neils clark

Damn. I’ve got a short list of things I’d like to do before I die, and ‘work for bioware’ was one of those things. And it actually didn’t start out as Bioware, I wanted to work for Interplay - until they were shut down by the state of California after not paying their employees. Both of these companies wove together truly creative, artful, and fun games. What they created was, at least for me, something that spoke in a way that no other media was capable of.

So I’m more than a little put off that they’ve been roped in by the largest, most notoriously questionable publisher in the games industry. The escapist’s piece by Sean Sands grabs on a lot of the speculation. Whether or not conspiracy theory is warranted, ‘work for bioware’ is off my list for the time being.

And I’ll admit it proudly, despite being told off by the makers of the game, I’m a Fallout fanboi. I know, I know. At this last February’s Game Developer’s Conference, the people who made the game told me how bad it was, and at the time I was too flabbergasted, or exhausted, to really put up much of a fight. To me it still stands out as a game that pushed the medium, and was in gamasutra’s top 5 RPGs of all time.

So, in a salutory style, I’d like to give you one of my favorite quotes from Bioware. This comes from one of their expansions to Neverwinter Nights, Shadows of Undrentide, where an artificer of ancient artifacts (hehe) discusses his being pulled into an elaborate device, and how that connects him to your honorable adventuring instructor.

—

I was doing some research on the Netherese, when I found a small puzzle box.

–

It Seemed to be just an interesting toy, but when I played with it, I was sucked inside an elaborate maze, where I wandered for several months, until I was found and released by Drogan.

–

The Netheril were so powerful that even their toys could capture the mind and hold it captive.

–

Imagine a society so rich and powerful that they can waste time and money on elaborate entertainments that last days, even months before the fascination wears off.

–

It must have been an exciting place to live. But anyway, Drogan is an old hand at solving puzzles and dealing with magic. Once he rescued me, we became friends. And that is all there is to tell.

(and that’s it)

Something that’s been wearing on my mind, lately, is that I haven’t had any luck helping to pull one of my sisters out of World of Warcraft. She’s lost her ridiculously lucrative job, insurance, and is about to loose her car. It started when, because she was playing, she just didn’t go into work. In the last two months, she’s just leveled up to 70 - not applying to any new jobs, while living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

It’s especially hard for me not only in that I opened up to her, and talked really frankly and honestly about what I went through, but I also know exactly where she’s at. I can see exactly why she’s playing - exactly what’s going on in terms of her difficulty with giving primacy to the online game world. I also know that she’s only just started to play like a fiend, so that on a lot of the neurological and psychological levels, traditional addiction isn’t exactly cemented in, but that it’s going to be a lot harder for her if something doesn’t intervene.

In the end, I think that she’s going to have to hit bottom on her own - since I honestly don’t see her boyfriend kicking her out (although in how I’m seeing things, that’s all he really wants to do at the moment).

So - these are the things that have got me a little down at the moment.

Neils Clark :: Oct.30.2007 :: General ::

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