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[Mahkara]

Anyway, I was just thinking about how awesome it is that Bioware will be displaying art at SDCC and wondered if they would ever do something similar with fanfiction.  (And whether fanfiction authors/readers would be interested.)

I can think of a fair number of authors who've published what is essentially fanfiction of their own creations (Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover anthologies come to mind), and I was curious as to whether Bioware might ever do something similar. (i.e. publish a "best of" book of short fanfiction stories from one or more of their universes).  

[mousestalker]

From Bioware's point of view, it would be a rather bad idea. It would likely erode their intellectual property rights to their disfavour. The best fanfic authors should ever hope for is benign neglect.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

It's a nice idea and considering Bioware's focus on brilliant writing in their games I kinda wish they would do something for their wordsmith fans, but I think mouse is right.

Maybe Bioware will do a comp one day for short orginal Codex-like entries and put the best in a future game, but true fanfiction that uses existing NPCs seems to step on the toes of too many people.

[Corker]

They did run a writing contest a bit back, didn't they? And the winner came onto the FF Sucks thread to tell us how we were wasting our time and ought to work for Harlequin Romance instead?

Big pretty pictures serve as attractors for their booth. They don't cost much to get printed up and they drive traffic; people can admire them in the span of a few moments and then start looking at the other things at the booth. Looking is free, but many people can look at the same print.

A book of stories won't get them any of that. You can't absorb it in under five minutes, you need separate copies for each person interested, and if it does get their attention, they stand there reading it and ignoring your booth.

Perhaps they'll one day open the IP up for authors who are not David Gaider to write official novels?

Edit: Upon rereading, I (finally) understand that Mahkara is not necessarily saying that the fanfic collection would be available at the ComicCon... So you mean, soliciting short stories and selling the resulting paperback in bookstores?

MZB aside, I don't know that I've seen much of that kind of thing for (say) Star Trek or the Forgotten Realms (but then, I haven't paid attention in many years).  They've certainly got the fanbases to do it, so... I wonder if there's a bu$ine$$ reason not to. 

Modifié par Corker, 09 juillet 2011 - 02:11 .

[mousestalker]

Two people who would excel at such a venture have posts directly above this. :happy:

A writing contest legally differs from unsolicited fiction.

Modifié par mousestalker, 09 juillet 2011 - 01:56 .

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

@Corker I think it was the Dragon Age Podcast team that ran the writing competition in question? That was the one involving writing letters to LIs, wasn't it, with the reward being some DLC?

The only real writing competition I remember Bioware running was a dialogue-driven mod contest using the NWN engine, and the 'prize' was being considered for a job at the company. I understand they were short on dialogue writers at the time. That was several years ago though, before DA.

Edit #1: I do remember another DA writing contest, though I don't think it was actually 'sponsored' by Bioware? I recall the prize going to an original fic based on an OC from Haven, no established NPCs involved, but that's all.

Edit #2: Of course there was no gallery-esque showcasing involved. Corker's right about fiction not being really appropriate for booth displays, but there are probably other places where putting up writing and giving writers a nod would work, like a website. Again though, I doubt fanfiction based on existing NPCs would be welcome...and for most of us, playing with the NPCs is half of what fanfic is about.

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 09 juillet 2011 - 02:39 .

[Freckles04]

I've thought before that it would be neat if Bioware held a writing contest for an anthology based on a specific theme. There are a ton of talented writers in this fandom and more than enough room in the world of Thedas created for a plethora of ideas and characters. But, like Shadow said, it would likely have to be stories that revolve around original characters rather than NPCs from the game.

Maybe something for Bioware to consider after Dragon Age: Asunder comes out? I know David Gaider has said previously that he didn't have time for writing more books (so YAY on a new one coming out, that was a surprise), so a contest for a fan-based anthology could be a way to keep the fan community engaged in the space between games.

[Mahkara]

mousestalker wrote...

Two people who would excel at such a venture have posts directly above this. :happy:

A writing contest legally differs from unsolicited fiction.

I was thinking a writing contest/company sponsered anthology, not unsolicited fiction.  

Blizzard had one a few years back, but I personally found the writing to be rather sub-par.  But that said, if you compare, say, World of Warcraft in game writing to Bioware in game writing, there's...well, not really a comparison. I'd honestly love to see what would come out of something similar, just done in a different fandom.  

[Mahkara]

Corker wrote...

Edit: Upon rereading, I (finally) understand that Mahkara is not necessarily saying that the fanfic collection would be available at the ComicCon... So you mean, soliciting short stories and selling the resulting paperback in bookstores?

MZB aside, I don't know that I've seen much of that kind of thing for (say) Star Trek or the Forgotten Realms (but then, I haven't paid attention in many years).  They've certainly got the fanbases to do it, so... I wonder if there's a bu$ine$$ reason not to. 

Yep, sorry, I was rather unclear.  In your edit, I think you described what I actually meant. (And did a very poor job in explaining...)

Potentially, too, I could see not even having a paperback, but rather have just the stories posted on the website or whatever.  (Along with whatever prizes they felt like offering.)  I'd be curious to see what came out of it...

I've seen a little of that kind of thing in different fandoms - but yes, not much.  I do wonder if there's a business reason, or if it's sentimental, or something else entirely.  Just because, to me, it sounds like an interesting concept.  (And as a teenager, I totally loved the Darkover anthologies...)

[Maria13]

Thinking about this last night. How about anthologies around popular NPCs? ("Aspects of Alistair" "More on Morrigan", for example). The Alistair, Zevran, Morrigan, Fenris and Anders books alone will be very hefty tomes. Then we would have another anthology on minor DA:O characters and minor DA2 characters.

That would be for starters...

[Freckles04]

Mahkara wrote...

{snip}

I've seen a little of that kind of thing in different fandoms - but yes, not much.  I do wonder if there's a business reason, or if it's sentimental, or something else entirely.  Just because, to me, it sounds like an interesting concept.  (And as a teenager, I totally loved the Darkover anthologies...)

I would think it would be an issue with organizing such a thing. They would likely get thousands of entries and have to dig through crap for the gems.

For a lot of companies, there's the copyright issue as well. They own the world and their legal team might be against opening it up to fans. For Bioware, they seem less worried about that (as evidenced by the "community creations" forums), but who knows.

Opening up a contest for a fan anthology posted online, though...from my perspective, this is the best of both worlds. There's no real publishing cost (just space on their servers for a time). The kicker is that it takes a hell of a lot more time and effort to judge stories than artwork, so that's still an investment they'd have to make.

[Freckles04]

Maria13 wrote...

Thinking about this last night. How about anthologies around popular NPCs? ("Aspects of Alistair" "More on Morrigan", for example). The Alistair, Zevran, Morrigan, Fenris and Anders books alone will be very hefty tomes. Then we would have another anthology on minor DA:O characters and minor DA2 characters.

That would be for starters...

Though that would be a lot of fun, I can't see them soliciting stories for existing characters.  They could?  But I think, if Bioware ever went this route, that an anthology with original characters in the setting would be more digestable. David Gaider said at the PAX livestreams last year that he's not crazy about fanfiction featuring characters he's created, which is completely understandable. They're his.

What they COULD do, though, is maybe request stories to fill in holes not covered by the game, and select one of those to become "canon" (e.g., the six months between Alistair's recruitment and Ostagar, for example). That would be interesting.

Modifié par Freckles04, 09 juillet 2011 - 04:01 .

[Maria13]

One can but dream...

[mousestalker]

The trick of any story competition is finding judges. An awful lot of fanfic is simply dreadful. The judges would need to wade through a sea of story sludge in hopes of turning up some pearls. The Bioware employees are already busy doing their regular jobs. Which means the judges would pretty much have to be volunteers of one sort or another.

[Morwen Eledhwen]

Well, but most bad fanfic "announces" itself pretty quickly, so it's not like the judges would have to read every word of every fanfic. . .

[Corker]

mousestalker wrote...

Two people who would excel at such a venture have posts directly above this. :happy:

Thanks for the vote of confidence, mouse! <3

[Maria Caliban]

mousestalker wrote...

From Bioware's point of view, it would be a rather bad idea. It would likely erode their intellectual property rights to their disfavour. The best fanfic authors should ever hope for is benign neglect.

The existence of fanfiction might hypothetically erode a company's IP, but editing and publishing a collection of Dragon Age stories wouldn't. Look at Dungeons and Dragons.

It's only fanfiction when it's not supported by the license holders.

[Maria13]

It's a custom over here to charge a minimum fee for competition entries thus some competitions can pay for themselves and a nominal fee to the judges...

Maria C yep it could build on the love for all things DA that many of us who write and read such FF feel.

What unfortunately may never see the light of day will be a "DA XXX" anthology...

[Sialater]

A professional editor can spot a crappy story in two sentences. There aren't THAT many of us who write for this fandom. Even fewer who'd have an idea in time. And no, if it were a contest or solicitation for the best short stories in the fandom (which would leave some of us out, like me, LOL), like Maria said, there would be no erosion of copyrights.

ESPECIALLY if they specified that an established character cannot appear in your story.

[Corker]

Maria13 wrote...

What unfortunately may never see the light of day will be a "DA XXX" anthology...

laaawl, oh heck no.  That would be a PR nightmare.

But the Internet is for porn.*  We'll be all right.

*(LGT Avenue Q song of dubious safe for workosity.)

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Nooo...we'd never see a DA XXX anthology. Heck, some of the Big Names that do allow fanfiction to be pulished have specific rules against stuff like that because they want to keep their franchise PG and moderately clean-cut.

[mousestalker]

Y'know, a XXX short story contest has a certain potential. Arimod would be the logical condidate to run the idea by. Dunno what could be offered as prize/incentive to judge other than glory.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Zevran's chastity belt? Fo realz?

[Aroihkin]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...
Zevran's chastity belt? Fo realz?

Mmm, chastity belt.

I'm sorry, I'll lurk over in that other corner over there.

Corker wrote...
They did run a writing contest a bit back, didn't they? And the winner came onto the FF Sucks thread to tell us how we were wasting our time and ought to work for Harlequin Romance instead?

BRB, lolling forever. Shoot me if I ever develop that kind of ego. Or lack of perspective.

[WeRtheBrox]

Corker wrote...

But the Internet is for porn.*  We'll be all right.

*(LGT Avenue Q song of dubious safe for workosity.)

As a former theatre student, I am ashamed that this is the first I've heard this song!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go reattach my @ss.  'Cuz, you know, I laughed it off.