THE GAME NARRATIVES DRINKING GAME
I'm off to Canada tomorrow to talk to Bioware. As anyone who's been trapped in a lift with me recently can tell you. But I'm also doing some more public talks in the next month or so:
GameHorizon conference in Newcastle, 28th June - 'Narrative architecture: managing complex stories'
London Transmedia, 5th July - The Looming Menace That Is Varytale
Develop in Brighton, 19th July - panel on 'New Stories, New Platforms'
If you're there, say hi. And as a bit of self-discipline to discourage my wilder flights of unnecessary vocabulary, we are thoughtfully releasing the internal FBG pastime below. With a big old smiley
Feel free to use it with any discussion, interview, talk about story in games. And use it as a rod to beat me with, by all means.
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THE GAME NARRATIVES DRINKING GAM
- when someone says 'unique' - take a sip
- when someone says 'infancy' - take a sip, unless the conversation happened before 1984
- when someone says 'evolving' - take a sip
- when someone says 'mature' or 'maturity' - take a sip (take a shot if they use
- both in the same sentence)
- 'medium' or 'media' - take a sip (take a shot if they say 'mediums')
- 'deep', 'immersive' or 'engaging' - take a sip
- mentions 'techniques' without describing any - take a sip
- says something generic about the strengths and weaknesses of games as a medium, without specifying any - take a shot
- says something generic about the challenges of the medium, without specifying any - take a shot
- says something general about the importance of unifying game and story - take a shot, but in a narrative way
- says we need to provoke an emotional response - take a shot
- is wistful about the 90s - take a shot
- complains about how graphics aren't everything - take a shot
- explains how better graphics mean better stories - take a shot
- complains that players / reviewers / developers are Philistines - take a shot, but first add a cherry
- compares games to early movies - take a shot
- points out games shouldn't be trying to emulate movies - take a shot
- complains about cut-scenes - take a shot. (If the speaker's game nevertheless ever takes control away from you and makes you sit through an in-engine cut-scene where you can just wobble your field of view a bit, then ask someone to hit you in the face with a golf club)
- says 'gaming's Citizen Kane' - take a shot
- says 'gaming's Citizen Kane', but ironically - take a sip
- actually says something specific about what made Citizen Kane significant - pass your drink to the left
- says 'from the beginning of time' or 'from the beginning of human history' or 'our ancestors' or 'stories around the campfire' - finish the bottle