Greg is co-founder and Chief Design Officer for Unplugged Games, a venture capital startup to produce games for Internet-enabled cellphones and other wireless devices 

Greg Costikyan's Home Page
 

[Greg_Costikyan] Good evening, citizens.
[Kammy] You guys at the convention?
[Kimmo] I'm in Finland
[TheThe] I'm far, far away in Israel.
[Greg_Costikyan] I am indeed... Hehe, then, Kimmo.
[Kammy] I'm from the USA
[Kimmo] What's so funny about Finland? Except the monty python song ;)
[Greg_Costikyan] I was in Helsinki a couple of years ago for RopeCon, the local RPG convention.
* Kimmo quietly ponders "and the crazy finn who should be sleeping at 3.30 am..."
[Togamishino] Mr.Costikyan have you read Loch by Paul Zindel?
[Kammy] I haven't been anywhere 
*G
*
[Cybling] Greg is a game designer, author and consultant. His fourth novel, First Contract, appeared from Tor in June 2000
[Greg_Costikyan] 'He' is hello or goodbye, alternatively... about the only word of Finnish I picked up, 
other than kiitos, if I'm spelling that right.
[Kimmo] Ahh, I see. I'm on the Aaland islands, myself.
[Greg_Costikyan] Or to introduce myself...
[Kimmo] It's "hei"... works in sweden too where "hej" means exactly the same
[Greg_Costikyan] I'm a relatively obscure science fiction and fantasy writer, with my fourth novel recently published, and a slew of short stories published over the years in Asimovs, Analog, and the usual crew....
[Kammy] I can say a few bad words in french, thats about it
[Cybling] Okay...
[Greg_Costikyan] I'm actually better known as a game designer with 27 commmercially published products, including Paranoia, Star Wars the RPG...
[Greg_Costikyan] Creature that Ate Sheboygan...
[Kammy] greg, you in CHicago right now?
[Greg_Costikyan] And MadMaze, on the old Prodigy propreitary network, the first online game to attract more than a million players.
[Cybling] Yes, he's sitting right next to me in the Green Room Kammy.
[Greg_Costikyan] (Yes....)
[Greg_Costikyan] At present, I';m
[Kammy] Hi Spinner
[Greg_Costikyan] working as "Chief Design Officer," a wonky new media title...
[Greg_Costikyan] For a company called Unplugged Games, which I co-founded...
[Greg_Costikyan] To develop and deploy games for Internet-enabled mobile phones, PDAs, and other wireless devices.
[Cybling] folks...I know there are a lot of RPG players here....please ask Greg questions at will.
[Teal] Ok...
[Togamishino] kk
[Greg_Costikyan] Or I could talk about the novel a bit, to be sure.
[Togamishino] Greg what kind of games do you play
[Cybling] Yes, we do want to talk about the novel.
[Greg_Costikyan] At the moment, I'm playing far too much Asheron's Call....
[Kimmo] I'd love to hear about the novel too.
[Greg_Costikyan] I have a particular thing for massively multiplayer online games....
[Teal] hrm...Which novel was that if I may ask? ^-^
[Kimmo] I tried Asherons but it never grabbed me... been playing lots of muds tho
[Greg_Costikyan] But also have spent a fair bit of time recently with The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon...
[Greg_Costikyan] I also have people in every month or so for boardgames...
[Togamishino] cool
[Cybling] Boardgames...thought they were defunct!
[Togamishino] the sims is a very cool game
[Greg_Costikyan] Mostly of the 'German adult boardgame' variety... Elfenland, Modern Art, that sort of thing.
[Cybling] Ok.
[Greg_Costikyan] No, in the US alone, boardgaming is a $1b+ market, and the Germany, it's a staple of pop culture, with most newspapers runnning reviews of new boardgames...
[Greg_Costikyan] Indeed, Germany has the most sophisticated market for boardgames in the world, the Spiel des Jahres award guarantees 100k+ unit sales, and people like Teufel and Knizia are minor national celebrities.
[Greg_Costikyan] Anyway, about the novel...
[Cybling] yes, thanks Greg.
* Teal nods slowly
[Greg_Costikyan] First Contract is billed as "a novel of big business and alien invasion"...
[Cybling] Hard SF?
[Greg_Costikyan] I usually describe it as "humorous business space opera..."
[Cybling] lol
[Greg_Costikyan] The protagonist runs a high-tech company in California...
[Greg_Costikyan] But after we make first contact with aliens, his business, along with most of the economy, goes to hell.
[Togamishino] oh wow
[Teal] Kewl ^-^
[Greg_Costikyan] Nobody wants to buy a Mercedes when they can buy a car of alien manufacture that flies and can go from o to the speed of sound in 60 seconds...
[Cybling] That's fast.
