Interviewing Essay

[The Baskinator]

My English composition class required me to conduct a short interview with someone (working in a field which interests me) about writing's place in their career. Once I finished the interview, I had to write an essay summarizing what I learned.

If it wasn't obvious already, I chose Sami Järvi as my subject. This, of course, didn't prove to be very easy, since I had to write the essay about the place of writing in the career of a writer.

I finished the essay long ago and I'm just getting around to showing it off.

Writing in the Video Game Industry (AKA "How-To" Guide: Writing About Writing's Place in the Career of a Writer) (http://www.p0stwh0res.com/uploads/thebaskinator/int_essay.html)

Unnecessarily long titles are my trademark. images/icons/wink.gif

There are some mistakes in the essay-- very small things that I'm too lazy to change. This is the final draft I submitted to my instructor.

. . . And it got an A. *does academic prowess dance*

[Co11]

\O/ I wish I could interview sam lake! images/icons/tongue.gif

[The Baskinator]

A friend in IRC just noted something which I wouldn't mind addressing here.

The beginning and ending of the essay are rather cliché generalizations about the video game world. That is, like most things in life, for a reason, which a lot of you may not see right off the bat.

I wrote those things, partly, as sarcasm and partly on account of my essay being read (and graded) by people who are casual computer users, to say the least, and none of them play video games.

I do not feel that people working in the gaming industry are just nerdy Star Trek fans, but that seems to be the non-gaming public's general consensus about said people. My essay was trying to show, without being distastefully didactic, to people (of the mindset that gaming is the film industry's ugly kid sister) that it is worthy of credit and filled with a lot of talented and intelligent people. (An average person sees Sami, a professional writer, as a superior example of intelligence in the industry, or so I hope. After all, writers have to be smart, otherwise they aren't any good. images/icons/smile.gif )

The sarcasm behind the remark is hidden, since most people don't know that I, myself, am a Star Trek fan that hangs out on video game message boards and IRC channels. I'd assume that you could figure that out, though. images/icons/smile.gif

[BillyD]

Very good essay! o/\o PWN!
I would type more but I itch too much still GRRR graemlins/tinyted.gif

[maxpayne.co.uk]

Nice work Basky images/icons/smile.gif

Coursework is horrible over here in England. I had to do an essay on Romeo And Juliet (how boring). It was 6 pages long and I got a D!

[The Baskinator]

Thanks.

I had to write, very recently, a six page research paper on Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and morality plays, so I understand how you feel. images/icons/smile.gif

[Bludd]

Pretty good. I totally understand your so-called "cliché generalizations". When writing the introduction to my examen philosophicum paper last spring (which was about artificial intelligence), I had to do the same thing. Of course, that paper was 9600 words long and therefore the introduction was a little bit longer than your whole essay. images/icons/wink.gif

Anyway, back to more serious matters, there seems to be a positive side-effect of your Sami-stalking (*rimshot* if you get it); you get the chance to enlighten people about other countries (at least, a little bit).

"Voi Peikkoset!" as Skaven once wrote in a module of his. I don't know how this relates, but still. images/icons/grin.gif

[The Baskinator]

Thanks.

It wasn't the type of essay I enjoy writing, but it turned out nicely. That's probably because I had such a cool person to interview. I owe that A to Sam. graemlins/love.gif

9600 words. I'll be writing things as long when I get into higher level English courses. College freshman papers are so short that it's laughable. . . *laughs*. . . See?

[Bludd]

Indeed. Bear in mind that that paper was 100% of the grade of that course. images/icons/smile.gif

[j]

Heh, I had to write a ~20-page essay about three fictitious advertisements that I did for my diploma work. I got a grade of 1/5 for the essay but 4/5 for the diploma work images/icons/grin.gif

I would have gotten 5/5 for the diploma work if I had bothered to start writing the essay part more than a day before I had to return it images/icons/tongue.gif

Thank god the essay part didn't matter much in that grade. images/icons/cool.gif