[MUD-Dev] Self-Sufficient Worlds

[Lee Sheldon]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services
> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 4:10 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Self-Sufficient Worlds

> When I think of story, I think of some type of vision or idea
> that goes beyond
> me, into which I am skillfully drawn.  This may not be a
> valid concept of story,
> but you can understand how such a concept is at odds with
> _total_ interaction to
> the point that vision and ideas are completely limited to my
> own contributions.

Yours is a far more reasonable, and accepted "description" let's say (rather
than definition) of story.  But it is Zak's description that sends people
down all sorts of dark alleys chasing story that just isn't there.

> So we are all storytellers.  No doubt we are also all
> artists.  But from what
> I've seen of your work, you are able to communicate your
> artistic vision in a
> way which I cannot.  Can art be interactive?  Well, I'm not
> going to plop down a
> lot of money for a blank canvas and the exhortation to make
> my own masterpiece,
> but I _might_ pay quite a bit for a painting that invites me
> to ask questions as
> I am drawn into the painter's vision.

Exactly.

>This is what I mean
> regarding a balance
> between two seemingly competing forces: my desire to control,
> and my desire to
> grow beyond myself.  Perhaps this is what you meean by
> "acceptable abstraction?"

To me it is creating the illusion that the player is in total control of the
story, when in fact they are only in control of the game.  Abstraction, as I
said in the other post, is only one tool for me.  All drama abstracts.  It
has to.  But it must have some rules that govern its abstraction.  These
rules create a kind of abstraction that simulates life enough without
getting in the way of the story, and help create a story that doesn't get in
the way of the life the player creates in the game world.

Lee




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