Here we are again, explaining what I did and didn't like about ECGC. Lets mix it up and start with what I didn't like. I was extremely disappointed with the Narrative Design track this year. On the second day, they only had 1 talk in which you could even attend, which was literally just going to be someone complaining about how being a Narrative Designer is difficult, which literally every other interaction with a Narrative Designer explains. Really, there is no need to make an entire talk about it. However, I did get to go to a talk that I feel really should've been in the Narrative Track, an Indie talk about empathy in games. It was interesting take on story telling in games, putting the feeling back into characters, making them human again, and making this an expectation from the industry as well. I got to speak with Renee Nejo, the person who gave the talk, and she had some interesting personal insight. I asked her about the morality of the gaming industry essentially making a profit purely off of emotional response rather then necessarily game play, in sue of her using the game "That Dragon, Cancer", a game about a cancer patient that would be more akin to something of an experience rather then a game. She responded, in short, by saying the people who make these kinds of games really aren't looking for money, and are rather looking to share their thoughts and emotions with the world abroad, and if the world abroad wishes to give them money for their efforts, then they would gladly take it. Her primary example of this was her own games, which are paid for through donations, rather then actually applying a fee to the game itself. This has really helped me further my own plans of working in this field. I feel that, I should take monetary risks to join teams like hers, ones based more on spreading a message and making an emotional game then making a profit. Or, at the very least, while working on monetary focused games, I should have projects going on the side that do tell the stories I want to tell. Because, really, at the end of the day, this isn't about the money. This isn't about making a perfect game that will get me famous and that everyone will love. This is about telling a story. Telling the stories I want to tell. Developing and creating stories I will want to tell. That'll be a lot of fun. Ain't going to make me a lot of money, but I'll make ends meet. As long as I get to tell my stories I think I'll be happy.
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So, for the last 2 days the game design classes have visited the East Coast Gaming Conference, or ECGC. And, it's good to be back over there, it's a really fun conference. Unfortunately this year we couldn't stay as long as we did last year, so we went to a lot less talks, and the second day was sorely lacking any talks in the Narrative track, which are the ones I personally enjoy going to. But, it gave me an opportunity to branch out a bit, and I noticed a pattern with the kinds of people who were giving talks in different pathways. I don't know if this was just a coincidence, but it seems that all the programmers who talk are really dry and straight forward with their topics, having one thing on mind and just talking about it for an hour, while the people in the Indie track seem to be, well, amateurs when it comes to public speaking. I went to three Indie talks in a row, and the first one hadn't even set up yet and we only got going half way through the session, and he still managed to end 15 minutes early, and he even admitted that he was an amateur and actually had social anxiety. The second basically just kinda looked down and read a script, and while the third was a lot better, actually ending up to be my favorite talk out of all the ones I saw, it was still obvious that she wasn't exactly a master of public speaking. Maybe those were just coincidences, but I think it gives an insight to the kind of people I'm going to be working with in each of the fields, which in turn really pushes me to follow the Narrative path, because I really like the speakers. Its a really tight knit community, I saw some of the same speakers and audience members as last year, and everyone has interesting topics and well put together topics.
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AuthorI am 17 years old, and currently enrolled in Durham School of the Arts. Within the Game Design field, I'm looking to become a game writer or a programmer, preferably a combination of the two.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public School Archives
June 2018
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