[Greg_Costikyan] Or a Pentium III if they can get a joke-cracking artificial intelligence with the power of a million Crays.,
[Teal] Wow...I want that to :P
[Cybling] Understandable. And the story follows his struggle to make a buck in the new economy?
[Kimmo] Is it just the late hour or is there a connection between the Trek movie and your title, which only differs by one letter?
[Greg_Costikyan] As a result, his company goes bankrupt, and he winds up, a derelict living along the verge of I-5 in San Jose.,
[Greg_Costikyan] (First Contact is a standard theme of science fiction, Trek hardly invented it...)
[Kimmo] Uh... nevermind I'm just semi-conscious
[Greg_Costikyan] Ultimately, he detrermines that Earth's only commpetitive advantage is cheap labor...
[Greg_Costikyan] We have to become like Taiwain, manufacturing ticky taky little pieces of plastic garbage for export to the stars...
[Greg_Costikyan] And founds a company that becomes Earth';s first major interstellar export success.
[Kimmo] (actually Taiwan manufactures much of the best computer stuff today ;)
[Cybling] Greg...this novel is currently on the shelves....
[Cybling] and we can get it from amazon.com?
[Greg_Costikyan] Err... I sure hope so.
[Cybling] Okay..this sounds like a great read.
[Cybling] Since it came out in June...you must have handed it in about a year ago?
[Teal] What century does it happen in?
[Greg_Costikyan] Well, thanks.... not a great work of world literature, I tghink, but some funny bits in it.
[Greg_Costikyan] Early 21st... near future.
[Greg_Costikyan] Yes, just about a year ago.
[Kai] Greg what is the best way to publish a short story
[Kimmo] avg customer review, 5 out of 5 stars. :)
[Greg_Costikyan] Er... In a professional medium...
[Greg_Costikyan] Do you mean "the best way to get a short story published" or "the best venue for publishing ashort story"?
[Kai] the first one
[Greg_Costikyan] Heinlein used to say that the secret to writing was..
[Greg_Costikyan] To write..
[Greg_Costikyan] To finish what you write..
[Greg_Costikyan] And to keep sending out whatyou write until it sells.
[Cybling] So, Greg, you're a RAH fan?
[Greg_Costikyan] We are not in a medium in which 'who you know' is more important than 'what you can do'...
[Teal] I recently submitted my own novel....I dunno if its really going to make it. Its over 700 pages long almost 800....what does it take to be a good writer? Besides knowing how to spell.....
[Spinner] Practice
[Teal] I have the plot and everything written...
[Greg_Costikyan] Certainly if a short story by, say, GReg Bear comes over Gardner Dos...zois's desk, he'll look it at beforeyou
[Teal] All the characters and I've been writing since I was 11 ^-^
[Greg_Costikyan] But the magaines never have enough good stuff...
[Greg_Costikyan] And professional quality work will get published ultijmately....
[Greg_Costikyan] Perseverance is about all that's required, I think.
[Cybling] Perseverance and an ability to take constructive criticism from editors?
[Kimmo] I've never read anything by you, Greg, but I think I'll get this one. I usually enjoy humorous SF a lot.
* Teal nods
[Greg_Costikyan] Thanks :)
[Cybling] Greg, you've published a lot of short stories in the big SF mags...what's the most recent one?
[Spinner] Greg, do you find your RPG experience adds complexity and depth to your writing, or does it add stronger action and more of it?
* Kimmo ponders the reviewer at Amazon: "Simply put, this book is a hoot!"
[Greg_Costikyan] The 'game' influence on fiction is something Ive spent a fair bit of time thinking about...
[Greg_Costikyan] Many game novels rfead to me as if they're very much character light...
[Greg_Costikyan] Because many are written by people who write RPG adventures.
[Greg_Costikyan] ?When you write an adventure, you actually want to keep the characters as blanks...
[Greg_Costikyan] So that players can play in the scenario with their own characters, whatever they may be.
[Greg_Costikyan] And there is never any "protagonist," becuase everyone needs to feel thathis/her character playsan important role.
[Spinner] yes, they need to be who they want to really immerse themselves in the game.
[Greg_Costikyan] I do think that my experience with RPGs, which are very story-driven....
[Greg_Costikyan] Has helped me understand gthe nature of narrative, and become a half-way decent fiction writer..
[Greg_Costikyan] But I try to avoid thinking of novels as too much like games, because they're very different beasts.
[Greg_Costikyan] Indeed, I have an article in the current issue of GAME DEVELOPER magazine...
[Greg_Costikyan] That argues that games and stories are, in some sense, antitheses...
[Greg_Costikyan] Since games must permit freedom of choice for players...
[Greg_Costikyan] And stories must occur precisely the same way each time they are read.
[Cybling] Okay...that answers my question too...lGame Developer is your most recent article.
