3 Questions for Guest of Honour Justin Achilli

We are thrilled to share that Justin Achilli will be joining us all in Berlin! Justin has worked on over 150 White Wolf titles over the past two decades, playing a key role especially across the Vampire games and as a co-designer of Exalted. Currently he works as lead social systems designer for Ubisoft Red Storm, where his work includes VR titles like Werewolves Within and Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

At World of Darkness Berlin, Justin will be giving a keynote and participate in a panel on breaking into professional game design or games writing. Naturally, he’ll sign your books (since Mark Rein-Hagen will sign too, we’re getting worried about your luggage allowances!) and most importantly: to DJ at Saturday night’s party at our Vampire Nightclub!

1) Can you talk a little bit about your keynote – you've chosen to speak about player motivation. How would you explain that to a role-player who hasn't come across the term before?

For my keynote, I'm specifically addressing player motivations — why players play. It's a subject that's dear to me, not only because understanding the player helps me better design games, but also because of the tremendous positive psychological benefits of play. Games are great at giving us the things we need in life, and in fact games are often better at giving them to us than real life is!

2) This sounds like game design! What if I'm not exactly a game designer, but a player or a storyteller – what can I learn?

The keynote is valuable to designers, but also players and Storytellers because it puts you on the same page as other players around the table or at the venue. When you're better able to understand why you do what you do, you're better able to seek out those things you find rewarding, and the better you're able to help others satisfy those needs as well. When everyone at the table is all working toward the same goal of telling their story, the game really takes on a life of its own.

3) What are you most looking forward to at the convention?

For me, the best part of traveling to conventions is meeting players I haven't met before, and in having a chance to catch up with players I haven't seen in a while. Gaming is a social activity, so the more you can build relationships with other players, the more fulfilling it is as a hobby.

#Design