Page 7 of The Player Next Door
Craig, as Narrative Lead, was in charge of the pitch meeting, and that meant he was her first hurdle. Craig had been the one to hire her at Quest Gaming, and Clare would always appreciate him for being the person to give her a shot at her dream job. The company was dominated by men at most levels, and she was grateful Craig had been willing to push back on that. He had taken her under his wing and pushed her to expand her horizons to strengthen her writing abilities, and while it had been a little embarrassing to carry a crossbow, sword, and mace through her building’s lobby, one weekend of practice on the rooftop lounge had given her a deeper understanding of how to wield those weapons. Devi had pointed out that it wasn’t like Clare didn’t already know everything there was to know about weapons in Quest for Sulzuris, but as Craig had said, there’s a difference between knowing andknowing.
Craig himself had plenty of life experience, having spent two years in the Peace Corps in Namibia right out of college. He spent another year after that backpacking through other African countries, and had worked odd jobs in Eastern Europe for a while before going on what he called a “spiritual quest” in Southeast Asia. He had seemingly endless anecdotes about outrunning a mugging in Romania, losing all his possessions in a flash flood in Thailand, and performing karaoke for money in Kenya. He’d lived a life of endless adventure before returning to the US and taking a job with Quest Gaming, and Clare’s life path to Quest—suburban childhood, followed by state college and a stint as an administrative assistant at the YWCA—was comparatively dull. Craig was larger than life, but Clare was depressingly life-sized, if not smaller.
But he was the first person she had to convince. Craig wasn’t one of the Neanderthals, and he was completely on board with the “time of transition” mode the CEO wanted to follow, but he was a cautious man when it came to demographics. He was careful about not alienating their old die-hards, and Clare understood his position to a certain extent. Those were the people they could count on as customers, and it wasn’t good to drive them away. But Clare was certain there was an audience out there that was different from the lifers, and she could bring them in without driving long-term fans away.
Craig came in and the room instantly quieted. “Right then, let’s get started,” he announced, turning to Noah on his left.
Despite her nerves, Clare loved these sorts of meetings. Everyone fired off ideas, bouncing things back and forth, while Clare kept track of everything suggested on the smart board. The goal was to have a catchy pitch for the team to present at the all-hands meeting next month, when the other narrative teams would present their ideas and leadership would pick the ones they wanted to develop further.
At her turn the room’s attention shifted to her and Clare took a deep breath. “Okay, how about this: a Non-Player Character named Captain Ellis Ravencroft, a half-elf, sometime pirate, sometime merchant—it really depends on her mood and how law-abiding the Game Master wants her to be that day—as a guide. She’d be a Rogue, with high perception and above-average hit points, but—” she took another deep breath “—the real key is that she’s got a man in every port. Anywhere the parties go, she’d have a built-in connection for them. That would serve as a launching pad for the adventures, and we could write some backstories for her love interests or make it possible for players to romance her if they want. This would give Game Masters a nudge toward more romantic—”
“Sorry, just so we’re clear: this is a female character?” Craig interrupted.
“Yes. I’m thinking sort of a lady James Bond type, or maybe Indiana Jones, where she’s deadly and dangerous and hard for anyone to resist. It’d be a lot of fun, and I think newer players, especially ones who are maybe looking for something more romance-oriented—”
“I’d be wary of launching something with explicitly romantic storylines,” Craig said.
Clare had expected some resistance, but not necessarily from Craig. Her money would have been on Derek shooting it down. “Captain Ravencroft wouldn’t necessarily have these encounters while the teams are playing unless that’s what the group wanted,” she said as cheerfully as she could manage. Craig always liked upbeat pitches, after all. “It would just be a background runner, one element of her character. I think Game Masters could have a lot of fun with it, and if someonedidwant to go the romance route—”
“Would women want to play with that sort of character in the story?” Derek asked, right on cue. “It seems like, if you’re looking to bring romance in, they wouldn’t want competition. Shouldn’t it be a guy?”
“That’s not how female players operate,” Clare replied. “Besides, women who are attracted to women play too. Some players might not be interested in that angle, but I think a lot of others would find it enjoyable, and it would set a tone that they could follow.”
“What kind of tone?” Noah asked. He and Derek were the star writers on the team, and she wasn’t surprised they weren’t on board with a romantic angle, but she had hoped Craig would support her more visibly.