[Kimmo] On your non-SF related work; what prompted you to get into the game market for portable devices? Just that the devices are becoming capable of great graphics or do you think the devices themselves will start sellling really well?
[Greg_Costikyan] I did some consulting to France Telecom last year...
[Kimmo] Or is that out of the scope for this chat?
* Kimmo chuckles
[Kai] Greg lets say I wanted to make a game how would i go about designing it
[Greg_Costikyan] As well as ?Roland Berger, a German management consultancy that was helping British Telecom figure out its wireless portal strategy...
[Spinner] I recently had a submission that was built to work like a game in the way the choices were made in the plotline by the reader. I haven't decided on it yet.
[Greg_Costikyan] And became convinced that WAP=enabled cellphones, despite their manifest limitations..
[Greg_Costikyan] Were a viable platform for games.
* Kimmo nods and looks at his Nokia phone. With games on it.
[Greg_Costikyan] And a platform with what everyone projects will be a truly staggering installed base ofusers in the next few years...
[Greg_Costikyan] 500m to 1b handsets worldwide.
[Greg_Costikyan] It's far from an =ideal= gaming environment
[Greg_Costikyan] But cellphones are ubiquitious....
[Greg_Costikyan] People take them everywhere... and give them a way to entertain themselves when gthey have a spare moment...
[Greg_Costikyan] And I think they'll take advantage of the opportunity.
[Greg_Costikyan] =Someone= is going to make a lot of money doing this...
[Kimmo] Yeah, there are already attempts at communicators... cellphone/PDA combos. That migth be big, methinks.
[Greg_Costikyan] My company may or may not be one that succeeds..
[Spinner] it's certainly an interesting idea.
[Greg_Costikyan] But what the hell, why not me?
[Cybling] LOL...
[Greg_Costikyan] We're starting to see some such already, yes..
[Greg_Costikyan] There;'s a Qualcomm CDMA phone with a Palm built in, for instance...
[Greg_Costikyan] And I expect the next generation of WinCE and Psion devices to have voice-over-IP built in.
[Cybling] folks..we can keep Greg surgically attached to the computer for just a few more minutes.
[Cybling] If you have questions...ask them now.
[Kimmo] Your other books, are they also humorous or more.. well, for want of a better word, serious?
[Greg_Costikyan] TThey're all humorous, in some way...
[Greg_Costikyan] Two are in the 'Cups & Sorcery' series, which I describe as JRR Tolkein meets PG Wodehouse...
[Cybling] lol
[Greg_Costikyan] And the third is a kind of anti-/conan novel...
[Greg_Costikyan] In which the hero is a mighty-thewed barbarian hero who abslutley scfrews up
[Kimmo] Wodehouse is one of my favourites. ;)
[Doranna] Title?
[Doranna] (for the barbarian one)
[Cybling] Are these both novels that are on their way to the bookstore shelves? Out already
[Greg_Costikyan] The plans of a rather unethical merchant.
[Cybling] ?
[Greg_Costikyan] The Cups & Sorcery books are..
[Greg_Costikyan] Another Day, Another Dungeon
[Greg_Costikyan] And 
[Greg_Costikyan] One Quest, Hold the Dragons
[Greg_Costikyan] The other one is By the Sword... adull title, to be sure.
[Greg_Costikyan] All out of print, alas.
[Kimmo] Warning: long Amazon url about to be cut and pasted
[Kimmo] Costikyan's Books
[Cybling] Damn. Steve Lazarowitz, who is sitting here, was just raving about Another Day too.
[Doranna] 
[scribbling] thanks... Hey, OP doesn't mean not around...
[Greg_Costikyan] No, it's possible to find copies...
[Cybling] This is true. BTW, Greg, Doranna is Doranna Durgin.
[Greg_Costikyan] I'd point you to abebooks.com, rather than Amazon for that, though...
[Cybling] okay.
[Greg_Costikyan] abe = american boook exchange, a consortium of OOP book dealers.
[Cybling] Oh great. Thanks for that URL!
[Cybling] Folks...we'll be posting the logs of today's chats early tomorrow morning on the onsite.chicon.org site
[Kimmo] Amazon doesn't seem to have more than First Contract, of your fiction, what I can see. The rest are out of stock.
[Doranna] Yep, it's a great service.
[Cybling] Okay...we're about to cut the duct tape that has Gred bound to the chair.
[Cybling] Any final final questions?
[Cybling] Okay...let's thank Greg...
[Cybling] an amazingly fast typist...
[Cybling] for joining us tonight!!!!
[Greg_Costikyan] Do svidanya, tovarischs
[Kimmo] Great talking with you, Greg, and good luck with both the book and the games venture!
* Cybling Clapping
[Greg_Costikyan] Kiitos....
[Doranna] 
[clap clap!]
* Kimmo looks impressed and mumbles "he even spelled it right"