Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1157135
Video Games Find Their Voice E arly arcade games such as Berzerk (1980) and Gorf (1981) were among the first to incorporate speech, though it tended to be sparse and stilted. At the time, it cost about $1,000 per word to compress the data for use in the game, according to video game website Kotaku. We've come a long way since players put a quarter on the screen to queue for a game: The script for Grand Theft Auto V was reported to be 3,500 pages and the game employed dozens of voice actors. Before voices became standard in games, when developers needed a vocal performance, they often did the work themselves, usually with predictably disastrous — and sometimes unintentionally humorous — results. As voices became more common and integral to the games' plots and character development, creators turned to professionals. The union's first signatory game was Ground Zero Texas, a Sega CD game signed June 29, 1993, that incorporated 110 minutes of interactive video. That would be followed that same year by several other games, including Surf City, an animated adventure game, and Blizzard Entertainment's now-classic The Lost Vikings. Today's games go beyond merely including voice and motion capture; they need true performances, something SAG-AFTRA members are uniquely equipped to deliver. And while many high-profile games are online multiplayer shooters with little character depth, you don't have to go far to find engrossing story-driven games that wouldn't be the same without the talent and hard work of SAG-AFTRA members. S ome indie games have gone beyond just hiring union actors and have woven labor themes into their plots. Signatory game Where the Water Tastes Like Wine revolves around folktales and the stories of America's marginalized populations. Taking place in the Great Depression Era, it features characters such as a Pullman porter, a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which was the first black union in the U.S.; a coal miner who's involved in the mine wars of the early 20th century in West Virginia; a member of an Alabama sharecropper's union; and others. "Where the Water Tastes Like Wine has a very, very strong pro-union message," said the game's developer, Johnnemann Nordhagen. "I was looking at that period of American history and looking for interesting stories we don't hear a lot about in school. And it turns out there's a lot of union and labor sentiment. "Right now is just a time for me personally, for video games as a whole — maybe for the country as a whole — where these issues are coming to the forefront and seeming way more important." Before going his own way, Nordhagen co-founded Portland-based video game developer Fullbright in 2012, along with Steve Gaynor and Karla Zimonja. Fullbright has created its own pro-union game, but instead of looking to the lessons of the past, it gazes toward a possible future. Tacoma finds players unraveling a mystery on an abandoned space station that was populated by a small crew of blue-collar union space workers. The plot touches on labor issues and the dangers of powerful corporations that put profit over people. Gaynor said the inspiration for the near-future story came from looking at the injustices of the present. "We're in a time where wealth disparity is at 1920s levels. There's the gig economy and people just working for algorithms, delivering food or driving," he said. "We're at a point where the groups that are at the top of the economic food chain, like Amazon or Uber … are using new technology to exploit people and get them to work for as little as possible. And the people that are doing that work aren't unionized." A PRO-UNION MESSAGE: IT'S IN THE GAME sagaftra.org | Summer 2019 | SAG-AFTRA 43