[MUD-Dev] Persistent Worlds

[Tess Lowe]

John Buehler wrote:

> I believe that backstories as introductory reading for players are
> an impractical application of backstory because they set those high
> expectations of the scale of what will happen in the world.

But I *like* the high expectations that backstories can create! It
offers something to aspire to, a goal to focus my attention on and
move towards.  And in the case of Dark Ages and Achaea, the sense of
'Epic-ness' was entirely justified by the gameplay in any case. If it
isn't, then I can try to generate it myself, which is fun for me -
creating a sense of powerful meaning out of the apparently mundane is
one of my favourite hobbies. If that doesnt work then I can leave.

If you're taking away the stories that set high expectations for the
world then you're removing the very thing that makes me want to play
in the first place.

The sense of Meaning and Epic is generated by our minds. When I read
stories of in-game events written by players, they seem epic because
that's how that player remembers them.

I think you are worrying too much. Dont expect too little of your
players :-)

> I believe that backstories should exist and be used by the story
> planners as a guide, and that they can also introduce bits and
> pieces of that backstory to the players as the world story
> progresses.  Such introductions would be accomplished in many ways,
> but I would hope that the introduction would never be at a level
> that exceeded the actual storytelling capabilities of the world
> itself.

I like to see two kinds of backstory before I play a MUD. I like to
see what could be called "ancient mythology" (which can be limited to
whatever a young person in that world might know) and I like to see
"modern history", a rough record of significant events in the game
world since people started playing there. Best of all I like to see
stories written by players about their characters' experiences in the
game-world.

In my experience, the 'modern history' part, being a reflection of
real in-game events, does not usually excessively exaggerate the
epic-ness of the events themselves (but I wouldnt particularly mind if
it did). The ancient mythology, I feel, can be as epic as it
likes. Those days are long gone.

~Tess

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