[MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re: Influential muds

[Eli Stevens {KiZurich}]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Koster, Raph
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 1999 11:41 AM
> To: 'mud-dev at kanga.nu'
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Storytelling vs simulation, AGAIN! was Re:
> Influential muds
>
> Thus, it could be argued that the absolute best tactics for mud
> storytelling
> are
>
> - encourage players (through the provision of tools for this purpose) to
> form groups with conflicting goals (philosophical, territorial, etc) of
> *some* sort that are a) significant in impact b) achievable yet c) not
> overly destructive of the environment. This is a large design
> issue which is
> in many ways frankly contradictory to basic design principles in many mud
> code bases today.
>
> - assiduously report the "latest news" in conflicts, cast as story and
> narrative, with context, embellishment where necessary, and if need be,
> presented in such a manner as to encourage ongoing conflict, picking of
> sides, etc.
>
> I don't know of any gaming muds that expressly attempt this in
> the manner I
> describe. Dan, or others, is this the usual method of operation for
> "storytelling" MUSHes?

The MUD (actually, the Admin are trying to move away from the term MUD,
instead using RolePlaying Game) that I currently play on has all of those
features, at least as I understood your descriptions of them.

The Creator's Shadow (tcs.icenix.net:4000) is based on the Wheel of Time
series by Robert Jordan, and has done a good job IMO of keeping consistent
with the books.  TCS has a guild set up that is almost completely
independant of any character skills, alowing guilds to focus purely on RP
between characters.  Guild goals mainly focus on either territorial
expansion or the domination of another guild, as based on the books.

TCS also allows the players to post story notes, readable by everyone.
While the stories themselves can be of varying quality, they do allow
everyone to contribute to the storyline of the game.  Recently, two guilds
engaged in a war purely over notes.  Other times the notes follow RPed
conflict, either emote'd or using the combat code.

I would suggest to anyone interested that they log on and see what they can.
However, I must caution that currently TCS is undergoing some major code
revisions, and the help files are becoming rapidly out of date on some
topics.  Fingolfin, Prideslayer and Bleys are the three Admin with access to
the codebase, and from what little contact I have had with them, I get the
impression that they are friendly but hecticly busy.

I am sure that there are other MUDs out there that also have good stories,
and I too am curious how they accomplish it.

Silence is a good storyline
Eli



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