Starglyte
Apr 20 2005, 03:19 AM
I was just bouncing around the wiki and ran across the Shadowrun entry. It gave a basic rundown of the game and such, but what caught my attention was the fact it stated that William Gibson did not like Shadowrun due to the fantasy races. Checked out some of the other entries leading from the entry, including Mr. Gibson Blog. His remarks about Shadowrun are near the bottom on May 8, 2003. Well, you can't please them all. I still find it ironic that the author who had the most to deal with the cyberpunk genre(IMO) dislikes the only Cyberpunk RPG to stand the test of time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun
Kaosaur
Apr 20 2005, 03:29 AM
Cyberpunk as a literary genre has been long dead.
William Gibson is just being ornary.
Ancient History
Apr 20 2005, 03:43 AM
<shrug> He's entitled to his opinion. I mean, you might could see how he would dislike a game that blatantly "borrows" from his work mixed with something as antithetical as contemporary fantasy. The Tolkein reference probably didn't help any.
lorthazar
Apr 20 2005, 03:44 AM
Actually he is performing an action for which authors should be hanged. Reading a book by the cover.
Kaosaur
Apr 20 2005, 05:11 AM
I think William Gibson should be much more worried about things that he's written rather than things that borrow from him...like the screenplay for Johnny Mnemonic for example.
(Don't get me wrong, I kinda like the movie...but Cyberpunk fans hate it and consider it the death of the genre)
Crimson Jack
Apr 20 2005, 05:19 AM
So you dislike Johnny Mnemonic for the screenplay, or the rest of the shite that composed the film (ie acting, direction, editing, cinematography, a dolphin, etc.)?
Arethusa
Apr 20 2005, 05:22 AM
Crimson Jack
Apr 20 2005, 05:25 AM
So have a large number of discussions on DSF. Give it a break.
Kaosaur
Apr 20 2005, 05:45 AM
The only reason that Gibson doesn't like it is because he's not making a lot of money off of it.
I believe that's all that needs to be said on the matter.
Arethusa
Apr 20 2005, 05:53 AM
Why, thank you for that preternaturally insightful commentary. I sure am glad no one thought up that bit of well thought out criticism of Gibson before. I am so glad that you managed to maintain your composure and objectivity in recognizing and responding to those criticial of Shadowrun, and it really is good to see calm, rational Shadowrun fans not getting defensive when someone disagrees with them. Good work!
And I think it is further worth pointing out that no one is making a lot of money off Shadowrun. It is rather unlikely that Rob is driving to GenCon in his brand new 997 Carrerra.
mfb
Apr 20 2005, 06:10 AM
that's right. he's saving that for the autobahn!
Sandoval Smith
Apr 20 2005, 06:21 AM
| QUOTE (Kaosaur @ Apr 20 2005, 12:45 AM) |
The only reason that Gibson doesn't like it is because he's not making a lot of money off of it.
I believe that's all that needs to be said on the matter. |
Sorry, play again later.
From the experince I've had with people who like both Gibson's writing and SR, they tend to be rather enthusiastic about both. So it doesn't take any great leap of faith to imagine that Shadowrun is something that fans mention to him not all that infrequently, and from my own experince in fandom circles, these sorts of exchanges can be highly embarassing to observe.
Given his work with Cyberpunk 2020 I don't think he dislikes it because it's an RPG, but more because it's a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid that is only related to his own work in the most tangential of ways, and yet keeps getting brought up in front of him.
I think it was pretty silly that this fact was brought up on the Shadowrun wiki. The fact that he doesn't like SR really has no bearing on anything. He probably takes the work he invested on writing his books pretty seriously, and hearing frequent comparisons between it and a game with minimal 'cyberpunk' elements, and a heavy does of fantasy would irk me too.
Critias
Apr 20 2005, 06:58 AM
| QUOTE (Kaosaur) |
The only reason that Gibson doesn't like it is because he's not making a lot of money off of it.
I believe that's all that needs to be said on the matter. |
Oh, well, shit. I guess they might as well just go on ahead and close down the thread, then, huh? You've spoken, end of conversation, right?
Nevermind that he might just not like it because he doesn't like it. There's no possible way he can be telling the truth when he says he just finds it distastefull and amusing to see his work mixed with Tolkien -- no, sir, that's quite simply not possible. He's obviously just anti-Shadowrun (and, having spoken about it twice in twenty years, he's obviously a rabid hater of SR and all those who enjoy it) because he's not rolling around naked in stacks of cash money from it, like that megalomaniacal multigazillionaire, Rob Boyle.
Kaosaur
Apr 20 2005, 05:49 PM
Sorry, I was in a really spiteful mood yesterday and I'm not the biggest fan of Gibson's...
Crimson Jack
Apr 22 2005, 03:39 AM
There's no foul in stating an opinion. I'm not a big fan of his work either and find his remarks borderline smug, considering that he doesn't hold the patent on a dystopian future.
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