[MUD-Dev] Why are we all making RPGs?

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

Lee Sheldon wrote:

> They're not simply literary genres, nor can genre be defined in
> this context as a dictionary might.  Genres are established in
> film, television and plays as well as books and short stories.
> The word specifically refers to a "type of story."  Now, we can
> take a NIH attitude, and say the word in this context can be
> substituted for any "kind" or "type."  But doesn't it uncessarily
> obsfucate things?  In most of the entertainment industry, and I'd
> hope here as well: Baseball is a sport.  Sport is a genre for
> stories.  Comedy is a genre.  Standup is a type.

Hmm... A book is a type of technology which can carry many genres.
Standup seems to be somewhere in between?

I had an exam on this today. People might use "genre" differently I
guess, but I think it is useful to think of "genre" as socially
constructed interpretative conventions that bridge the communication
between designer and user (from Brown&Duguid). Thus not necessarily
explicitly defined?  Might not even describe the artefact? Might be
affected by changes in structure over time?

Anyway, a user exposed to Ultima Online will try to find the
appropriate genre and might interpret Ultima Online as a
Shoot-em-up, another user might interpret the game as a
playground. UO affords both interpretations, but what was the
intention? If playground was the intention then the designer might
need to either emphasize the attributes that affords the playground
interpretation (or remove attributes that afford other
interpretations, such as the PvP aspect). Ultima Online is thus not
in a genre, but users use genres for interpreting it, and might
eventually construct a new genre that can be identified by certain
aspects of the game...?

When it comes to interactive media it might be useful to think of
genres of activity in the user community which you address...

Actually, I found the following paper quite useful, although quite
heavy to read. The authors use a more abstract tool for analysis
than the object-context mode of thinking, and focus on the concept
of "center-periphery" and call the region that separate them for
"border" (which isn't necessarily the physical boundary).  For
instance a lawnmower might have the engine sound as a border.  To
make it even more complex; when you get to hear the sound of a
failing engine the sound itself might move into the center. The
shared understanding of aspects of this border (resources) is then
what can be addressed for evoking a genre... and more... lots
more... You're probably better off by reading the paper than to have
my incomplete personal utilitarian interpretation:

John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, "Borderline Issues: Social and
Material Aspects of Design", Human Computer Interaction, 1994, vol
9, pp
3-36

--
Ola  -  http://www.notam.uio.no/~olagr/
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