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Mailbag #4

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As promised, here is that follow up
Mailbag Episode.

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And wouldn't you know it, our good
friend Erin Siegel is back

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to help us out with some more
awesome drawings,

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while Allison catches a breather.

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We still got a lot left to squeeze
in, so let's get right to it.

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Are you ever gonna do that episode you
mentioned about Voice Acting,

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putting Role play back in RPGs
or Genres or any of those other ones?

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We will ... probably get
to all the episodes we´ve

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put in the "Future Topic" category
at some point.

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Because James spends most of his
Time runnig a consulting company

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and holding a full professorship.

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Extra Credits episodes tend to get
written as they overlap

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with problems, he is thinking
about in his work life.

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But like I said all these things will
probably come up sooner or later.

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I don't actually need help with the
research project itself,

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but my topic is similiar to what you
guys covered in an episode once.

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Where do you guys find your
research sources ?

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Hmm... that's tough.

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We don't acutally keep a list of
footnotes for the episodes,

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and some of the Information can't
really be shared anyway, because

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James gathered it from industry
people he works with.

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Other than that though, all the information
we use is publicly avaiable on

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the Internet or through the
US library system.

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We try very hard to keep things that
are speculative in a speculative voice,

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like the possibilities of tangential learning,
for example.

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We also try to always call out when we are
making a logical leap in an episode,

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and suggest other valid possibilities.

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But we're gonna miss this one
sometimes, so

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fact check us and dig deeper
wherever you can.

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That's actually something I'd love
to see come out of this show.

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I got so many cool game ideas.

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Is there any way i could pitch
them to a Studio?

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Well here is the thing.

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Everybody has got Ideas

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In fact, people in game studios
usually have a lot more ideas,

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they want to work on, than
they'll ever be able to ptoduce.

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Unfortunatly this means, nobody is
really gonna be

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interested in your game ideas.

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However, prototypes are a different matter.

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If you could put together a
prototype,

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that really shows off what you're
trying to deliver.

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That is something that publishers
will potentially look at.

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There are thousands of ways
to make connections

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and get people to notice your prototype.

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But conventions are usually a good
place to start.

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Next question.

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Is there any place i could apply my
Psychology or Economics

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or whatever degree in the game industry?

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Most designers and producers i know,
came from disparate backgrounds.

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James, for example, took his
undergrad in classics.

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But if you are looking for an
industry job

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more directly relevant to your field.

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That may be a pretty tough sell.

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Only giant companies like Microsoft

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devote ressources to
dedicated psychologists.

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And only companies, who build
their entire game

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around some non-game related discipline,

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like Economics in EVE online,

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hire those fields specifically.

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It could happen, but it is a long shot.

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How do you get into game localization?

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There is a small number of companies

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that handle a lot of the localization
work for the game industry.

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Just google "game localization"
and you'll find most of them.

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See if they have any openings,
or even just

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send them a resume with your skills.

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Just be prepared.

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You'll have to have a strong
grasp of the langugage,

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you are translating from, and an
impaccable command

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of the grammar and idioms of the
language your are translating into

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Are there any game design books
you would recommend?

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First and foremost James recommends
Jesse Schell's "Book of Lenses"

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After that he also suggests

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"Rules of Play"

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"Designing Virtual Worlds"

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and another book called

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"On Game Design"

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If you are already a professional
Designer and have those already.

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you might also check out "Game Feel"

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It's got a interesting and different
take on the art of game desgin.

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But other Books like
"The Design of Everyday Things"

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"Understanding Comics"

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and "Flow"

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Are also an essential part of the
game designer's library.

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Don't strictly limit yourself to books,
specifically about game design,

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to learn how to be a better game designer.

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Is there a reason you haven't done a
"Video Games & Violence" episode?

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We've toyed with this one a lot.

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The problem is that there is just not
enough

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good data regarding the real effect

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for us to say anything definitive.

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You've heard us complain a few times

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about the fact, that most of the
studies done in this regard

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are funded by groups with highly biased
political agendas regarding games.

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And that goes for both sides
of the debate.

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From within the industry
as well as from without.

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We touched on it a little

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in the "non-combat gaming" episode.

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But we could do an episode

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on why violence is such a common
theme in videogames,

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from a design perspective.

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If that sounds interesting to any of you.

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just email, tweet or facebook us and say so.

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We'll add it to the stack.

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Next.

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What do you think about EA's
Origin service thus far?

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Well the E.U.L.A. bugged James enough

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to not buy Battlefield 3 on the PC.

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And I can think of plenty of things
we don´t like about Origin.

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But lots of other people have already
made those complaints

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and we seem to do a lot of
EA bashing on this show.

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So instead I'm gonna list off some of
the things we do like about it.

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Most importantly it's a sign that
EA realises that

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physical product sales won´t carry
them through the next decade.

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Which is a positive change.

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EA is a big player in this industry

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And it would do a lot of damage
if they were to collapse.

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If you look at all their studio acquisitions
over the last decade.

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And how quickly they shut down many
of the companies they have acquired.

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You'll see that they have been groping
for some answer

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as to why they simply are no longer
profitable the way they used to be.

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Origin may be the first step towards
a real answer to that question.

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And a sincere acknowledgment that
the market is changing.

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Besides, even thoguh Steam has been
a fantastic digital platform.

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A little competiton can only mean
good things for digital distribution.

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But all of that said.

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They need to fix their dumbass E.U.L.A.

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Do you see a way for Latin America or Africa

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or other, seemingly absent markets, to become
more relevant in the realm of games?

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Latin America certainly will.

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And soon.

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James does a lot of work there.

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In fact if you google the words

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"video games brazil"

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or "cnn argentina video games".

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His work will probably be the first
thing that comes up.

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Latin America might even be a future topic down the road.

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We'll see.

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As far as other regions go.

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We have less experience there

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India is probably gonna be viable
within the next decade.

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Turkey already has a pretty good MMO market going,

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but these things really go on a case by case basis

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We'd like to use the Big-Mac-Index,

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look it up it's a thing,

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as an off the cuff indicator of wether
or not

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a country will be a reasonable market
for video gams in the next decade.

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If it takes the average person in
a country

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more than an hour of work

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to afford a Big Mac.

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Then there's probably a lot of other
things that need to be done

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before they are really ready to be a thriving video game scene.

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Is there a way we could get the show
close-captioned or translated?

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We're all pretty slammed beneath
our current workload

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But we would love to see the show
be accessible to more people

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I'm not a 100% sure what would
need doing

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through blip or PA TV

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But if anybody out there is
willing to volunteer.

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We'd be happy to look into a closed
caption edition.

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As far as translation goes

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It's something we're working on,

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but could use some help with.

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We'd like to put the show up on major
gaming sites in other countries

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So more people can find it,

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but our progress has been pretty slow.

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If any of you happen to work for
that kind of major site

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or simply want to tell us

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who's the best source for gaming
infromation in your country.

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Please email us.

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That would be amazing.

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And that is all we got time for.

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I'll plan on scheduling these Mailbag Episodes
a little more often from now on

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and we're gonna try to organize
occasionall live stream Q&As

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so we can answer more of you
guys questions.

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But for now thanks again for all
the questions.

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Thank you Erin for helping us out once again.

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We'll see you next week