Are you an out of work historian? I have some good news for you. Bungie, the developer of the video game series Destiny, is looking to hire a historian. But the events this historian will be chronicling will not be those of the production of the game, but of the events that have happened in the world of the game itself.
Development of the original Destiny game was plagued with rewrites, and although the game had a vast story written for it, very little of that made it into the game. Instead, you could unlock small little snippets of story to read on a companion app on your phone. It was tedious, and few people took advantage. The game’s sequel did a better job, but the damage to the game’s reputation was already done.
Now, between both games and almost a dozen expansions, there is a lot of story and lore, much of it right below the surface. Enough that you can’t expect all the teams working on content for the game to know all of it. That’s where the historian comes in.
According to the job listing, the historian will “review all game scripts, reading them for content and continuity” and “coordinate with the Destiny Game Director and Narrative Leads cross project to ensure consistency and continuity.”
This isn’t a wholly unique position. Lucasfilm has an employee, Leland Chee, whose job is to maintain continuity in the Star Wars canon, and Blizzard has one for Warcraft lore. Any large media project needs coordination, and a job like this can help keep all the moving pieces headed in the same direction.
It’s great to see Bungie taking the story they’ve crafted for the Destiny series more seriously, and I’m looking forward to a more coordinated and cohesive story in Destiny 3, whenever that happens.
