[MUD-Dev] Persistent Worlds

[John Buehler]

Tess Lowe writes:

[smip comments about backstory]

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

Well, I was commenting on backstory from a player's standpoint.  I disliked
reading EverQuest's backstory and subsequently playing the game.  There's no
relation.  I've written little vignettes of things that have happened to my
characters.  But they don't relate to the backstory.  And they are generally
far more manufactured than taken from the game world.  Imagination is a
great thing, but I don't see why the players should be expected to map a
fancy backstory onto a world that doesn't support it well.

I'm simply asking for backstories that match the world's operation.

> 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.

So long as all characters would know the stories, I have no problem with
those stories being available to the players.  But as before, I would hope
that they actually have bearing on the world.  If gods are prominently
figured in the past, then gods should have an active role in the game.  To
me, the exaggerated case is reading The Lord of the Rings, and then sitting
down to play cards.  If you use your imagination, you can imagine the
various cards being different characters, and the various games played
represent the activity that happens in Middle Earth.

Imagination is fine, but I think the players that I have in mind don't want
to work that hard.  They want to be entertained, not have to be an actor or
a script writer or a story teller.  Roleplayers like those things and I hope
that they get what they're after.  My imaginary players also aren't
interested in having to deal with PvP all the time.  I hope the folks who
like those things get what they're after.  But not in my world.  Maybe my
imagination is better than I think...

JB


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