[MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

[Erik Jarvi]

[I replied to Lee directly by accident. It's the new Mutt's fault. :)]

I'm not flaming you!  I believe that you have a deep passion for writing,
as I have for audio.  From my experience in another field, people just don't
"get it". (And Raph's comments from 
http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2000Q1/msg00604.html 
" It is widely considered the red-headed stepchild within the game industry as
well. ")

On Sat, May 20, 2000 at 10:14:42AM -0400, Lee Sheldon wrote:
> 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.

Do you see the gaming industry going this way? From the outside,
I'd say no. I bet there would be some companies to hire professional
writers, but not enough.  IIRC, UO or is it UO2 has 1 pro. writer, else
where you said 3 would be needed.

<snip>
> 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.

Will this lead to more of:
"leave the writing to the programmers when they have the free time" ?

Not to knock on this guy in the interview, but it's along the same lines.
When I first read this I laughed.  (I'm an audio geek.)
from
http://www.gamespot.com/features/diablo2diary_dd/122198/index.html

GameSpot: Are you doing anything differently this time around when
creating music as opposed to how you did things for Diablo I?                        

Matt: Absolutely. ... I've learned a great deal about recording techniques in 
the past couple years...

Erik
--
All music aspires to the condition of muzak.




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