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The Ethics of Interviews: Bracketing

 
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GDRI



Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 352

PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:19 pm    Post subject: The Ethics of Interviews: Bracketing Reply with quote

First of all, I conduct all my interviews for GDRI by e-mail. Yeah, that's probably the worst way to conduct one, but that's my only option.

I was editing my latest when I got the urge to look up brackets, and now I'm more confused than ever.

Original e-mail wrote:
As Japan proved, I'm the kind of guy that terrible with languages, and need to be immersed in it to start learning.


Edit with brackets wrote:
As Japan proved, I'm the kind of guy that [is] terrible with languages and [needs] to be immersed in it to start learning.


Edit without brackets wrote:
As Japan proved, I'm the kind of guy that is terrible with languages and needs to be immersed in it to start learning.


Is it, shall we say, ethical to not use brackets when inserting words like this or fixing typos?

Here's another example from an interviewee who was dropping words left and right:

Quote:
I have actually worked on and seen many video games that did not ship, including Akira for Game Gear, Crash Test Dummies for Game Gear, Dinoblades for Genesis/SNES/Jaguar (a Teenage Mutant Ninja [Turtles]-like [game], except [with] dinosaurs on rollerblades), Harley Davidson on Game Boy, Deep Space Angels and Fairway Foxes by Heroine Entertainment.


The stuff in brackets are my insertions. Could I get away without the brackets?
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My preference would be to use the brackets. That being said, I edited a lot of stuff for here without using brackets, but that was less interview content than article content, so meh.
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TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In a paid, professional environment, I ditched the brackets if the fix I made was without a shadow of a doubt the intent of the original speaker.

Also, I have a REALLY early version of Dynoblaze for the Sega CD that I haven't really done anything with yet. It's not even a game yet, it's just a character sprite that can walk over a few backgrounds and swing a hockey stick.
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you talking to the CEO of Bonsai or the programmer for Bonsai?

There was a huge drama over DynoBlaze. The coder had sabotaged a lot of the code, according to the CEO, due to them not having a good working relationship.

I'd like to know more about this.
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Come to think of it, I have some Bonsai source code too, for Home Alone 2 on the NES I think?
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Vlcice



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TheRedEye wrote:
Also, I have a REALLY early version of Dynoblaze for the Sega CD that I haven't really done anything with yet. It's not even a game yet, it's just a character sprite that can walk over a few backgrounds and swing a hockey stick.


I'm curious, is about the same as the Genesis version B00daW released?
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GDRI



Joined: 29 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

1) Okay, I can see not using brackets for typos or single-word insertions, but what about this?

When I was talking to John Bartak, he listed the games he did at Ringler Studios as follows:

Quote:
ESPN Sunday Night Football for SNES and Sega Genesis
Clay Fighter for Sega Genesis
Brett Hull Hockey for Atari Jaguar
Charles Barkley Basketball for Atari Jaguar


Some of those titles are not totally correct. Do I a) correct them with brackets, b) correct them without brackets, or c) leave them alone?

Same with the Steven Dwyer interview. He kept calling Mario Superstar Baseball "Super Mario Baseball." Correct or leave alone?

2)
TheRedEye wrote:
Also, I have a REALLY early version of Dynoblaze for the Sega CD that I haven't really done anything with yet. It's not even a game yet, it's just a character sprite that can walk over a few backgrounds and swing a hockey stick.


How many versions were they doing? Kevin Seghetti recently told me he was working on a 3DO version at Alexandria.

3)
B00daW wrote:
Are you talking to the CEO of Bonsai or the programmer for Bonsai?


I sure wish I could get in touch with them. The Bonsai website works, but the e-mail addresses do not.

4)
TheRedEye wrote:
Come to think of it, I have some Bonsai source code too, for Home Alone 2 on the NES I think?


The game says it was developed by Imagineering, but hey...looks like Joseph Moses from Bonsai worked on it.
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is not official, professional advice, this is just what I would do.

GDRI wrote:
Some of those titles are not totally correct. Do I a) correct them with brackets, b) correct them without brackets, or c) leave them alone


His intent is obvious, no brackets.

GDRI wrote:

[Same with the Steven Dwyer interview. He kept calling Mario Superstar Baseball "Super Mario Baseball." Correct or leave alone?


Put brackets around Mario Superstar and have Baseball as his direct quote, so [Mario Superstar] Baseball. Or just correct it with no brackets, that one is obvious too.