“Something light-hearted, you know? We could have a few stories available that would be more like a rom-com, even. Stumble into a tavern and be offered the chance to fake-date a barmaid who was jilted by her fiancé, that sort of thing.”
“This is Quest for Sulzuris, notYou’ve Got Mail,” Craig said, shaking his head. “And I just don’t know if you’d be the right fit for that sort of character, either.”
The rest of the team laughed, and Clare did her best to join in. Craig was always reminding her to be a team player, after all. “What do you mean, not the right fit?”
Craig leaned back in his chair. It squeaked as he rocked back and forward, chewing his lower lip and running his hands through his thinning hair. He was maybe fifteen years older than her, and Clare was at an age where that felt both like not that much and a lot. The necklace he said he’d gotten in Namibia peeked out from near his top button. “I don’t mean to be inappropriate, but, well, we’re like family here, and we all know you’re—let’s say monogamous,” he said with a chuckle. “You had that boyfriend for forever. Randy?”
“Reid.” She would hardly characterize nine months asforever, but she also didn’t feel like correcting him.
“He’s right,” Derek chimed in. “You’re the kind of girl who putslooking for something realon her dating profiles.” The rest of the table chuckled.
That was uncomfortably close to the truth, but Clare wasn’t ready to give in. She almost never challenged Craig’s decisions, but she really did believe in Captain Ellis. “Okay, so? It’s just a character.”
“You’re just—you’re not the type,” Craig said again. “Writing a character like that takes a lot of life experience that you don’t have.”
“What—exactly are you saying?” she asked, doing her best to master the ball of nerves in her stomach.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” he said genially. “We’re just tossing around ideas here, and it’s my job to keep you focused on what you can achieve. A character like that—one who sleeps around—well, you’re not really the type to handle it, not without you going out and getting a whole lot more experience. I’m sorry, Clare, but it’s just not happening right now.”
Clare sat quietly as Derek started his zombie pitch, listening and willing her stomach to rise back up from the floor. Craig rarely turned down a pitch that bluntly, and it stung. Usually he’d hear her out, and on more than one occasion he’d been willing to help her punch it up a little before going in front of the group. He’d never been quite so blunt about her personal life, either. Clare had learned to handle the jokes the rest of the team threw her way, usually about her being a woman. Even when the jokes were kind of mean, she had gotten good at fake-laughing until the spotlight turned away. It was just how the team operated, she reminded herself, even if this felt different; more pointed. But she had realized very early on that pointing out unequal treatment would just get an eyeroll from everyone else. The key to getting by was to just let it all roll off her back, and she was pretty good at that. That was what it took to succeed at Quest, and Clare was going to succeed no matter what.
But she wasn’t always the most confident in front of the rest of the team, either, a fact Craig never failed to point out in their one-on-ones, so maybe her pitch hadn’t been as good as she thought. It was something she needed to work on if she wanted to be considered for Noah’s job. The meeting continued—Derek’s plan had a lot of support from the other guys, although Clare personally thought it sounded like a rip-off ofThe Walking Dead—and she gave herself permission to check out mentally once the meeting wound down and the rest of them started talking about Call of Duty. They all played it on the weekends, and Craig had told her to “jump in” whenever she wanted, but she had never been much of that kind of a gamer. She liked things like Animal Crossing, but while she could be almost as bloodthirsty as Toni when playing Sulzuris, first-person shooter games never really appealed to her. The first few months she worked at Quest she had tried to join them, but she lost interest and no one else on the team seemed to notice when she stopped.
The meeting finally wrapped up without a real decision having been made, although a few possible storylines were emerging. Craig caught her eye as they left, motioning toward his office, and Clare decided she was going to take a second shot. All she had to do was convince him it was worth trying. He’d hired her because he believed in her, after all.
Craig closed the door behind him and sat down at his desk. Like all the offices at Quest, his office had a playful, laid-back vibe. Action figures lined the bookcases behind him, along with a couple of drones and remote-controlled cars, and the desk itself was just a plain faux-birch table with a sleek monitor perched on top. Artifacts from his travels decorated one wall, a sign of how much life he’d lived compared to her.
“How was your weekend?” he asked.
Clare took a seat across from him. “The usual. Campaign is progressing nicely, and I got to spend some time with my aunt’s dog.”
Craig smiled indulgently. “How is Kiki?”