Re: STC is broken

[Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

I wouldn't call all game developers "technical communicators", but I 
sure as shooting think every game company should employ at least 1 
technical communicator to carry out duties related to interface 
consultation, story consultation, usability, and a host of other things 
that relate to users being able to play and enjoy the game. I have been 
so frustrated with games such as Vanguard and EQ2 because there is such 
a complete lack of user support built into those games. This is fodder 
for a whole other thread, but game developers who care about technical 
communication issues are definitely needed and can be considered 
technical communicators. But not every game developer needs to be 
trained in technical communication (though it wouldn't hurt them a bit). 
:-)

Thee are a lot of people out there who perform technical communication 
functions without having the title. Wouldn't it be nice if there was 
enough awareness about those functions that the profession and the 
Society got the credit?
--Beth (70 combat rogue on WoW)

Dan Goldstein wrote:
> You wrote: "Technical communication, on the other hand, is a much larger
> community. For example I teach VR training developers, game developers,
> technical animators, and videographers in our program."
>
> You're including game developers in the community of technical
> communicators. That's where we disagree.
>
> Happy Wednesday,
>
> Dan
>
> P.S.: I take no offense at your use of the terms "twisted" and
> "back-handed." You should hear the terms my teenagers use!
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: David Hailey
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 4:03 PM
>> To: Dan Goldstein; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>> Subject: RE: STC is broken
>>
>> three points.
>>
>> Point 1: You said, I've never interviewed game developers, 
>> but I'm pretty sure that their resumes don't - and won't - be 
>> titled, "Technical Communicator." I responded with a 
>> description for how I use these technologies to produce 
>> technical communication and made the statement "my resume is 
>> titled 'Technical Communicator'."
>>
>> Point 2: You said "Flash isn't 'on the fringe.' I've used 
>> Flash for technical documentation, and so have plenty of 
>> other Whirlers." I did not say that Flash was on the fringe.  
>> Using game technology, however, for technical instruction is 
>> still uncommon in the profession -- it's on the fringe. Using 
>> Flash's ActionScript is just one of the tools that can be 
>> used for that purpose -- so is Basic, Java, C++, and 
>> JavaScript.  I have said nothing that implies Flash or 
>> ActionScript or any of the other programming languages are on 
>> the fringe. It's not about the language, it's about its use.
>>
>> Point 3: You say, "That doesn't mean that everyone who uses 
>> Flash is creating technical documentation."  Where in 
>> anything I said did I imply that using Flash made one a 
>> technical communicator? That also doesn't mean that everyone 
>> who uses Word is creating technical documentation.  I guess I 
>> don't understand your logic here -- kinda' twisted I think. I 
>> said some people who use flash are technical communicators.  
>> You say some people who use flash are not technical 
>> communicators. Sounds like you are supporting my point in a 
>> back-handed sort of way.
>>
>>     
>
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