Left Unfinished, Sebastian/F!Hawke (Dragon Age 2)

[lady_boromir]

Title: Left Unfinished
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Rating: PG-13
Characters: F!Hawke, Varric, Sebastian
Pairing: F!Hawke/Sebastian
Word Count: 739
Summary: Not every story gets a happy ending. Per her final request, Varric tells Hawke about one that does.
Warnings: Involves character death and general angst. Set post-game, but no real spoilers.

Comments

[lywinis]

Yeah, she said it in an official interview. Way to go, good PR there, good job. *facepalm* Ah, here it is:

>Q: What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry?

>A: Playing the games. This is probably a terrible thing to admit, but it has definitely been the single most difficult thing for me. I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games... I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life.

>Q: If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

>A: A fast-forward button. Games almost always include a way to "button through" dialogue without paying attention, because they understand that some players don't enjoy listening to dialogue and they don't want to stop their fun. Yet they persist in practically coming into your living room and forcing you to play through the combats even if you're a player who only enjoys the dialogue.

[solan_t]

And, see? I can totally sympathize with her. Loves me that Casual setting.

[lywinis]

I can sympathize, yes, but it doesn't mean that she should be saying these things when she works for a gaming company and it's providing her money to pay her rent and food on her table.

There's a time and place for personal opinions, and this time wasn't it, really. Not when the game was so close to release and everyone was watching that PR nightmare like, well, a hawk. If you'll pardon the pun. If you don't like video games, why work for a gaming company? You can make decent money writing elsewhere, and there are jobs available. Other jobs might even offer you a chance to write and get your own stuff published on the side.

I'd be surprised if she didn't get reprimanded for it.

[solan_t]

But, you see, it's because of people like her (and me) that we HAVE the Casual setting. It will even say it's for people that are more interested in the story. If the gaming industry was peopled entirely by the combat fanatics... I probably wouldn't be playing the games, because they would be 'too hard'. I doubt she got repimanded: she's a writer and she's all about the story. They hire other people to be all about the combat. Now if those people said something like that, I would expect repercussions. And seriously wonder at their career choices, of course.