Blizzard is looking for a Narrative Director for World of Warcraft

Blizzard officials have posted a new position for a Narrative Director for World of Warcraft on their careers page. This has made lore fans and critics of Shadowlands lore prick up their ears, as some suspected that this means a replacement for Principle Narrative Designer Steve Danuser is being sought.

It is unlikely that this indicates new or eliminated responsibilities. While nominally a position above Principle Designer or Lead Designer, the Director role generally oversees multiple departments rather than a specific area. He or she manages the processes, manpower, and/or budget that designers use. Surprisingly, though, there doesn't seem to be one currently?

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This is what Blizzard expects from a Narrative Director for WoW

As the Warcraft series as a whole continues to grow to include new areas like Arclight Rumble, background novels, and supplemental books like the upcoming Exploring Northrend, it seems likely that the new director will help coordinate these different facets while individual designers like Danuser continue to execute specific narrative visions like the stories in Dragonflight.

What you will do:

• Collaborate with the Creative Director, Game Director, Art Director, WoW design leadership, and Blizzard Story & Franchise Development to guide the narrative evolution of WoW's world, cultures, and characters
• Mentor and lead a team of narrative designers, empowering them to creatively support their peers while maintaining a consistent narrative voice throughout the project
• Communicate story vision across the development team
• Balance moment-to-moment narrative experience with the planning and execution of arcs that may span multiple years
• Along with the narrative team, serve as contacts for partners working on a wide range of external media, ensuring that they properly complement WoW game storytelling

What you will need:

• Multiple years of experience in game narrative design roles
• Proven leadership as a narrative lead on at least one shipped AAA game
• Excellent written, communication, and organizational skills
• Ability to keep track of both short-term and long-term narrative priorities in parallel
• Expansive knowledge of Warcraft franchise lore and World of Warcraft (buy now ) content and gameplay
• A broad knowledge of narrative and themes in contemporary media across global popular culture
• The empathy and wisdom to absorb passionate feedback from numerous internal and external sources, and synthesize it into future narrative direction.

A thing for the red-shirt guy?

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a Narrative Director for World of Warcraft (2) Source: buffed
Lore expert Ian Bates aka Red Shirt Guy, has already recently applied to be a lore historian of sorts for WoW. As a "Lore Historian" he would be responsible for editing story content for narrative accuracy and consistency, with little to no oversight from other WoW historians at Blizzard.

That doesn't sound all that different from the Narrative Director position, but the requirements for the Director job are spelled out in much more demanding terms: several years of experience in narrative design for AAA titles, more leadership responsibility, and oversight of finances ... doesn't sound like a job for a career changer. Perhaps the ominous Hexagon YouTuber, who recently amazed us again with a mysterious WoW story, would also be a good choice. Whoever gets the job in the end, it will most likely only do WoW's lore good.

Source | WoWHead