Game Writers SIG

International Game Developers Association

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The Game Writing SIG exists to support writing for games as essential to the software development cycle.

Table of contents 1 Overview 1.1 History 1.2 Objectives 1.2.1 Initiatives 1.3 Documentation 1.4 Membership 2 External links

[edit] Overview

Game writers include those in the video game industry who write dialogue scripts, construct overarching narrative structure, produce documentation and articles and a myriad of other writing tasks. Sometimes they are specifically identified as writers, other times they find themselves picking up writing duties as an addition to their primary job. In either case, the quality and process of writing in and about games has been ignored for too long. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, so as a group of expert writers we're going to see if we can win this battle.

[edit] History

The Game Writing SIG was jump-started in 2002 by Chris Bateman and Raphael van Lierop. They realized there were a lot of writers working in the interactive space of games and wanted to create a community where they could come together. IGDA provided the perfect foundation. A mailing list was started and members of that list bootstrapped themselves into a functioning SIG with big-picture objectives and specific initiatives. Membership grew and in 2005 a constitution was formed and monthly committee meetings started. Hilarity ensued.

[edit] Objectives

The Game Writing Special Interest Group focuses on:

• building a community of people who write for and about games
• promoting the art and craft of writing to the industry as a whole
• educating game developers about writers, and educating writers about game development
• identifying and addressing those issues of importance to the community
• fostering better writing in games

• Draft of our /five-year plan (created in 2007)

[edit] Initiatives

Specific projects and plans we have for achieving our objectives. The most active items are currently:

• Game Reviews
• SIG Quarterly
• Education Outreach
• Hiring Hall
• Game Writing Book - the sequel
• Whitepaper Revisions
• Surveys

For a complete listing, see initiatives.

New initiatives were discussed at the 2006 GDC, and can be seen here.

[edit] Documentation

• Agenda (for meeting on June 4, 2008; 5 pm GMT / 12 noon EDT / 11 am CDT / 9 am PDT)
• GWSIG Monthly Meeting Minutes
• GWSIG Constitution note: discussion notes in the 'discussion' tab
• GWSIG Executive Duties
• GWSIG Report Archives
• How to: /write a SIG report, or /format meeting minutes
• GWSIG Conference Planning

[edit] Membership

Our membership includes writers, those who hire and work with writers, and those who want to be writers.

We are organized into an:

• executive panel (3)
• committee (12, including the exec)
• volunteers (we always need more!)
• general members (we're happy to have you on board)

Volunteers are always welcome. If you're interested in helping out, take a look at the committee list to see who's spearheading the initiative you'd like to be involved in. Drop them an e-mail or post to the general list expressing your interest.

• A list of SIG leadership is available.
• A Notice of Upcoming Conferences is also available.

[edit] External links

• International Game Developers Association: Game Writing SIG