[MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

[Marian Griffith]

On Fri 05 May, Raph Koster wrote:

> This is what I refer to as the divide between a priori storytelling and post
> facto storytelling. The difference between a sequence of events constructed
> in advance by an author to have narrative shape, and a sequence of events
> selected from a constellation of events by an author after the fact with the
> purpose of shaping it narratively.

> Muds lend themselves very naturally to the latter, and in fact we see it all
> the time. They aren't nearly as good for the former. But there is an
> expectation among the playerbase that the former is what storytelling IS.
> This expectation also exists among the designers to a lesser extent (cf
> Lee's dislike of the "sandbox theory").

Of course storytelling is first and foremost about affecting the listener's
emotions.  Muds lend themselves to that very well in some respects and very
badly in other respects.  The natural first person perspective  makes for a
very powerful  and emotional experience,  but the -scope- of the events and
activities is too limited to hold attention for too long.  So far, with the
exception of Ultima Online (and even there!),  muds are defined in terms of
killing things.  This is an intense experience,  but one that in stories is
normally reserved for the catharsis because of that fact.
You can automate the plot easily.  Plots are not all that complicated. They
can often be described in  two or three sentences.  The plot of Lord of the
Rings boils down to: Anti-hero receives an artifact that in the hand of the
Great Evil will bring an end to the World.  He must destroy it in the heart
of the Evil's empire. And succeeds.
This does not make a story at all, but it could be easily created by a com-
puter, or by any unskilled writer.  To make this plot into a story,  and to
turn it into an interesting experience,  you need an environment that is so
rich that peoples can experience the entire wealth of emotions  that can be
invoked by words. Muds nowadays are simply not up to it.  For one thing be-
cause their focus is entirely wrong. They are games first and foremost, but
for storytelling  you need them to invest emotionally  in their characters,
so that they will experience true feelings -through- them.
Most people in this discussion seem to be computer programmers, and as such
they concentrate on performing tasks. A writer or a storyteller however has
to concentrate on emotions instead, as that is what makes the story come to
life. How you do that depends on the medium.  A writer uses words to create
an image in the reader's mind  that connects to their conceptions and their
emotions. A movie director has a far more direct connection to the imagina-
tion of his audience. He can show where a writer has to hint, and this is a
strength  as well as a weakness  of the medium.  Muds offer a player a link
that is even more direct,  because  they are now actively participating  in
the story,  where with more traditionaly storytelling they can only ever be
passive. However, regardless of the chosen medium the story must follow the
same rules about developing the plot into a story. Creating a story arc and
tension. Chapters that build up the conflict until a moment of release, be-
fore the next greater challenge is introduced. For more complex stories you
can have several plots that are interwoven,  tension created  by allowing a
character  to drop out of sight  in a dangerous situation  for a long time.
Some of these techniques are available to the interactive storyteller,  but
some are not.
First, the environment must be made rich enough that the players can derive
a rich variety of emotions  from participating in the story.  Otherwise the
storyteller is limited to forcing the players into an endless repetition of
the adrenalin rush brought on by mortal danger.

> Either way, though, a mdoerately high degree of skill is required. It takes
> significant effort and storytelling ability to shape past events into a
> narrative structure in the post facto model, just as it does to shape them
> in advance in the a priori model.

And before going into the skill, we must first understand the strengths and
the weaknesses of storytelling in a mud.  How do you tell a story  when the
reader is the main character of his own story?  What kind of impact does it
have on the things I (as the storyteller) can do? What does it mean to have
more than one main character  at the same time,  in terms of the techniques
of storytelling?  And so on.


Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey




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