Story Swapping

Question: You've mentioned that you contact professors and other scholars as part of your writing process for pantheons. What kind of reactions do you get when asking for information for a game project? Positive, neutral, negative? Beer?

You know, I don't think we've ever run into anything truly negative. The worst that ever happens is that they just ignore us, and we sympathize. Professors get a whole lot of email, and I know some of them don't have time to even look at it if it didn't come from an email address provided by their university.

To be honest, most of them ignore us. And, if I were a busy-ass archaeologist or professor or scholar who gives a lot of conferences all over the world, I would probably ignore us, too. The sad truth is that a lot of professionals just don't have the time to shoot the shit over drinks with us, especially since there are people they've already promised to do that for - students, interns, colleagues, people who are paying them - that take precedence. Often, those who do respond do so extremely belatedly, shooting back an email months after we first contacted them. Considering the snail-like speed of our own email responses these days (sorry, guys!), though, I can't say I blame them for that, either.

(Side note - you guys, did you know I have 153 questions from you guys sitting in my inbox? No lie, that is the number that we haven't answered yet. If you sent in a question and are wondering why we never answered it, it's probably in that giant tornado of email possibilities somewhere. Sorry.)

But, once in a while, we do get to talk to people, and when we do it is a total blast. Professors and scholars in these areas are usually pretty passionate about them - I mean, that's what they do with their lives, right?! - so they love to talk about them. Most often, if they happen to live somewhere within a three-hour driving distance or so, we'll drag ourselves out there to see them in person, because when writing a detailed email feels like a chore, having an animated chat in an office or museum foyer can seem like a lot more fun. When we do communicate by email, people are usually happy to give us a few minutes now and then, although giant missives are usually out of the question.

But not much beer. That's mostly my fault - I don't drink. John would probably love to get professors drunk and sway down the street arguing about the relative level of gayness in the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus.