David Gaider Interview, Part One

GreyWardens.com has tossed up the first portion of an interview they conducted with BioWare’s David Gaider about his position as lead writer and “lorekeeper” for the Dragon Age universe. One of three questions in this first part:

Maybe you could tell us a little about how you came to work for BioWare? Was it just a straight up interview, or something more convoluted? Did you always want to write (if not specifically for video games)?

I always wanted to write, but writing for video games specifically? I don’t think I was even aware such a job existed, to be honest. As I understand it, James Ohlen (the Lead Designer for the Baldur’s Gate series, and currently the Lead Designer on the upcoming Star Wars MMO) was looking for some new writers and asked people at BioWare if they knew anyone who might be interested and who had written something game-related to completion. A friend of mine worked as an artist for the company and handed James a rulebook for a game I’d made unbeknownst to me, actually. So when I got a call from James asking me to come in for an interview, I was a little dubious. Did people make video games in Edmonton, Alberta? It seemed a little far-fetched. BioWare was a little company that had just finished Baldur’s Gate (the first one), a game I’d heard of but which I’d no idea had been made locally.

So I came in for the interview. In the end, despite how interesting it sounded, I declined the job offer I was working as a hotel manager at the time and the starting wage for a game writer was a little low. Interesting or not, the entire organization seemed a little fly-by-night, like it could just up and vanish at any moment. So the following Monday I went back to work and discovered my boss, the district manager, had unexpectedly flown in which was odd. He informed me that the management company had been bought out and they were bringing in their own managers to run the hotels. I was let go, given severance and walked off the property. So there I am going out to my car, box of stuff in hand, and thinking, (well maybe I will give that video game job a try after all.) I emailed Ray & Greg and asked if the job offer still stood, and they said it did. Eleven years later, here I am. Who knew?