Ad Personam: Warren Spector, Ion Storm
Sia 'Garrett' Manzari, 2003-06-26

Ad Personam is dedicated to the people behind the games: programmers, artists, musicians, directors, producers and many other professions involved in creating the stuff that fills our harddisks, lets us sleep less and eat more junk food. In each Ad Personam, we want to introduce one of these fine folks to you - and this time it is Warren Spector, Project Leader at Ion Storm.

Warren Spector: My name is Warren Spector. Currently, I run Ion Storm, the game development studio that created Deus Ex and is currently working on Deus Ex: Invisible War and a new game in the Thief series. Prior to that, I worked in the papergame business, first at Steve Jackson Games (1983-1987), then TSR (1987-1989); in '89, I got a job at Origin, producing computer games; left there in 1996, when I joined LookingGlass; left THERE in 1997 and started the Ion Storm Austin office. I've produced or directed something like fifteen electronic games and before that worked on more boardgames and roleplaying games than I care to recall!

RPGDot: Your favourite game, both electronical and board?

Warren Spector: My favorite electronic game would have to be either Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past or Tetris, depending upon my mood and how much time I have available. My favorite boardgame is Sid Sackson's classic, Acquire.

RPGDot: Your favourite movie and favourite actor & actress?

Warren Spector: My favorite movie is The Searchers (a classic John Ford western from the '50s) with On The Town (a late-40s musical comedy) a close second. I have so many favorite actors and actresses I wouldn't know where to start. Maybe Jimmy Stewart... maybe Jerry Lewis... maybe Nancy Carroll (look her up on the Internet Movie Database!)...

RPGDot: Your favourite singer/band and record?

Warren Spector: I'm partial to the Beatles and Rolling Stones (isn't everyone?)... I love the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, the Pixies, Aimee Mann... Several members of Tribe ended up at LookingGlass and I sure love their stuff -- get back together now, would you, Tribe?! Current bands I'm fond of include the White Stripes, the Detroit Cobras, Mooney Suzuki... I like Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie... a bunch of others.

RPGDot: If you could do any game, regardless of money and developing time, what would it be?

Warren Spector: Something that made me feel, in the context of a single-player experience, as if I were interacting with real human beings rather than cardboard cut-outs... something that put me in control of a compelling storyline, rather than having one dictated to me... something that had all the emotional highs of a great book or movie without the linearity that makes emotional highs relatively easy to achieve... something where non-combat interactions were as compelling as combat interactions... I'd about kill to do a love story or a mystery or something that offered players something more than a cheap adrenaline rush.

RPGDot: If you'd be able to choose anyone from within the game industry to work on your dream project, who'd you put in your team?

Warren Spector: You know, I've been lucky enough to work with some of the best people in this business. If you want to see my dream team, check out the credits on any of the games made at LookingGlass, several of the Ultima games, the folks who worked on Deus Ex... I wouldn't mind working with or for Will Wright. I've loved every conversation I've had with the guy and his lectures blow me away. Just the opportunity to see how his mind works would be awesome.

RPGDot: What character from a game or role-playing setting best describes you?

Warren Spector: Maybe I'm delusional (or an egomaniac!) but I used to have it in my head that I could best be described as "Lawful Good." Nowadays, I think I'm more Chaotic Neutral. (And doesn't that just reveal how much of a geek I am?!) As far as a specific character goes, I dunno, I hope I have a little of Link's heroism and pluck. I don't even know how to start thinking about what game setting I might be like. What a weird question!

RPGDot: Your non-gaming hobbies?

Warren Spector: Guitars. I love 'em. I own more of them than I'd care to admit and play rhythm guitar in a band (mostly covers but some originals, too). Books. I love to read, love to collect books old and new -- there's no wall-space in my house because every wall is covered with floor to ceiling bookcases. Basketball (watching, not playing -- I"m just no good...). I'm a long-time New York Knicks fan and a diehard University of Texas Longhorns fanatic. Hook 'em horns! And boardgaming. Man, I love boardgames.

RPGDot: Your favourite author and favourite book?

Warren Spector: Ack. Do I have to answer this? Er... Um... Okay, I'm really fond of Walter Tevis. The Hustler and Queen's Gambit are stunningly wonderful books. And if you asked me what book I'd read more than any other, it'd have to be Jack Finney's Time and Again. I couldn't tell you how many times I've read that one!

RPGDot: What historical person would you like to meet and why?

Warren Spector: Wish I could name a political or religious or artistic leader or something to make me sound smart and serious but, really, I'd love to have met pretty much any of the folks involved with the early motion picture business. D.W. Griffith, one of the most influential early directors, that would be a trip -- I mean here was a guy who contributed more dramatically than any other individual to the creation of an entirely new art form. Did he realize how his work would change the world? Man... And I'd love to have met David O. Selznick, one of the pre-eminent creative producers in Hollywood in the 30s and 40s. I've kind of modeled my career after his, in a weird kind of way. Games and movies are different media, of course, but Selznick provided a model of the creative business person, and a way of working with and through talented people to accomplish amazing things that I've always found compelling. There's also a little part of me that would love to meet Steven Spielberg and George Lucas but I'd probably just turn into a drooling idiot in their presence so maybe it'd be best if that never happened!

RPGDot: Thanks for your time!