Yesterday, I asked you guys what you were looking forward to at E3. Today at Gamasutra, I've written an editorial about what I'm not looking forward to -- the scripted conversations.
Grilling some of my developer pals and acquaintances recently, I've been surprised to learn the extent to which the conversations we have with them during demos and previews are carefully pre-scripted and re-rehearsed, right down to the catch phrases and buzz words they hope we'll associate with their games, e.g "ultimate" "AAA" "blockbuster" "open-world experience" "high-intensity" "explosive" et al.
Look, marketing, I understand. Before I was a writer I worked doing low-level PR support in both product-oriented boutiques and in larger companies, and I get the necessity of trying to impose your language. But today, I've argued for why this isn't such a good thing for games, given the nature of the community.
It's an expansion, or rather, a specification of the rant I gave at GDC -- since my nervous-rambling presentation (during which I "ranted" and was promptly embarrassed by the tidy, well-constructed presentations my peers gave), I've been hoping to revisit the topic in a clearer, more specific way, so in a way, this is that.
The fact is, when you cut the BS, the press respects you, and respect goes a long way toward fair -- and often favorable -- coverage. Check it out, huh?
(header image is from Osamu Tezuka's "MW," which kind of blew my mind when I read it for the first time over this past weekend. post title is the name of a fab track from Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest, which anyone with ears should listen to and enjoy.)
