episode

The Ringer&#039;s Ben Lindbergh and Jason Concepcion reflect on why video game makers are hesitant to talk about the development process publicly (0:15). Then they talk to one who isn&#039;t: Walt Williams, who&#039;s worked on &#039;BioShock,&#039; &#039;Spec Ops: The Line,&#039; and &#039;Star Wars Battlefront II,&#039; among many other games, and joins the podcast to discuss how game-writing works (20:35), the perils of crunch (25:20), the pitfall of player choice (38:42), how to make morality interesting in interactive games (43:15), and his new book, &#039;Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games.&#039;
 
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Ben is a writer, podcaster, and editor who covers culture and sports. He hosts ‘Effectively Wild’ at FanGraphs and previously wrote for FiveThirtyEight and Grantland, served as editor-in-chief of Baseball Prospectus, and authored ‘The MVP Machine’ and ‘The Only Rule Is It Has to Work.’

Video Game Writer Walt Williams on ‘Significant Zero’ (Ep. 53)

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