BioWare Hiring Writers by Contest

AsiNisiMasa writes "GamaSutra reports: BioWare Announces Writing Contest For Industry Jobs. For all of you with some modding experience with the hopes of breaking into the gaming industry, here is your chance. For you less confident modders, there is still hope. From BioWare's official contest page: 'When hiring writers, BioWare looks only at your writing; not the areas, not the special scripting, and not the combat. We evaluate only the characters, the dialogue, the plot, the non-linear structure, and the flow and pace of the story.'"

Comments

Game Promotion?

[Damana Mathos]

So do you think BioWare is motivated by trying to recruit someone, or is this mainly an exercise in promoting their games?

Given the popularity of working in the games industry and the coverage this would get, I'd imagine it's more the latter rather than the former.

Re:Game Promotion?

[Anonymous Coward]

AS one of the employees hired from the community after a similar event, I can say it's the former.

http://www.bioware.com/2million/articles/community _staff_members.html

It's hard to find good writers that can write in the style required for games.

Re:Game Promotion?

[TheRaven64]

The entire thing doesn't entirely ring true. The contest page says things like 'winning the contest does not guarantee a job with us,' and 'everyone wants to work here, we're great.' And yet they're holding a competition try to generate more interest in working for them. To be honest, they sound a bit desperate - not the kind of company I'd want to work for.

To all hopeful contestants:

[Rodness]

Enough with Star Wars, World War II, Vietnam, and other existing franchises. It's been done to death.

How about writing a good old school style fantasy RPG with an original storyline? If you MUST, do another Forgotten Realms game, but invent some new characters instead of copying Baldur's Gate.

Of course, an RPG set in the TRON universe would also be new and different... I don't think anyone has tried to do anything but action games in that setting before. (I liked Tron2.0, but it wasn't an RPG.)

(And I realize I just asked for a couple of holy grails, but oh well...)

I'm considering submitting

[PIPBoy3000]

Personally, I'm going for the Bioware wool cap. Jobs are overrated.

I've done a number of modules for NWN (Shadowlords, Dreamcatcher, Demon) and am currently working on a NWN2 campaign. I think I'm going to end up taking one of our sidequests and tweaking it slightly to fit the rules.

There's a few tricky parts:

• 3 NPCs + PC. That's not many people, especially if the PC has henchmen/companions.
• No combat. Conflict has to be handled in other ways (assuming there's conflict).
• 4x4 area. That's tiny. Most of the movement in the story will have to be short, possibly going over the same ground. Think of a medium sized house or a small cave.

That being said, I think we may have a side quest with an interesting premise. I think the competition will be pretty stiff, but it should be a fun exercise.

Employment not guaranteed.

[pcgabe]

From the FAQ:

So, if I win I start working for BioWare?
        No. The winning entries will be reviewed by BioWare senior staff James Ohlen and Kevin Barrett, but no employment is guaranteed.

So, you can 'win' and still be unemployed.

From the submission agreement (emphasis mine):

4. The Developer acknowledges and agrees that:

(a) BioWare is continuously engaged in an active research and development program in which BioWare has invested and is continuing to invest considerable time and money in the development of new multimedia products as well as improvements and enhancements to BioWare's existing products which may be similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials;

(b) other persons, including BioWare's employees or contractors may have originated and submitted to BioWare or to others, or may in the future originate and submit to BioWare or to others, products, concepts, ideas, functions or enhancements which may be similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials; and

(c) the submission of the Materials to BioWare and/or the receipt of the Materials by BioWare does not entitle the Developer to any compensation whatsoever where BioWare, independent of the submitted Materials, has produced or will in the future produce a product which may be, in whole or in part, similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials.

So, they can copy your ideas and not reimburse you in any way, as long as they claim that their development was independent from your submission.

I'm not saying they would, but they could.

That being said, I'm still going to submit something. ^_^ And you all should too. Competition is pressure, and pressure makes diamonds.