10: WGE MAG
The Guild I
t was in 1959 that a group of writers working in the film industry decided to get together and form a union to negotiate on behalf of,
and provide support for British writers. Before this group assembled and thrashed out a general agreement, contracts were negotiated on an individual basis, with widely disparate terms and conditions. This uneven, ad hoc approach to contracts led to problems not only for writers, but for their employers too. As both sides approached the negotiating table they did so without a clear expectation of what the other party was thinking. What credit should a writer receive? What was the definition of a draft? What should a writer be paid? These and many more questions led to disputes, costs and strains in working relationships that were avoidable on both sides. So, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain was born.
Since this first gathering and the agreement that resulted, the Guild has gone on to organise other such accords in film, theatre, radio and television as well as providing guidelines and advice for a wide variety of other industries. By the end of 2004 it had become evident that the games industry was in need of such a set of guidelines. At that stage the industry mirrored the state of affairs in the film industry in the 1960s, with writers, employers and everyone in between uncertain as to a starting point for contracts, conditions and negotiations. While writers were starting to be employed more widely throughout the sector,
not all writers knew that it was an industry that contained narrative, and many games companies were only just coming to grips with the existence of a peculiar beast - the professional games writer.
The brief history of writing in games has been a roller coaster. Many early games were text adventures containing thousands of lines and attracting writers such as Douglas Adams to the medium. Ask many a games designer today what his or her favourite titles are and they will speak fondly of word- friendly point-and-click adventures such as Monkey Island,
“So, more than 50 years on from its founding, the Writers’ Guild is still offering writers and the industries they work in a place to go to for information, help and advice”
Sam and Max, or Planescape: Torment. However, as graphics took leaps forward it was straight-up interactive action and visuals that began to dominate the industry leaving story and character behind. Happily, this didn’t last long; from the PlayStation 1 onwards, extended narrative started to reappear. From Abe’s Oddysee to Knights of the Old Republic, CoD4 to Mass Effect, story, character and dialogue became important again. While not all games contain, or indeed should contain either character or narrative it became clear that these were good ways to build a franchise because they were something that players could engage with.
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