Gameology 2.0

Greetings, everyone. I know that many of the folks here have a great deal more experience than I do at getting paid freelance work, so I just thought I'd ask a basic question: How much can anyone expect to earn writing game-related articles for commercial websites and online mags? I'm trying to figure out what constitutes a fair price, and whether I'm just working for peanuts when I could turn this hobby into a nice sideline. I did some internet research and came up with the figure of 50 cents a word, which seems far more than I expected--I've been receiving somewhere between 1-5 cents per word and considered that lucky.

Gamasutra was kind enough to publish the first and second installments of my History of CRPG article yesterday, and I thought I'd pass the news along to my friends here at Gameology. Although it's not exactly an academic treatment of the genre, I do try do dig a bit below the surface and offer more than just a survey. I really think that work like this is important for game studies, even if it may not be as hip as sexy as critical theory ;-). When I finish up this article, I have a mind to start exploring the history of GAGs as well.

For those of you who have lost friends to vicious "Wow" addiction, you'll find some sympathy below in the form of a YouTube. The news short tries to make a strong analogy between Warcraft addiction and more well-known deadly addictions, such as drugs and alcohol. We even get an "addict's mum" breaking down into tears, bewailing the tragedy of losing her son to WoW.

I'm sure that several people here may have already come across X06: The Future of Story, a video of a conference with Peter Jackson (as well as reps from Lionhead and Bioware) on the nature of storytelling in videogames. It's a great chance to hear the thoughts of some of the industry's leaders talking about interactive narrative and techniques. Fascinating stuff, really.

I had the good fortune last year of seeing some of Madeleine Sorapure's amazing work with Flash, and had a chance to talk with her about creative ways to use the program in the classroom. As I'm drawing up my plans for a class I'm teaching this fall called "Computers and English," I've been thinking more and more about innovative ways to use the program myself. I'll be in a classroom that's a "New Media Studio," equipped with high-end iMacs equipped with the Flash and Adobe suites (Flash 8, Photoshop, etc.) I've also bought two "Bibles" to help me learn Flash 8, including one on ActionScript (which is really what interests me about the platform.)

Boing Boing is running a story about a voice changer for women who want to trick other gamers into thinking they're males. The reasons why? The article indicates that one application might be to reduce sexual harassment (I can only imagine what it must be like on those MMOGs--old school MUDs were bad enough!) The product is also marketed as a way to get gamers to focus on your skill rather than your gender.

There are some interesting implications for gender here...

Next-Gen has published a long essay called CULTURE: Games and Metaphor by Eric-Jon Rossel Waugh. For me, this kind of writing represents the best of game studies--accessible, witty, and in-depth. Plus, I happen to agree with Waugh's thesis: Why aren't videogames popularly appealing? Because they've got their head up their butt. They're focused on being videogames – on taking their own metaphors literally – instead of on expressing something with the tools at hand.

Gamasutra is making a lecture available by Ernest Adams, who has been studying the possibilities and problems of interactive narrative for over a decade now. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet myself (I'm downloading it now), but will hopefully get a chance to offer a summative response soon.

Chris Crawford caused a stir in his recent GamaSutra Interview, where he dissed the game industry for churning out the same old recycled trash year after year. However, he also describes where he feels the real innovation is headed--"interactive narrative." Many of his responses have a distinctly Brenda Laurel feel to them, which I think is great--being the big fan of Laurel's work that I am! However, I'm still not convinced that people would really enjoy the sort of open-ended, "anything goes" strategy that seems to be at the heart of all this.

I thought Laurie and others interested in the ecological aspects of gaming might appreciate this this story about a Second Life user's effort to create a coherent ecosystem in the game, which includes everything from clouds to flowers to bees. You can read all about her innovations here. I've got to check out Second Life some time!!