Hi there,
My turn now :)
See you all tomorrow
Rhianna - From her 'winter office' a.k.a. Bed
Hi all -
Yep - all pretty last minute, but here's some info about me.
I'm basically a writer, started out working in 'interactive videodisk' in the 80's. All the rage then - used for education and training programmes, as well as museum installation and experimental art projects. After that worked for a long time in the mainstream film and television industry - mostly as a scriptwriter, but also did fair bit of directing, editing, producing and 'story development' work. Various outputs, including films, series, educational TV, commercials etc.
Got into the games industry initially as a freelance dialogue writer (best bit of work that period was on Dungeon Keeper 2). Formed my own production company ages ago initially for small scale Film, TV and 'multimedia' projects, but soon diverted attention to games development as we got some independent funding for an original title based on a film script I was developing.
Worked in education as well and have lectured on various subjects at places such as the Royal College of Art, London Institute and various other places.
Taking things up to date, you can have a look at the company website to see what we are up to www.imaginary.co.uk .
I also work part time for the Surrey Institute for Art and Design where I have set up a Digital Games Design Unit and new MA course this year. (www.dgdu.org)
Other stuff you should know - I'm a board member of Tiga, the trade association for games developers, and do a lot of work on educational initiatives with various government agencies such as Skillset, DTI/DfES and so on.
My take on the violence debate is that while I don't advocate censorship, I do think a lot of the more violent games are neither 'mature' nor clever. I believe passionately we should be expanding the genre base and place less reliance on the portrayal of combat of one sort of another as the mainstay of our medium. As an educator, I'm encouraging what I hope will be a new breed of game designers to think about how to make better, deeper, more sophisticated titles which perhaps, like movies, literature, art, TV, etc etc begin to portray something more about human (and creature) interaction than how best to inflict damage, pain and death on one another.
And whether violent games inspire violence IRL or not, I think part of the problem is that games can so easily portray the spectacle of violence without exploring the consequences and human issues surrounding violence, which makes it seem like fun. Movies for example which have a 90 year advantage over our industry, are very good at portraying violence in all its horror as well as its human consequences because of the inherent narrative sophistication of the medium - a sophistication we've really not got anywhere near yet.
So that's lots of blah blah blah. I hope I can be a little more coherent on the night.
Jon
At 19:01 05/10/2004, you wrote:
-- IGDA London Panelist List Current Topic: Violence and Social Responsibility Administrators: igda_lc_panelists-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxxHmm. Well, given that there's just 24 hours to go, I'll quickly introduce myself with a brief summary of my background.
I've been in the industry as a games designer for about 9 years, most notable games I've worked on have been Theme Hospital, Wipeout3 and Startopia. Also a few others of less note such as Retro Force and Spyhunter 2.
Currently working for Climax London.
Reason I'm on the panel? Nothing to do with any outspoken views I may have on the subject - more of a last minute request from some of the organisers who where trying to convince Climax to sponsor the event - having a Climax panellist was seen as a possible incentive. Climax declined, but I'll still be doing the panel regardless. It's also handy to have a nice percentage of development staff on the panel - it is the IGDA after all.
I'd like to know if possible what other panellists views are on the subject (broadly speaking) - if there is a general consensus, I may just take an opposing view (devils advocate) just to provide some catalyst for debate and discussion. My own personal thoughts are fairly pragmatic, advocating restraint in how violent games are marketed to improve the image of the games industry in the long term, but not necessarily calling for censorship in the content of these games or their availability.
More sobering though, I'll try to give a clearer picture on just how much or how little say developers have in the games they are asked to create. On whose shoulders does resposibility actually fall, both within and without the industry?
Regards,
Wayne Imlach.
-----Original Message----- From: igda_lc_panelists-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:igda_lc_panelists-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Lloyd Lee Sent: 04 October 2004 16:40 To: igda_lc_panelists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [IGDA LC Panelists] Thank you all. Importance: Low
Thank you all for joining the IGDA London Chapter panel on Violence and Social Responsibility. The London Committee have set up this email list for to get acquainted prior to the event.
Again, thank you all for participating, and I look forward to meeting you on the 6th.
Mike IGDA LCC Web & List Monkey
-- Michael Lloyd Lee
* M: mlk@xxxxxxxxx "He who makes no mistake * W: http://j2mevnc.sf.net Never makes anything" * A: 474c High Rd, E10 6QA
-- IGDA London Panelist List Current Topic: Violence and Social Responsibility Administrators: igda_lc_panelists-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-- IGDA London Panelist List Current Topic: Violence and Social Responsibility Administrators: igda_lc_panelists-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
