[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
> Angela Ferraiolo
> Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 5:07 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lee Sheldon" <linearno at gte.net>
>
> >TV writing is understood by many.  There
> > will be an ongoing educational effort to ramp up writers.
>
> is there a list where that discussion is going on?
> i'd like to know more . . .  thanks, angela

I realize I made it sound like there were people actively teaching it.   My
bad.  In this context I meant there is a -need- for the educational effort.
It is necessary for the developer to provide the education, or find someone
who can.  The idea is not to leave the writing to the programmers when they
have the free time, or to some kid down the street who took a creative
writing course in college once, but to apply the same standards you would in
hiring artists and programmers to hiring writers.  You need at least one
writer who has a working knowledge on how persistent worlds are constructed
(or at least non-linear in general) to help the others along.  But my
experience is that writers are usually fairly intelligent, and can be
trained to drop their linear thinking fairly quickly.

As for discussion in a mailist?  Maybe others have an idea.  I know of none
other than here or the new Quill 'n Brush website maybe
(boards.xrgaming.net/cgi/xroads/quillandbrush.cgi?view).  Oh and the game
developers newsgroup... what is it?  comp.games.development.design I think.
But many other issues are covered.  And learning to write for persistent
worlds is not a biggie.

Shameless plug: You can also come to my interactive storytelling tutorial at
GDC.  It's eight hours, but it's just a beginning.  Most game designers with
an interest in storytelling find it eventually.  Asheron's Call sent an
entire contingent last year.

Lee




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