Sudiva Fiction Writing Contest – Judging, Judged
Two articles from a few days ago, mentioning the judging of the Sudiva Fiction Writing Contest, as well as the contest winners make for an interesting read.
If you don’t know who Sudiva is, you should read the UO Guide’s Sudiva Entry – she was a favorite dragon of many players and was a major part of the True Sacrifice Quest.
Winners
– First Place – Treasure by Alouenikah
– Second Place – Sudiva’s Last Tear by Martyna Z’muir
– Third Place – Sudiva Enshrined by Jhym
The two articles were interesting, because the first one described the judging by Kate Flack, a (or The) Lead Designer for UO:
When Ultima Online producer Bonnie Armstrong asked me to help judge a fiction competition, little did I know just how creative and inspired the entries would be! As a Lead Designer for BioWare Mythic, I deal with writing every day. Whether it’s technical precision or emotive dialogue, I’m constantly assessing my team’s writing and pushing them to deliver at ever higher grades of quality.
I fully expected to be the ‘bad cop’ judge. I’ve made a career of IP interpolation (that’s industry jargon for ‘coming up with new stuff that fits the game world’) and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to explain ‘that’s a good idea, but it doesn’t quite fit because of x, y or z’ to an eager designer with a new idea. I was worried how I’d give you feedback that was kind, but accurate. You know the sort of thing- should I choose Justice or Compassion?
Imagine my happy astonishment at the depth and more importantly, subtlety of the entries we received. Ultima isn’t an easy Intellectual Property to grok. The heritage of the game is long and winding. The systems of the various games are intricate. It’s high fantasy with even higher ideals behind it. It was a pleasure to read stories dealing deftly, even effortlessly, with the world. From despair in the darkness to the glittering heights of dragonflight, these tales do Ultima proud. Whether it’s Paladins with Mice, cunning peasants or spiritual insight, you’ve found inventive and entertaining ways to free Sudiva from the shackles of the Dungeon Covetous.
It’s been hard to choose a few winners from amongst this crop. I was particularly charmed by the use of ‘dragonsmirk’ and even the idea of Sudiva settling in Moonglow Zoo. Still, this is a competition, so I’ve tried to pick stories that speak to the Virtues and the history of Ultima, whilst also being a damn good read.
Well done to everyone who took part. Let’s do this again sometime!
I know they are very busy, but I’d like to see more interaction with the UO community from the UO team. These kinds of things are desperately needed, and while fansites participated (UO Guide, UO Stratics, along with UOForums), it was nice to have it judged by a UO team member, and highlighted on the official UO website.
