thusspokenarcissus

Hey Jeff, I've been a fan since 2004 and I've loved to see the way your games have developed, in terms of mechanics, world-making, plot, and engine. My question, though, concerns your plots exclusively. You've made some pretty heavy issues (resource depletion in A6, slavery in the Geneforge world, imperialism in Nethergate, etc.) central to the worlds you make. What inspires you to select the issues you do?

Ever since the completion of the first Avernum/Exile trilogy, your games have taken a bit of a darker turn. Geneforge is infamous for forcing the PC to pick the lesser of two, three, four, and even five evils. The second Avernum trilogy concludes with Avernum a shadow of its former power. Avadon doesn't even let players make major, global changes to the endings. What made you change to having video games be more realistic and less escapist?

How long do you plan to keep writing games? Obviously, you're going to have to help pay for college tuition when the time comes, so it won't be too soon I'd imagine.

You've said here and elsewhere that you think video games can be a form of art; you've even promoted some games you consider to be artistic on your blog. What principles and themes do you consider most important to your games as art?