[MUD-Dev] Ray Feist interview

[Lee Sheldon]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu
> [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Fredfish (E. Harper)
> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2001 1:41 AM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Ray Feist interview

> Perhaps i'm just an old (actually, very young) cynic, but I just
> don't feel that the term 'storytell' applies in a meaningful way to
> the context of a [MUD/MMORPG]. A story, regardless of how
> entertaining or engrossing, is an activity in which the reader (or
> equivalent in oral storytelling) is fundamentally /outside/ the
> story. It is up to the author to shape the imaginary world within
> the story, to direct the events and allow the characters - which are
> really creations of the storyteller's own mind - to act upon and
> react to the plot. I, as a reader, have no control over whether the
> President's plane crashes or doesn't crash - it's all up to Tom
> Clancy.

The reader or listener is only -outside- the story, if the story fails
to reach them.  The best stories are good because they cannot be
escaped.

> On the other hand, the players in a [alphabet soup] are not
> independent of the story. They are active participants in the flow
> of events - or at least they should have the opportunity to be. The
> reason it's been a struggle to tell a compelling story in the
> interactive meaning is that people don't want to have the story
> 'told' to them. They want to be /active participants/ in the events.

For me it's anything but an either/or situation.  It is perfectly
possible to have story elements presented to the players, and allow
them to react, even drive the pre-written story forward to the
conclusion the author wanted them to reach.  During this journey the
participants can be as active as you like, making -all- the decision
about what to do next, and how to do it.  It has nothing to do with
free will, and everything to do with transparent manipulation and
illusion, and non-linear story structures built on the same rules for
storytelling and drama that have worked for over two thousand years.

> To put it another way - the problem with 'storytelling' in the
> interactive medium is that it's kind of like grabbing a drunken
> stage actor, a semi-literate 13 year old, and a librarian/SCA buff,
> giving them a situation, and telling them to act it out from
> there. Sure, /something/ will happen. But it might not make much
> sense, and it's very unlikely to be an interesting story.

That's the trouble with worlds that eschew developer content in favor
of player content, isn't it?  Player generated stories can be a rich
source of entertainment.  They can also be a rich source of nutrients
for your herb garden.  I'm not saying Joe Eszterhaz (writer of
Showgirls etc.) is an anamoly.  There are bad writers hanging out in
your neighborhood behind locked doors right now.  I'm just saying that
without developer content to guide the poor little dears that make up
your player base, you have very little chance at all of coming up with
decent storytelling.  Conversely if you -do- have that content, the
odds are greatly increased that you can.

> Maybe I'm missing something real obvious here, or maybe I'm just
> proceeding from the wrong assumptions. It /is/ 1:30 in the
> morning. Let me know.

The important thing, at least in my view, is not to let yourself get
bogged down with confusing story structure with story.  The first is
only the method you've chosen to tell the second.  And then of course,
as Ray suggests, there's plot...

Lee

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev