and I've gone back and forth with being okay with him since.  I'm curious to see where the next game goes, and I think that'll change a lot of my opinions on the modern era storyline.

The Walking Dead: First off, I love the Walking Dead comics, and I greatly enjoy big chunks of the TV show, so I had some reason to come to this game expecting to like it.  And it blew those expectations out of the water.  The story of the game is healthily complex and we get to see some hints at what may have happened before we first see the characters "on screen" in the comics/show.  It hits the right notes of both horror and sorrow, while still giving glimmers of hope.  And in true Walking Dead fashion, no one is safe.

Left 4 Dead: I do enjoy me some zombies.  Left 4 Dead, like Diablo originally was for me, was a game that I picked up because all my friends were playing.  Despite this grouping of games, I'm not much of an FPS player.  I'm not terribly skilled at it and I tend to get bored easily.  That said, Left 4 Dead (and Left 4 Dead 2) is one of my most played games and I'm fairly certain it more than doubles the playtime of the rest of my Steam list.  The characters greatly entertain me, and we still drop "I hate ____" and "ALMOST THERE!" jokes in both my game groups.  I'm curious to see if Valve will ever do a third Left 4 Dead, because I get the sense there's a bigger story waiting to be revealed.

Half-Life: Speaking of games on which I'm waiting for a third installment...  Half-Life is an interesting game.  I love the world and the way things have come together.  The community around the game is pretty amazingly creative and involved.  But I'm not a big fan of Gordon Freeman.  I know, this is blasphemy.  I don't mind silent protagonists (I mean, heck, I really like Chell and Master Chief), but Gordon just gets me.  Maybe it's that he's supposed to be a scientist; a scientist that doesn't talk or do science is a pretty lackluster scientist.  On the other hand, the supporting cast is great.  So I keep coming back for more.

Portal: Chell is awesome, despite not talking.  Personally, I ascribe to the "Chell doesn't talk because it's a dig at GlaDOS" camp.  For that matter, GlaDOS is pretty amazingly entertaining.  I love the puzzle solving and mind games of Portal and it's full of things that can be called out later ("When life gives you lemons...").  All in all, I feel like Portal is a bit of an homage to being a smart nerd and that endears it to me quite a bit.  Plus, as you can probably see as a theme, it seems to be connecting to a larger world in a way yet to be fully revealed.

Halo: I really wanted to not like Halo when I first played it.  It was the overhyped game of choice for a lot of jerks on the internet.  But I ended up liking the fact that the games were focused on giving players a contrast between the small dramas of the characters and the greater dramas of a galactic war that turned out to be a battle in a larger galactic war.  Over time, a lot of depth has been added to the game world, and Bungie and then 343 Industries worked hard to link a lot of out-of-game material into an in-game system of discovering it.

Worms: So the Worms series is definitely not about storyline for me.  But it's good fun.  Sometimes I just have to blow something up and there's always plenty of options in Worms.  Plus, it's still entertaining when I fail spectacularly to do what I want, which isn't something I can always say of other games I play.  It's good to get away from all the heavy story and Worms serves as a good palate cleanser when I feel like I'm leaning my writing/roleplaying too close to a specific game studio's style.

Excuse me while I freak out...

Recently Blizzard announced that they'd bought the IPL team and technology from IGN.  That small team (and this explains why sone eSports people have suddenly moved to the Bay Area) is going to be based out of San Francisco and will be handling the expansion of Blizzard's eSports presence, presumably starting with a focus on the StarCraft II WCS.  That's basically the most amazing news I've heard ever.  I love the WCS concept and now Blizzard is back in my neighborhood.

A little background...  I've wanted to work for Blizzard since I was 14 (that's more than half my life!) and I haven't really seriously considered it (aside from planning to enter the Blizzard Writing Contest in hopes of being a fiction writer for them at a distance) in about a decade.  I'm pretty entrenched in the Bay Area, given that most of my family and friends are here.  On top of that my wife has what is basically her dream job here and her family and friends are similarly local.  I can't justify asking her to give up her dream to chase mine, it's just not in my nature.  Back in the day, though, I daydreamed about joining Blizzard North, which used to be not too far from my dad's house.

And, as I wrote not too long ago, I'm a big fan of eSports.  I watch tournaments regularly, have favorite players in a few different regions/leagues, and will frequently turn on StarCraft II replays in the background as I game or write.  So now Blizzard is in town to create an office locally and cover something I enjoy?   That definitely piques my interest.

I've got no clear idea if Blizzard will be hiring for this team any time soon, but I can assure that I'll be watching for it closely.  Ideally, I'd love for them to post a job writing tournament recaps and player bios/interviews. Those things, I think, would add to the "find and root for local heroes" vibe Blizzard has said they're going for and those are things I've got some experience and interest in writing.  Obviously, I can't dictate to the company, but I can hope.

StarCraft II WCS and Why I love eSports

You may or may not already know (or have guessed) that I'm a big fan of eSports, particularly StarCraft.  I watched a bit back in the early days of Brood War, but dropped out of paying attention until StarCraft II launched.  During the last phases of the beta, I got back into following some of the names I'd known from before such as Day[9] and Husky who had become casters.  I also quickly became a big fan of HuK, Stephano, and WhiteRa.  As I watched more and more tournaments, I got back in to cheering for Grubby, Machine and iNcontrol.  And if you haven't noticed by now, if I was specifically supporting a StarCraft team it'd be Evil Geniuses (and I own 5 eSports-specific shirts, three of which are EG related).

All of that is a roundabout lead up to describe why I'm very excited for the return of the Blizzard sponsored World Championship Series.  Last year, the event ran concurrently but basically separately from the various leagues already running professional StarCraft tournaments (examples being MLG, GSL, and NASL) and didn't really interact with those other leagues.  That set up was fine and the WCS had some great players and amazing matches, but it was a little strange that the other leagues didn't really have strong interaction with it, since they've had plenty of their own crossover and have previously shared players  This year's event is a clear step up from that.  While there will be WCS specific qualifying tournaments leading up to the actual 2013 World Championship Series, players will also be able to earn standing and qualification points in other events.  Very cool to see Blizzard respecting the other people who bring their game to the eSports community.

I think a big part of why I like StarCraft as an eSport is the same as why I like watching basketball, baseball, or hockey.  I've played the games and understand a bit of the strategy, but also understand that I'm not a world class player and don't have the time or dedication to put in to become one.  Still, I get enough of the action to know when someone's pulled off a big attack or survived an aggressive assault.  I remember freaking out at Blizzcon two years ago when I got to see MMA vs Mvp and NesTea vs Mvp in a single weekend.  The final game by Mvp against NesTea to win the Blizzard Invitational was amazing, with a use of ghosts and nukes that I'm not sure I've ever seen matched.  I remember clearly staring up at the screen while in line for a last run at StarCraft II's preview with my mouth open as the roars erupted in response to Mvp's play.  It was definitely up there with the baseball playoff games I've been to.

Similarly, my love of watching StarCraft has been greatly enhanced by attending a few BarCraft events here and there.  While I don't drink (long story, but let it be said that I don't begrudge anyone who does), it doesn't really matter at a BarCraft.  What's far more important is that typically the place is filled with people cheering the way I normally associate with playoff atmosphere for other sports.  I've watched the ends of a few different MLG seasons in this way and it's been tons of fun to sit and talk about what's going on in the matches, joke about which casters are best (I have an strong affiliation for the Day[9]-Husky pairing, but think they often can overshadow games with their awesome), and cheer on the various players.  I'm excited to get out to a couple BarCrafts this year to see WCS qualifications happen and hopefully I'll be at Blizzcon to see the finals!

A Ramble on Writing

I enjoy writing, it serves as a stress relief for me and I like giving others something to read for their entertainment.  For a long time, it was hard for me to stay focused on a story to finish anything of any significant length, though, without it being a collaborative story.  Last year, I changed my strategy up a bit and finally found some success.

The inspiration for the change came from a few different sources.  First, I recalled my experience in college setting time-goals for my writing (I was on 10-week quarters and had to have, if I recall, 6 stories submitted in the class); that meant I needed to get my stories done in compact forms.  While most were 1 or 2 page vignettes, I did write out a few longer stories which were successful mostly because I couldn't leave them open-ended to write as much as I want.  Second, I got a few minutes to speak with Nate Kenyon (author of Starcraft Ghost: Spectres and Diablo III: The Order among other things) at Blizzcon; we didn't talk about my writing at all, but hearing him talk about his process and how he got support for his books and was excited about getting a chance to jump into Blizzard's worlds was inspiring.  Third, I heard (again at Blizzcon) about one of the past winners of the Blizzard Writing Contest being employed to write stories leading up to the release of Mists of Pandaria; I'll admit, I was jealous, and decided I was going to do that.

So putting all those things together, I sat down with the intention of writing an entry for the Blizzard Writing Contest.  That goal gave me an easy route to the structure I needed to finish; the contest generally took submissions between September and October, entries needed to be between 2500 and 7500 words, and entries needed to be original fiction set in a Blizzard world.  I chose Starcraft, because it was the world I was playing most in at the time and it has always been my favorite of all the Blizzard games I've played.  I reread the Starcraft books I own (and picked up those just releasing, such as Devil's Due), replayed StarCraft and Starcraft II (and another Blizzard game from WAY back in the day, but that's my secret at the moment).  And I set out to get writing.  I began by coming up with a general arc for the story, focusing on having a concrete beginning and end (which was a first, generally, I know major plot points and the beginning, but never the end) and set to work building a spinal outline between them.

I got lucky in that I found a few people who were willing to question my writing and provide feedback to what I was doing.  They got to see the story grow from just under long enough for a minimum entry to about 6000 words.  That was where I felt the story settling down, feeling like it was contained enough to be called complete.  There's no doubt I could add more and, amusingly, I feel like I left the ending semi-open, but at the same time, I think there's a sort of resolution, finality in the openness.

Unfortunately, the Blizzard Writing Contest didn't happen last year.  For a short while, that was almost enough to make me lose sight of the accomplishment I'd made.  My wife had asked me to write a second story, still set in the same world but with, in her words, "more romance."  I floundered on starting that.  But once the year changed, I could look back and be proud of meeting the goal even if I didn't get to show it to who I'd written it for.

With the return of Blizzcon this year, I've got renewed hope that the contest will return.  I got to ask the Warcraft twitter account if they thought it'd be back and got a "I hope so!" which I feel is positive.  So I'm back to the task of the second story.  It's sitting at just a hair under 3000 at the moment, in about 4 weeks of writing, which means I'm moving far faster than the first story.  I can see where my process is being refined so that I can do this more efficiently.  I'm beginning to feel that, even if I don't win the contest, this is excellent practice for me; if I can do it and keep working on it, eventually I'll get to my goals of being published.  I just have to keep writing.

Various things that have me excited.

Ok, so there's a lot of things coming up videogame-wise that I'm excited about.  WoW patch 5.2, Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm, Assassin's Creed IV...  I thought I'd take a minute to share some videos and talk a bit about why I'm excited for each and how each video encouraged that.



So cool.  Blizzard is really elite at crafting trailers for their games.  The poetry in this one was really cool, different from Blizzard's usual fare and it rings really true with Pandaria.  I'm "new" to WoW, in terms of actually playing, but I paid attention to the game from day one, having loved the story of Warcraft III and its predecessors.  When I had less money I couldn't justify the monthly payments and then no one I knew was playing much, but at Blizzcon last year a large chunk of the people I know who play WoW got sucked back in, so I started considering it again.  I jumped in for the last couple months of Cataclysm and then picked up Pandaria when it came out.

A big part of Pandaria's draw for me is that it's the first completely new lore in WoW that isn't strongly supported in the pen and paper RPG or novels.  That's always the kind of things that draws me to games.  While certainly the dialogue and quests don't always have the deepest dialogue ever, the over-arching story, especially with some hidden backbone stories (the conflict between the Old Gods and Titans as well as the third faction in the Burning Legion, with hints that the Old Gods may be rising and the Legion returning), is very complex and has a broad scope that really allows for a number of finite stories which balance well with the ongoing tale.  The Thunder King looks to be one of the former (a surge from the Mogu, which will certainly be put down by players) with hints at the latter (a Titan players directly talk to who hints at something big coming from upon Azeroth, and further whispers from Wrathion about the return of the Legion).



I've been waiting on this one a while.  I was a huge fan of StarCraft and I followed all the fiction (I highly recommend Liberty's Crusade, The Dark Templar Saga, Heaven's Devils, Devil's Due, Ghost: Spectres, and Flashpoint if you want to really understand the StarCraft world).  I greatly enjoyed StarCraft II (despite the all-too-common "Blizzard's writing is shallow!" complaints).  I've wanted to see where the tale of Kerrigan and Raynor would go for over a decade.  The end seems to be nigh, which has got my curiosity at a peak.

I like StarCraft enough that I've tried to make up pen and paper conversions (and did try the Alternity: StarCraft game) and I've written 1.5 stories (the second is ongoing!) to use as entries to the Blizzard Writing Contest.  I can't wait to see where the story is going next.


Also very cool.  I find it very interesting how they've moved in a different direction than in other games in the series.  This is the first time we've moved backwards in time from the previous game (since when we got Altair after Ezio we still also got Ezio).  We've also got major changes in the modern era story (no spoilers!) and some hints at needing to connect with a different bloodline of assassins.  Beyond that, pirates!  This is clearly a way to make the games fulfill fun scenarios for the fans; swashbuckling attacks, beautiful vistas, and maybe some answers to how things came to be how they were in Assassin's Creed III.

It seems clear to me that the team behind Assassin's Creed has had the story for the modern era very well plotted out since the beginning but have been trying out ideas for the past on the fly in order to come up with entertaining locales in which to play.  I'm still hoping for a game set during the World Wars, Meiji Japan, or the various eras of the Indian Independence Movement (I can only imagine the conversations between an assassin and Ghandi).  I can't wait to see where they're going, either!