Fallout: New Vegas nominated for WGA award

Considering that God of War 3 made the list, I don't see how it can be taken seriously.

Ausir said:
My favorite 2008 game is Braid anyway (although I only played it recently).
Really? It was fine on the first play through as there were some interesting puzzles and the final level (before the crap in the clouds) was a cool idea. That said, the writing seemed very pretentious. It felt like one of those "Look at me! I'm mysterious and sooo art!" games.
 
In my opinion It's an award thats purely based on popularity. Till Videogames are taken more seriously by writers the award is a lost cause.

Uncharted 2 won last year. (Not that much better things were nominated)
 
I like how he almost immedieately responded to almost all of my questions (4-5) in the past when I posted under anon, then I registred to be more serious. What happened? He didn't answer. :D
 
Surf Solar said:
I like how he almost immedieately responded to almost all of my questions (4-5) in the past when I posted under anon, then I registred to be more serious. What happened? He didn't answer. :D

Yeah, it seems a little arbitrary. He's answered all of my "not very interesting" questions but ignored the serious ones. :shrug:
 
I don't know anything about this writers guild, but could it be that they are just mocking videogames with that? something to have a really good laugh about at their annual meeting? Imagine some representative of writers with a pokerface handing over some award to some awed bethestadian or whomever thinks he wrote something deep and meaningful and later laughing himself sick when telling his comrades?

It cant be serious can it? Please?

FO:NV at least has some writing in there, but FO3?
 
Arden said:
I don't know anything about this writers guild, but could it be that they are just mocking videogames with that? something to have a really good laugh about at their annual meeting? Imagine some representative of writers with a pokerface handing over some award to some awed bethestadian or whomever thinks he wrote something deep and meaningful and later laughing himself sick when telling his comrades?

It cant be serious can it? Please?

FO:NV at least has some writing in there, but FO3?

Videogames just aren't taken seriously. Most writers probably just look at Mainstream titles and have a laugh.
 
"It's the fluid catalytic cracking unit. It made shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero."

Apparently the only writing award Portal ever won was from Penny Arcade.
 
C2B said:
Videogames just aren't taken seriously. Most writers probably just look at Mainstream titles and have a laugh.

I can understand that, but why make awards at all then?
 
Per said:
"It's the fluid catalytic cracking unit. It made shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero."

Apparently the only writing award Portal ever won was from Penny Arcade.

*sigh*

Portal had some great lines. I hope that Portal 2 lives up to it. I liked TAG: The Power of Paint, but I'm not certain how much I like the idea of the paint integrated in the Portal game. Environments look cool though.

Portal2-testchamber.jpg
 
Arden said:
C2B said:
Videogames just aren't taken seriously. Most writers probably just look at Mainstream titles and have a laugh.

I can understand that, but why make awards at all then?
The Guild has been making inroads to try and get video game writers to pursue Guild status, since it's a multi-billion dollar industry where the Writer gets shafted. I'd imagine that recognizing Game Writing is a step towards that.

It's kind of a doomed exercise though. Setting aside the fact that unionizing tech work never works, Video Game Studios rarely get substantial residuals, the money goes to the Publisher. The chance of a writer getting residuals is laughable. Plus, most writers do double duty as writers and designers, and that makes Writer credits (which are basically the foundation of the Guild in a lot of ways) way more nebulous.

edit: Actually, according to the Guild's website, the point of the award is to encourage and foster the consistent crediting of writers.

Also, like a lot of entertainment industry awards (IE The Emmys) They're opt-in with the nominees chosen from the applications. If RDR isn't on there, it's likely either Rockstar not applying or not being eligible because the WGA only allows work done under their jurisdiction to be submitted.
 
DemonNick said:
Actually, according to the Guild's website, the point of the award is to encourage and foster the consistent crediting of writers.

Thanks. (intelligence) So they award a game that mentions its writers in the credits, no matter how stupid the writing actually is. Not really a trophy i would want to put on the mantlepiece.

Its all a bit misdirecting i think. If someone tells me that he got an award from the writers guild, i would first think its because he wrote something great. Not that he got it for mentioning his slightly retarded 13 year old cousin in some credits.

well, stranger things happen all the time.
 
Arden said:
DemonNick said:
Actually, according to the Guild's website, the point of the award is to encourage and foster the consistent crediting of writers.

Thanks. (intelligence) So they award a game that mentions its writers in the credits, no matter how stupid the writing actually is. Not really a trophy i would want to put on the mantlepiece.

Its all a bit misdirecting i think. If someone tells me that he got an award from the writers guild, i would first think its because he wrote something great. Not that he got it for mentioning his slightly retarded 13 year old cousin in some credits.

well, stranger things happen all the time.
I'd hope that, as more video games start properly crediting writers and applying for the award, they'll take more care in choosing winners. Seriously, The Force Unleashed? Ungh.
 
Crni Vuk said:
I agree with Ausir. Star Wars games never really have been the best written games out there.

Not going to say that they were brilliant but I liked the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games and I understand that Tie Fighter was good as well.

But I guess that was a very different Lucasarts then, the last two Jedi Knight games weren't even in-house.
 
DemonNick said:
edit: Actually, according to the Guild's website, the point of the award is to encourage and foster the consistent crediting of writers.
More importantly to the guild, it's to encourage more writers to join the guild.
 
UncannyGarlic said:
DemonNick said:
edit: Actually, according to the Guild's website, the point of the award is to encourage and foster the consistent crediting of writers.
More importantly to the guild, it's to encourage more writers to join the guild.

In the long term, maybe. The Guild's kind of thrives on credits, since they use credits to evaluate residuals when negotiating contracts, but eligibility for the award isn't tied to membership. In fact, I don't think that a Video Game credit will actually count towards Guild membership at the present. You have to join the Video Game Caucus instead. It's all really outreachy.
 
In both the short and long term:
To be eligible for WGA consideration, games must have been released between December 1, 2009 and November 30, 2010, works must contain separate writing credit(s), and credited game writers must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA’s Videogame Writers Caucus at the time scripts were submitted. Work that was not produced under WGA jurisdiction was also eligible for submission.
I interpret the last sentence to mean that games written by non-American writers who do not work for American companies are also eligible. For example, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was developed by Ubisoft: Montreal, a Canadian branch of the French company.
 
The Caucus isn't the Guild though. IIRC it's not due-paying (just like the Reality TV Story Editors who petition for writer-credits) and they aren't entitled to the Guild's assistance or solidarity when it comes to collective bargaining. Like I said, the issue of writers in Video Games becoming Guilded is a long-term one and this is part of outreach towards that end.
 
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