Never heard of her but I just read her Wikipedia bio article and I ended up adding 2 books (The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness) to my reading list for this year. Rest in peace.
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both are excellent books, I would also recommend Earthsea series, they pretty much deconstructed fantasy as we knjow it, instead of mighty heroes wielding swords and going to war, they focus on thinking and pacifistic approach to life itself.
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So sad to read the news. She was a brilliant writer and an inspiration to any writer and/or dreamer. I don't know if it's not gaming related because she introduced me to fantasy, which led me to RPG, which led me to gaming.
RIP, Mrs Le Guin and thank you for helping millions of kids get an imagination.
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what you described I described in OP (influencing) but it is not direct relation. Fantasy books inspired tabletop RPGs, these inspired video game RPGs, which then influenced multiple other genres, there is obvious corellation, but she directly didn't have much to do with gaming itself.
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I think Earthsea would make a horrible video game tbh. What are video games about? Action, adventure, heroes. Earthsea lacks all of this - it's about journey, about thoughts, about words, about knowledge. It lacks action, I would even call it a pacifist book. It makes for a great thought-provoking novel, but not for a good video game.
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Why not? Maybe Le Guin's books are not exactly the best material for RPG, but I think, Earthsea adventure game would totally make sense.
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Don't think it would work as adventure game, puzzles would kill flow of the story, maybe as walking simulator, but i repeat, i dont think its a good material for video game, but theres nothing wrong with it, not everything needs to be translatable to other mediums, Earthsea works great as a novel, becaus its a form that puts spotlight on its stregths, videogame would not.
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Actually this genre's ability to tell stories and convey ideas (from ancient goodies like I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream to modern masterpieces like The Cat Lady or Primordia) is the main reason I've been in love with adventure games for ages. Games don't have to be superficial, you know.
Anyway, there's a bunch of examples of adventure games almost or completely without puzzles below:
Firewatch, Life is Strange, Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree
Sure, classic adventure games don't work well with the majority of players, but here you go, there are whole new subgenres that sacrifice traditional gameplay elements for the sake of storytelling.
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And sad truth is that games that sacrifice "classical gameplay elements" along the way sacrifice most of playerbase as well. Do I possibly see Earthsea as a niche story-focused slow-paced indie, like exploration walking simulator with deep dialogues? Ofc I do, but I do not see this game succeed a lot, plus for such a niche title it wouldn't have polish nor detail I believe Earthsea deserves. And thus it is best remaining in the medium it fits perfectly.
Not to mention that originally waht got mentioned here was an Open World RPG - and it would horribvly butcher source material.
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Absolutelly dont see it. Ultima? Portal? Witcher? Where - stregth of these books is that they are slow paced with almost no action, allowing you to think. Adventure games? Puzzles would totally kill the flow and pace of a story. Earthsea are great books, but would be terrible video games. Not all great works are translatable to all otherediums, and video games do not fit Le Guin stories as a medium.
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Gosh, I remember reading A Wizard of Earthsea in English class in...7th grade was it? And loving it, of course. I later read the rest of the series on my own-- I should re-read them as an adult. In college I read The Left Hand of Darkness for English class. Ms. LeGuin came and spoke to that English class at some point, and she was as awesome in person as you'd expect from her books. R.I.P.
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I was so saddened by the news of her passing - Ursula K. Le Guin had a masterful hand in changing the face of science fiction, and her approach to writing and thinking and how and why we tell stories influenced me.
I was heartened by how many people are coming together to celebrate her, and I'd like to think she'd be, too.
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A legend and a writer I really admired. As a woman and an anarchist she tore a lot of walls down.
Her work on the sociological aspects of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness) was a mind opener and the seamless way she addressed race on the Earthsea Quartet was quite inspiring.
Also, The Dispossessed is one of my favourite books to this day.
Thank you for everything, Ursula.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/obituaries/ursula-k-le-guin-acclaimed-for-her-fantasy-fiction-is-dead-at-88.html
Not directly gaming related, but I know we have a lot of book lovers here in community, not to mention that fantasy genre immensly influenced video games over decades.
Today, at age of 88, one of the very few remaining of old grand fantasy masters, Ursula K. Le Guin, passed away. I'd write something more, but sorry, I am devastated, so I will leave you with just one of my beloved quotes from her, sadly very fitting...
“Only in silence the word,
Only in dark the light,
Only in dying life:
Bright the hawk's flight
On the empty sky."
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