Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood won the Writers Guild of America Award for Videogame Writing last night. As you may recall, it was part of a shortlist of nominees with some odd choices that we all complained about. However, the WGA has come out recently to explain who is eligable for nominations.
Micah Wright, chair & steer committee member of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus, explained it in the (last) comments of the above link, as well as on GI.biz. In a nutshell, you need to be a member of the Videogame Writers Caucus ($60 a year) to be eligible, there has to be a credited writer, and there needs to be a submitted script that people can read in order to judge it.
Both statements are worth a read, but long story short: there are valid reasons behind the nomination process, the process is improved every year, and people are simply not going to play through every single American game to judge it when no script is submitted -- which was why Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption were not nominated.
Anyway, Brotherhood was the best of the bunch, so deserved congratulations go to Patrice Desilets, Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May (who talks about storytelling here), Jeffrey Yohalem, Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood, and Matt Turner!
Also, The Force Unleashed 2 didn't win, so between that and the WGA statements clarifying things, we can all stop complaining now. And good luck to anyone who had to judge L.A. Noire if Rockstar decides to send its script in next year.
Contest:
1:00 PM on 02.06.2011 | 
bUT IT HAD SUCH GOOD STORY1!1!1!1
"IM KRAT0s!!! I'm angry! I must kill everyone blaragh blargle1!1!1!1"
WGA sucks teh ballz.
And how proud of that award can you really feel if the best scripts don't get submitted?
Red Dead might have fared better, but ultimately who cares? Brotherhood is by far a worthy winner, it has a great script with believable characters - so why all the hate because the game you think should've won didn't? Just be pleased a game with a quality script won, as it encourages more of the kind of quality Assassins Creed writing brings to the table.
If I act but I'm not registered with the guild that nominates fine acting then why should people be pissed that they didnt give me an award?
I don't think some of you guys fully understand the (albeit simple) concept behind this story.
will play it sometime in the future :)
The reception of brotherhoods script is based on opinion.
For example. After reading a single twilight book I can assure you I wouldn't save another one if it was the last example of the written word left in the universe. In fact I would throw a Molotov cocktail at it even if someone had already set it on fire.
That doesn't mean I don't respect the fact that the eerie has no doubt won awards.
This mind set really helps appreciate why brotherhood won the award.
series, not eerie.
What you going to do about it though? You can't stop people liking what they like and if your favourite book/game isn't in the union/group for the awards then people can't get upset.
I don't refute anybodys right to question it but THIS case is very specific and I feel it stands apart from the general rule of questioning and investigation.
"I'd want you to expose your vitriol for it, not roll over and say it's subjective."
I believe this mindset illuminates part of what is wrong with the Internet. It's virtually expected that people want to hear scorn and vitriol. I don't. If it pisses me off I'm going to step away from it, not tell everybody here that I hate it.
Thank you, Bakewell, for being a reasonable person. I wish more people on the internet (and in life in general) were like you.
It baffles me that people would rather spend their time and energy on bashing something they don't like, instead of ignoring it. Why would you want to focus on something that you hate? I'd much rather spend my time focused on something that I actually enjoy. A lot of
the Twilight/Avatar/insert any popular thing here haters seem to talk and think about something they supposedly can't stand, just as much as the fans do.
How the frack does that make sense?
I fully agree with everything you've said but this instance can't be questioned. The rules have been made clear. It is a waste of energy crying foul for games ghat weren't even viable candidates.
In this particular case we have no idea how qualified the judges were or what the criteria was for a win. As such I'm not going to be swept away in a sea of uninformed outrage.
Allow me to put your mind at ease my dear brand new friend.
If you liked the writing then it is good.
If you don't like the writing then it is bad.
A bunch of people handing out trinkets and awards will not change your opinion nor should it put your mind in a state of unease.
And now I must retire for the night. Work beckons in 6 short hours and I need more beauty sleep than most.
As AC:B and AC2 pretty much share a single story conceived by Desilets, perhaps that had something to do with AC:B winning. Even if you don't like AC, story-wise it's still one of the better new IPs of the last years.
Either way, it's a good thing people on the Internet went "huh?" at first in this case, as now more people know how to become part of the VWC if they want to win next year. And if they do, we'll have a better nominations list to look at.
I kind of feel bad for Obsidian. They make an incredibly deep and brilliant RPG with some of the best writing I've ever seen in a video game, and yet if New Vegas isn't snubbed when games are nominated, it loses to a game with an inferior game, like now. AC: Brotherhood had a good script, but it's nothing compared to New Vegas'.
and If you haven't played AC II or Brotherhood
You Shouldn't judge
As was the story, and the dumbed down gameplay. Such a let down, it didn't deserve half the 'awards' it got.
Have YOU played New Vegas? And for your information, I have played both of them.