Skip to Content

AOL Games

GDC09: Rhianna Pratchett says games should forget about making people cry

Rhianna Pratchett, the woman to blame for the dialogue of last year's EA experiment Mirror's Edge, says that game writers (not, erm, us, mind you, but the type that write the stories in the games we all play) are doing the wrong thing trying to make gamers cry. She tells the Guardian's game blog, "As an industry we get very, very obsessed with making people cry. What's so great about crying?!" Rather, she says that they should be focusing on turning those frowns upside down, citing her work on the Overlord franchise.

"The world is dark enough, especially at the moment. Overlord, I think, was successful because it made people smile, it made people laugh. That seems to have resonated so much that I say 'Make people smile, don't make people cry.'" It's no secret that we are suckers for the lolz around here, so we're rather inclined to agree with Ms. Pratchett. In the eight minute interview with the Guardian (found after the break), Pratchett also touches on the importance of getting game writers into the development process early enough, calling shoehorned stories in gaming the result of "Weekend at Bernie's" processes, where a plot that doesn't really exist is "made up" to look like an actual plot. Rather than naming culprits, we'll leave the finger pointing to you fine folks -- and we're willing to bet you can name more than a few, no?


Tags: ea, game-story, gdc-2009, guardian, interview, mirrors-edge, rhianna-pratchett

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries

Transformers Avatar items

Transformers Avatar items

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

Ubisoft's Uplay

Ubisoft's Uplay

BioShock 2 box art

BioShock 2 box art

 


Team Joystiq

 
Chris Grant
Editor-in-Chief, Email
James Ransom-Wiley
Managing Editor, Email
Ludwig Kietzmann
Senior Editor, Email
Andrew Yoon
East Coast Editor, Email
Randy Nelson
West Coast Editor, Email
Justin McElroy
Reviews Editor, Email
Justin Glow
Developer, Email

Joystiq Podcast

New episodes every Friday! Now playing: Joystiq Podcast 115, for Friday, Oct., 30.



Archive | RSS | iTunes