GDRI wrote:
How many versions were they doing? Kevin Seghetti recently told me he was working on a 3DO version at Alexandria.


I might have footage of that on a VHS tape (no player to test). I only know of SNES, Sega CD and 3DO offhand, but I wouldn't really call myself an expert, considering how completely uninteresting the game concept is to me.

GDRI wrote:
The game says it was developed by Imagineering, but hey...looks like Joseph Moses from Bonsai worked on it.


Yeah, I kind of inherited a bunch of Joe's stuff from a collector guy who must have bought anything Joe had that wasn't nailed down, most interesting among it being some design docs for unreleased Disney-themed Game Boy games and the aforementioned source code.
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TheRedEye wrote:
GDRI wrote:
The game says it was developed by Imagineering, but hey...looks like Joseph Moses from Bonsai worked on it.


Yeah, I kind of inherited a bunch of Joe's stuff from a collector guy who must have bought anything Joe had that wasn't nailed down, most interesting among it being some design docs for unreleased Disney-themed Game Boy games and the aforementioned source code.

Back in the early 2000's I had conducted an interview with Joe of Bonsai for FeFeA at the time. His music handle is "Holy Joe Rock n' Roll". You'll also see that in a few of the games that he has coded. There also is a hidden easter egg for Home Alone 2 in one of the newsletters. Make sure to read the others for more neat celebrity and game developing news of the time. Very Happy

I'll try to see if I can somehow dig up some of the interview stuff, but it would be close to impossible due to all of the data loss and moving since then. Razz
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GDRI



Joined: 29 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

B00daW wrote:
Back in the early 2000's I had conducted an interview with Joe of Bonsai for FeFeA at the time. His music handle is "Holy Joe Rock n' Roll". You'll also see that in a few of the games that he has coded. There also is a hidden easter egg for Home Alone 2 in one of the newsletters. Make sure to read the others for more neat celebrity and game developing news of the time. Very Happy


The e-mail address at holyjoe.com doesn't work, either (even though mailtester.com says it's valid). It's as if the Moseses have fallen off the face of the earth.
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B00daW
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

He doesn't really reveal much about himself anymore. Razz I've heard from other people that they can't contact him; and from personal experience, I've experienced the same thing.
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rbudrick
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Imo, Red is right an all counts. It is the most professional and accepted way any writer or editor would handle these situations.

-Rob
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GDRI



Joined: 29 Nov 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some more situations:

Stuff in brackets are my addition

Quote:
I did do some prototyping work on a 3D golf game while at Activision after writing Kabobber [unreleased Atari 2600 game], but there wasn't interest in my continuing the project.


Quote:
Also Supercross [2000] for N64 and Playstation 1, I think.


Quote:
Spectacular Games, Inc. was the developer of NFL 96 [Prime Time NFL Football Starring Deion Sanders] and NFL 98 Genesis for Sega Sports (there was no NFL 97, we were focused on the aborted 32X at the time), responsible for the design, art, sound, and programming of these titles, completed with a combination of in-house and out-of-house talent as per the credits in those titles.


There is no NFL 96. It was called Prime Time NFL Football Starring Deion Sanders, though it may have been NFL 96 at one point, I suppose.

What about notes like these?

Quote:
Subcontractor, guy who crashed on Dave [Warhol]'s couch when crunch time came around.


Quote:
I don't know if [Nuvision president] Ron [Leong] had arranged a license for Beanball Benny, but it sounds plausible.


Quote:
[Founder and president] Jay Smith billed it as a "toy think tank." I used to know the difference in intent between the two company names, but the distinction has faded over time.


Quote:
After David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama formed Sega in Japan as an amusement machine company, the first US operation was in the San Diego area - Sega and some other arcade company initially merged, but I'm blanking on the name of the other San Diego company [Gremlin Industries].


What if the person corrects themselves later? Can I go back and change the original answer?

Quote:
Chase and I also developed the software for Montezuma's Revenge, also for Parker Brothers, running on the Atari 7800 system. Another game we worked on, Q*bert Word for the 7800, never saw the light of day.


Quote:
Sorry, I was incorrect in naming the 7800 system. Both Montezuma and Q*bert Word were developed for the Atari 800 system.
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ICEknight



Joined: 15 Dec 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I personally think that many "wrong" game names devs remember might be the actual project names, or even other unreleased games altogether, so it would be safer to leave those as they remember them, and then put an acclaration in the lines of: [he's possibly referring to X game].

Else, the correction might be removing some (kinda) relevant information.
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