[MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

[Lee Sheldon]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Brandon J. Rickman
> Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2000 9:19 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: RE: [MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

> I may be misreading your point, but it sounds like you are making the
> rather dull claim of: just because it _hasn't_ been done
> doesn't mean it
> _can't_ be done.  And that it, in fact, _has been done_ already with
> network television.

Uhm, sorry it's dull, but that's the point yes.  I believe the first half is
actually what got the Wright Brothers and Columbus going, but maybe those
were dull to you, too?

> Sounds too much like "interactive movies".

How on earth could it?  Because TV is filmed, I'm advocating filming
sequences? LOL.  Gad.

>Is that the approach you are advocating?  This is kind of a red flag for
me, is why I stared this reply.

Of course not.  Your red flag is your own and you're holding it so close
it's blinding you.

> But rather than start into a "cinematography cannot be
> interactive" rant I'll go back and read some of your other
> posts, maybe
> wait for your reply.

Good plan.

> One characteristic of television narrative is that they can
> afford to be
> deficient in continuity.  Yes, sometimes the plot has a long
> term effect
> on the world [the X-Files get shut down, so Mulder spends the next few
> episodes as a waiter in Baltimore] but generally there is a
> return to some
> stable state, a return to the point at which effectively nothing has
> happened.
>
> In the persistent world model, a rigid continuity is built
> into the model.
> My hero went up a level.  The evil wizard is dead.

> In television, a number of small bits of continuity gradually
> build up, an
> inescapable mildew.  At some point, there are so many of these useless
> details that the show grinds to a halt, or takes a radical
> turn.  But in
> television this is a rather long-term process, taking several
> seasons/years; in a mud, this can occur in a few days.
>
> Get rid of progress, of character development, and you're mud
> will have a
> longer shelf life.  Just like television?

Without getting into the minor erroneous conclusions that got you to this
point, may I just suggest to look at my reply to Travis.  Particularly the
part where what ends up on the page doesn't matter, but who puts it there
may.

I wasn't for a minute advocating anything so silly as you've concluded.  And
bringing up interactive movies!  I expect my rant against them is just as
virulent as your "cinematography cannot be interactive" rant, though
possibly for different reasons.

Lee







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