Hopes and Fears on Mass Effect: Andromeda

Growing up, I have always been drawn to the storytelling ability of video games. Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic may have been the first game I played that fully immersed me into the idea that video games could be an advanced form of storytelling, one that merges reader/player and protagonist. Years later, their Mass Effect trilogy made that idea into a reality. With Mass Effect: Andromeda, the question becomes: What new directions will the storytelling go?

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Lessons Learned From Fanfiction

In today’s world, many writers start by writing fanfiction. For those who don’t know, fanfiction is original work based on/inspired by existing properties. It is amateur work (although one could make the argument that the expanded universe of something like Star Wars is simply professional fanfiction), written by fans for fans. On the surface, there is no merit to it. Authors will never be paid for their work. That said, it can be a value learning tool. A free workshop in a sense.

I wrote a lengthy fanfiction story for Avatar: the Last Airbender and I will attest to the value in what was a tremendous learning experience.

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