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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Speaking Of Which...

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Nov 3 2009, 11:00 AM ET Comment

The Avatar trailer is really visually stunning. I'm not really feeling much beyond that, though. To the extent that effects enhance a great narrative, I'm all in. To the extent that it becomes a show in and of itself, I'm all out.

Story-telling is actually one of my long-standing beefs with MMOs. WoW did a good job of pushing story-telling forward, but it's hard to go as deep as some of the great single player games. I'd like to see the next big MMO go a little further in terms of story-telling. There has to be a way to do something more than kill xx number of orcs, a better way to hide the architecture. Should they not tell you about XP and levels? Should the process of "leveling up" be a little more mystical? I don't know...

Anyway, here's the trailer. I don't think I can take another "good white man save the natives" story. When do the natives save themselves? When the natives start investing in cameras.



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