[MUD-Dev] Persistent Worlds

[Kevin Littlejohn]

"John Buehler" wrote

> What can I say?  I take exception to backstory documents because
> they implicitly promise far more than the game world can provide -
> generally speaking.  I don't want to goof around with quests and the
> like.  But if the mechanisms available to the players for
> understanding the backstory through the game world end up being
> 'game-like', then we're back to my problem with the dichotomy
> between gameplay and prose.

...and yet, I find the little snippets of backstory in the EverQuest
strategy guide (did I mention I'm addicted?  No?  Take it as written.) 
incredibly jarring, _because_ they're written in the style of the
game.  The text is along the lines of someone finding a few people in
a town who might have tasks for them - fairly obviously clues to go
visit various people in your home town to get started, and very in
keeping with the flavour of the game.  But I'd _much_ rather have
prosaic nifty backstory.

I disagree with your comments above, because most of the backstory
I've read in most games gives me a beautiful handle on the game world,
in many cases on facts that mean I can then go "oh, I read about that"
when something tangential crops up.  I certainly don't go into games
expecting them to be written pieces of text of the same quality as the
backstory - just as I don't expect games to look like the pictures on
the boxes, or breath fresheners to come with scantily clad women eager
to play tennis.

I'm not suggesting backstory is advertising per se, but it serves a
purpose of it's own - building the world the game exists in.  If it's
better than the game itself, I count myself lucky to have gotten a
well-written segment with the game - one or two have been top-class
and well worth reading, and I appreciate that.  Doesn't mean I'm
disappointed when the game starts - more often than not, I'm carried
away with the feeling set by the backstory, and willing to forgive
some transgressions I might not have before ;)

Hell, most of the time backstory has no practical purpose - but I've
still died more than once in various games because I got caught up
reading it after I started the game, and lost concentration.  I count
that as a _good_ thing - and the games in question have usually held
my attention longer.  Hrm - good example, the cut scenes in Diablo 2 -
absolutely stunning, added a lot to the world, but the game itself
really didn't have that much to do with them in any practical sense.
Certainly didn't make me appreciate the game less, tho.

> As for the topic of game information getting out of the game world,
> I'd very much like to see a culture change that discourages such
> things.  Exporting information from game worlds really damages the
> game experience for those players who are hoping to see and hear
> about new things through their character's experiences.  With all
> information documented on the web, exploration goes right out the
> window.  I happen to be an enthusiastic explorer.

You're stuck with it - it'll never change, in any way, shape, or form
- unless you plan on sueing people who talk about your game, in which
case it'll go underground.  You may be an explorer, but too many
people out there are whatever classification they fall in if they
enjoy helping others or being the first to know something.  I count
that as a good thing.  If you don't like it, don't read the boards -
facile, but I've so far resisted browsing for more than I absolutely
needed to know, and have only gotten information that I've searched
out - EverQuest pages are not throwing themselves at my browser, last
I checked.  Given sometimes I can't work out what the designers had in
mind for a particular problem, the existence of outside docco is a
good thing for my enjoyment of the game - nothing worse than feeling
stupid and being stuck.

KevinL

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