How to Write Games for the Internet without Embarrassing Yourself

"Never ever market your game on the inclusivity; just [use inclusivity] because it's good storytelling." I'm so positively surprised to finally have heard these words on a GDC talk. Let's hope this approach eventually makes way into the heads of all the other creators.

Don't use a meme, become the meme

One of the main takeaways: It's very tempting to throw memes and references into your work, but you *really shouldn't*. If you can keep your finger on the pulse of the demographic/culture that you're writing for, and write a story that truly resonates with them, your work will BECOME the meme, the reference, the trend. Which, ultimately, is a far better outcome.

I came to learn about game development...I got an accessible guide to modern culture.

She's. Fucking. Awesome! - Talks about narrative, which is a topic that is sometimes heavily subjective, and inside in a niche of narrative (appealing "the internet", as in, making a memeable story/game), so, hardcore-level talk; - Explains the core behind it using art history and the basics, in a way anyone can understand (no hard vocabulary, no "you need to have read this reference to properly understand it"); - Explains and complements arguments, building them progressively, with practical examples, like a boss; - *EXPLETIVE*; - Opens feelings, shows insecurity, imposter complex, and still nails the whole talk; (I wanna have at least half her courage and skills one day)

The guy right at the end: "I came to the talk thinking it was about how to put your game out there without being embarrassed, but I think what I understood was the opposite, it's like... being embarrassed IS the way."

Oh, please, someone get this woman hired as consultant for every terrible tv series and movies depicting what older people (like myself) think is "kids today".

This was a really funny yet informative talk... almost like they used the things in this talk to create this talk... also hydration is key.

This game isn't for me, but I can 100% respect the work that went into it and Leighton Gray is awesome as a speaker. I think I'll need to add a lot more positivity into my future games to counteract my natural cynicism. Thanks for the talk!

This is actually really good. Keep in mind that not every writer/designer is a born public speaker, she did well.

This is a fantastic talk, AND it's honestly SUPER refreshing to see another game designer who so deeply reminds me of me and my own social circle up on stage at GDC. You always hear horror stories in this industry about poor retention for younger folk entering it. Nice to see someone similar to me making use of a big name platform like GDC and thriving in the industry!

Okay, based on the title, I wasn't expecting much from this talk, but the point about good writing oscillating between extremes is dead on. SNES-era JRPGs are solid examples this - silly in-game dialogue and animations, dead serious story about the fate of the world. And sometimes Ultros shows up.

I... didn't expect to learn anything from this. Nice talk, thirsty lady.

I think this is the most I’ve ever learned from a GDC talk.... I’m still only halfway through! Thanks so much for this one!

I can tell she's doing this talk using her social nervousness as her only fuel source, so she's in a delicate balancing act of POWERING through this presentation and slowing down to deliver the important points, at times disarming her own anxiety with her humor. She comes off as a more enthused, engaging speaker for it. So thanks Thirsty Lady, you've shown people who have stage fright how to deliver a good presentation while still being stage-fright. The content of her presentation is great, too. I think a lot of creators have an inkling of what metamodernism can do for their work and their appreciation of other creative works, but they lacked the vocabulary to articulate and analyze, and thus understand in-depth. This content should be shown in other entertainment fields.

24:49 I haven't played dream daddy but I always viewed it as a game that's enjoyed for being funny regardless of you being a gay single father or not. Much of what she has said seems to indicate that as well. So Dream Daddy shows that inclusivity is not something that kills games, it's not a financially draining topic. What I think might be a strong argument for inclusivity in games is that there's currently a large audience that celebrate these games, very relevant to the title of the talk. I suspect that what she says at 24:31 is not a driving factor. The success of dream daddy is probably not owed to single gay dads specifically (or just gay people). That's what it sounds like she's saying to me. Unless she's about to make the argument that they're a huge influence on her marketing success. The audience that's actually swayed by inclusivity is likely to be much bigger is what I'm saying.

Some really good takeaways. Still thinking about how to apply it to different narratives. If I consider something like Darkest Dungeon, it's a real grimdark story without much ingame humor at all. It's a purely serious game with purely serious narrative. No jokes of any sorts really. But the community around it loves to make memes around the narrator's purple prose and the characters regardless. Did DD succeed because of the tone or despite it? Hmm. Lots to think about. Still don't know how best to go about trying to apply this to my own writing. I guess one thing would be to make it less serious and more silly? Or be so serious that it goes around to being not able to be taken serious at all? Boy really questioning the narrative direction here.

Leighton Gray did a version of this back at Full Indie 2017 and it was great! Awesome to see this here at GDC. 💖

Alternatively, use really old memes that have somehow preserved relevance, like the written word, the invention of fire, and the rick roll.

I came to this video to get some tips about story, script and so on, and I tried to be interested in this topic of metamodernism & inclusivity, but like she said : this is not for me.