Comments on: Review of Chapter 2 in Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames http://www.artfulgamer.com/2007/03/20/review-of-chapter-2-in-game-writing-narrative-skills-for-videogames/ in search of the poetic and lyrical in video games Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:08:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: chris http://www.artfulgamer.com/2007/03/20/review-of-chapter-2-in-game-writing-narrative-skills-for-videogames/#comment-157 chris Mon, 28 May 2007 05:55:13 +0000 http://www.somatoware.com/chris/2007/03/20/review-of-chapter-2-in-game-writing-narrative-skills-for-videogames/#comment-157 I kind of suspected that it was an editing choice - thanks for the clarification. Keep in mind that my comments/editorials are purely from the perspective of an art-driven writer, so they may seem unnecessarily critical at times. However, it should be obvious that my interest in doing a full review of this book is an indicator of its importance. Thanks much for the comment! (ps - I agree ... Poetics is not standard fare in Europe, the USA, or Canada for that matter.. but a straw poll on my end did show that most of us learned the basic Freytag plot structure back in high school!) I kind of suspected that it was an editing choice - thanks for the clarification. Keep in mind that my comments/editorials are purely from the perspective of an art-driven writer, so they may seem unnecessarily critical at times. However, it should be obvious that my interest in doing a full review of this book is an indicator of its importance.

Thanks much for the comment!

(ps - I agree … Poetics is not standard fare in Europe, the USA, or Canada for that matter.. but a straw poll on my end did show that most of us learned the basic Freytag plot structure back in high school!)

]]> By: Chris http://www.artfulgamer.com/2007/03/20/review-of-chapter-2-in-game-writing-narrative-skills-for-videogames/#comment-2 Chris Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:57:35 +0000 http://www.somatoware.com/chris/2007/03/20/review-of-chapter-2-in-game-writing-narrative-skills-for-videogames/#comment-2 Steve and I decided that since this chapter was about the basics of narrative, we would constrain its content to non-game narrative examples - the better to contract it with Richard Boon's chapter which follows it, whose focus is specifically game writing. This second chapter roots the creation of videogame narrative in a wider context, which was its purpose. I accept the criticism that it could have contained game examples, but I don't believe it was necessary, and I am uncertain it would have been beneficial. And I also dispute the claim that every high school student is familiar with Aristotle's Poetics. This is certainly not a standard text in Europe, and a quick straw poll of people around me shows that it is not a standard text in the US either! ;) All this said, thanks for your continued attention to the book - I appreciate it! Steve and I decided that since this chapter was about the basics of narrative, we would constrain its content to non-game narrative examples - the better to contract it with Richard Boon’s chapter which follows it, whose focus is specifically game writing. This second chapter roots the creation of videogame narrative in a wider context, which was its purpose. I accept the criticism that it could have contained game examples, but I don’t believe it was necessary, and I am uncertain it would have been beneficial.

And I also dispute the claim that every high school student is familiar with Aristotle’s Poetics. This is certainly not a standard text in Europe, and a quick straw poll of people around me shows that it is not a standard text in the US either! ;)

All this said, thanks for your continued attention to the book - I appreciate it!

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