[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
> Zak Jarvis
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2000 7:49 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] Self-Sufficient Worlds

Sorry for taking so long to respond.  I've been buried under work, and I
tend to turn off everything, including communication with the outside world,
when that happens.

> Can you give me an example of how you tell a compelling story
> using 2000
> people at the same time without using a huge degree of
> automation? I simply
> don't think it can be done.

I think I could, but I also think it's the wrong question.  Most of the
stories I've been developing are local, and do NOT involve 2000 people "at
the same time," even if 2000 people are simultaneaously online.  Even the
over-arcing, ongoing story of the world that affects 2000 people, does NOT
affect them "at the same time."  If we think in these terms, we get bogged
down trying to contemplate only huge events, all the massive amounts of
resource and time needed to perpetuate them, "a huge degree of automation."

I'm not interested in dragging people by the nose through stories, however
non-linear they may be.  The stories are there to be discovered, and
enjoyed, and the consequences are always there for those who don't want to,
so they can stay up to date.

As I've said elsewhere, only one third of the equation (the second third
actually) is putting a story in your game, and that's the easy third.  The
most difficult third is presenting it so the players actually know what is
going on.  Given the examples out there in public now, this appears to be
far more difficult.

Here are my 3 rules for story delivery in a persistent world:

1.  The story must be compelling enough to justify the world.  (Do we really
need yet another "There was a great conflict in the past, the evil was
defeated - but not destroyed - now it is rising again" fantasy world?)

2.  The story must be constructed as an integral part of the world.  (And
not feel like an imposition or an afterthought.)

3.  The story must be told to the players.  (If people are running around
either confused about the story, or ignoring it, you have wasted a lot of
time on 1 and 2.)

Lee




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