SJ Longthorne

My biggest regret as a narrative designer is that I cut my teeth on the idea that I was the lowest common denominator in the development process, that my job was to do what had been done before, to be seen but not heard and tiptoe around superior disciplines.

That attitude comes through in some of the talks I've done, and to this day I still struggle to stamp down the impulse to say "It's okay, don't worry about it, what I do is cheap, right?" Which does a disservice to me, to our game, and to others in the same role.

But hey, that's what happens when you get your start neck-deep in that kind of rhetoric. It's hard to shake, but it's important to do so.

I guess I’m just kinda done with being underestimated. and ALLOWING myself to be underestimated. At Jagex I was just the email girl, bottom rung. People thought of me as ‘silly’, nothing in my head, largely owing to the fact that I’m quite playful and self-deprecating in person.

That’s not paranoia — that’s what I’ve literally been told. And I reckon people who haven’t seen my work probably still have those opinions. But damn do those opinions change fast when I get the chance to do. my. thing. Often accompanied by a look of surprise. *sigh*

Literally the story of my life. Misogyny? Perhaps. Guess I’ll just get by on spite.