What obvious reasons?
Joe
I, personally, think this looks even worse than making up a company. If the
making-up technique is done well, by building up history of company,
associations, employees (even if you only do all this in your head - it
will show through when you write about them!), makes the game sound no less
credible.
For example, when I started creating my latest game, I actually set about
creating 'Guide' entries about the most important concepts, people and
places (I think I may indeed incorporate this guide into the game; it would
be good for background story). This helped enormously in letting me build
up a solid and real gameworld, where all the concepts (etc.) were nicely
consistent.
--
Alex Watson
http://www.watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk/froup/
Replies to me[AT]watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk
"Oh, drat. I just sustained an injury caused by an extended sneezing fit,
and I was hoping you'd pay for it..." - Jonathan [apinha]
Comedy and parody are options, of course, but not the only ones; satire can
be awfully serious, and extremely powerful. If you ask me, "AOK Tome Warmer"
borders on brilliance. If the characters within the story took this parodic
name seriously, then I would, too.
But "mentioning" and "creating fictional and perhaps unflattering stories
that are set within" are two different things. A further problem is that
the more specific you make your cultural references, the more rapidly your
work becomes dated.
--
Dennis G. Jerz, Ph.D.; (715)836-2431
Dept. of English; U Wisc.-Eau Claire
419 Hibbard, Eau Claire, WI 54702
------------------------------------
Literacy Weblog: www.uwec.edu/jerzdg
To add to this, Douglas Adams created the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
and gave them a very strong reputation. This is an excellent example, and
seems to be the right way to go about it.
--
Alex Watson
http://www.watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk/froup/
Replies to me[AT]watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk
"Windows 98 Setup could not find a keyboard or other input device. Press
enter for further instructions."
Frobozzco comes to mind.
> "Windows 98 Setup could not find a keyboard or other input device. Press
> enter for further instructions."
Brought to you by the Frobozz Magic Error Messages Company?
--
Thorsten Franz, Bonn, Germany (shlomo.g...@gmx.de)
Indeed, another good example of this kind of 'organisation-building'.
> > "Windows 98 Setup could not find a keyboard or other input device. Press
> > enter for further instructions."
>
> Brought to you by the Frobozz Magic Error Messages Company?
I'm informed that a caller phoned a tech support line asking what to do
with this message... So I presume it's real. Please enter any 11 digit
prime number to continue.
--
Alex Watson
http://www.watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk/froup/
Replies to me[AT]watson1999-69.freeserve.co.uk
"I think you ought to know I'm feeling very compressed." - Hollis [afda]
10000000019
--
Tim Mann tim....@compaq.com http://www.tim-mann.org
Compaq Computer Corporation, Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, CA
375*2^26+1
375*2^26-1
-- Randall M! Gee, Keeper of Gummi Wisdom
(g...@math.berkeley.edu)
> You can't really give a real company's real name, for obvious reasons. If
> you're not aiming to go for comic effect or parody, you can't really call
> the corp MiniSoft or AOK Tome Warmer; if, however, you make up a totally new
> company name, it doesn't have the instant recognition quality;
The problem with AOK Tome Warmer is that it isn't plausible as a
company name; the resemblance to an actual company is okay, but
you have to make it plausible (and keep it in the same field).
MacroSoft might work better than MiniSoft, for example.
If you casually mention Macrotech Software Limited first
and then shorten it to MacroSoft later, it sound just enough
like M$ for people to get the idea, but hopefully (IANAL)
not enough (IANAL) to invoke (IANAL) lawsuits (but IANAL).
It also might be possible, with sufficient thought, to
construct a fictitious name so succinct and straightforward
that it would be hard to imagine it as other than a major
player in the field. The hard part here would be making
sure the name isn't already taken by an insignificant
company, because just because it *sounds* like a big
company doesn't mean it _really_ has to be that way.
Something like Biogenetic Technologies or fibre.net or
Bank of Europe or Pacific-Rim Shipping Corp or Central
Columbia Cocaine Corporation perhaps -- any of which
may be real companies AFAIK (I didn't check) but if not
could readily be imagined as huge megacorps.
Just a thought.
There are also several major companies that share the
most significant and recognisable word of their names
with smaller companies. If the word is sufficiently
common, you can probably get away with using that
word with a fictional rest-of-the-company's-name.
If I am not mistaken, there are other companies with
Ford in the name besides just Ford Motor Company,
at least one of which used to manufacture vehicles
(farm vehicles, particularly) before Ford did so.
(Ford may have since bought them out; I don't know
the recent history of this case.) Given that, you
could probably construct an acceptable fictitious
company name based on a common word that happens
to be closely associated with a large extant company.
Digital Electronics Company, perhaps? (This is
an especially good case, because you could call
them Digital, which is arguably not the same as
digital, quite, though IANAL.)
- jonadab