“Growing up, Stafford studied classical music,’”
Did you even read the page you got that from? Glenn has actual credentials. Training in the aspect he now directs. Alex does not.
Also Grandblade, Citation needed for the sweeping statement that Alex made WoW succesful almost single-handedly.
So just because you can’t find anything that said Alex studied Hemingway or Tolkien, that automatically means he doesn’t have said credentials? It sounds to me that simply because you don’t like the current story Alex is the creative head of - which mind you, is FAR from his first story, he’s had many good ones before this - you want to accuse him of not having the legitimate credentials.
You can have strong opinions about a creative, and they can be valid. But that doesn’t mean they lack the credentials.
Show me where I said anything resembling that Alex is almost single-handedly responsible for WoW’s success. That’s not at all what I said. I said he had a large part in it, which is true - Alex has been around since the beginning, and he’s put out manifold good stories as the creative quest or story lead.
You can have a strong opinion about Alex now. But you have to acknowledge that he was a big player in the times when WoW was lauded.
Just to follow up on this, here’s Chris Metzen’s resume, and it’s all in house with Blizzard too.
He was also frequently produced concept art and finished pieces that pretty much defined the Warcraft style- despite being hired on as a writer as opposed to an artist.
“Lack of credentials outside of World of Warcraft” doesn’t really hold a lot of water when we’re talking about him being creative director for, let me see here… -checks notes- …World of Warcraft.
Also there’s three things to consider that I know lore nerds dislike, but here goes.
The story will never be as good as you want it to be.
The quality of story is inversely proportional to how well that story can be conveyed through game play.
Game play will always take precedent over story if there is ever a conflict.
Would you want modern WoW to still use Metzen’s concept art, or would you stick to hired profesionals? Metzen did concept art when Blizzard was small and lacked resources. Now they are a multi million dollar industry titan and can hire dedicated concept artists. But they can’t be bothered to hire a Creative Director with actual credentials.
So, lemme get this clear… Afrasiabi’s only real credentials are writing for World of Warcraft, so you think that this disqualifies him for writing for World of Warcraft… is that what you’re pushing here?
I did look.
“Studied classical music” with absolutely no reference to any schools or degrees or programs to his name do not credentials make. By that metric, I’m a downright Renaissance man, as I studied quite a few subjects growing up, and continue to study others now.
Your feelings regarding Alex are irrelevant, so are your baseless assertions that he had a major hand in WoW’s success or your opinion that said success depended on him which is demeaning to everyone else that made WoW a hit while Alex was an associate quest designer.
This is the part that’s bothering me most.
What kind of training are you looking for here? A BA in English? An MFA? Like, what’s the specific credential you think video-game writers should have to be allowed to work in their field?
Lead quest designer (since BC).
Lead world designer (since Wrath).
But… somehow your’s are? This isn’t the first story Alex was the Creative Director of, yet we didn’t hear a peep from you about nepotism until now.
Also my assertions aren’t baseless. Alex Afrasiabi has been continually credited as the lead quest and creative designer at Blizzard, so unless Blizzard is outright lying and Alex has some ghost director, he literally DID have a big hand in WoW’s success. You’re only critical of him now because you don’t like the current story.
Alex lacks something as simple and basic as a community college course on creative writing. There is no indication that he was even involved with penn and paper fantasy RPGs or the like. No short stories, no nothing.
What is known is that he designed quests. Emphasis on design, as that was his job in Vanilla. So at best he came up with NPC names and quest text to link gameplay together. He is now Creative Director for this multi million dollar IP. If you can’t connect on why this is bad for said IP or recognize that during his tenure we have seen some of the most reviled story developments in the history of this franchise, then you can’t be helped.
Who do we have to blame for the awful creative choices besides the Creative Director?
There’s also no indication that he hasn’t taken any of these things. Just because you can’t find a full history on the guy doesn’t mean he doesn’t have one.
So how exactly is this NOT about your feelings, and how are they somehow more relevant than another person’s? I’m not even arguing based on my feelings about Alex, I’m just being objective based on the seven expansions before this and the lack of “WHERE CREDENTIALS!?” during any of those.
Ion. Ion definitely has way more responsibility for the direction of BfA than Alex. Ion makes the decisions, Alex makes the decisions work for the narrative to the best of his ability.
Absolutely Ion. Alex can make suggestions, and may have more or less freedom depending on the relationship between him and Ion. But other than that, Ion is definitely responsible.
The abscence of evidence is not evidence. The evidence as it stands says he has no training.
Likewise it is not my feelings regarding Alex that is in question, his obvious lack of experience for his position is. Also you cannot say in good faith that he has been successful at leading CDev given the mountain of discontent with the story and characters of Warcraft people have built since Cata.
Unlike you I can safely assert that Alex has been awful as Lead CDirector because of this brewing dislike of the story that has climaxed in BFA, the lazy MoP rehash that has left many players such as myself disgusted with the IPs direction. You cannot deny this, just look at the ocean of dissatisfaction generated on these forums.
Yes, the absence of evidence is not evidence. Therefore, the evidence as it stands does not confirm that Alex has no training.
Also, literally everything you just said is based off of subjective interpretation. Mounting discontent can be attributed to many factors, but to my knowledge, it has never been brought to a head as much until BFA. Prior to this, there were criticisms, but by and large the story was fairly well-received. All of this, mind you, was while Alex headed CDev.
Literally in the same sentence, you contradict yourself. You can HAVE an opinion about Alex. But your discontent over the narrative - which you’re very thinly trying to paint as objectivity - is not grounds to say he doesn’t have the credentials to write for WoW, nor that it’s nepotism to make the guy who’s only written for WoW continue to write for WoW.
A poor decision? Well, that’s up to the beholder. There’s no objective way of saying that.
As opposed all the other video-game writers who learned to write from UCLA’s “Intro to Creative Writing,” made their debut in the Iowa Monthly, and then got hired on to write for video games, I guess.
Academic training is such an insignificant part of how most writers learn their craft. At best it’s a McKee-style parroting of Aristotle that teaches structural analysis that’s useless until you learn it intuitively from reading, and at worst it’s insipid liberal gatekeeping for “postmodern” “radicals” who think fiction isn’t worth a rat’s spit unless it’s a “realistic” plot-less “character piece” about an angsty middle-aged white dude–the kind of people, in other words, who all think video games aren’t “real art” anyway.
I guarantee WoW wouldn’t be better off if Afrasiabi had a degree in creative writing. I promise you it would be the same or worse. It’s all completely iirrelevant to the kind of work Afrasiabi is doing.
hell golden has like a library of books alot which are good, and people hate her still.
So you’re saying he… wrote… stories, In context of game mechanics… for… a game.
Look man do your thing, but it’s kinda looking like you’re just mad for the sake of being mad.
If i see one more person try to use the word “postmodern” in this way I very well may have to boil a kitten in pureed canteloupe and sell the resulting stew as a performance piece to someone named “Vinclair St. Elieés”
Will this be you, the author, you the gnome named Knami, or will it be the disembodied text itself wreaking revenge on the cat-filled reality that tried to kill its magisterial authority?