[MUD-Dev] RE:

[Sellers]

Brian McGroarty wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2001 at 12:13:56PM +0100, Hans-Henrik Staerfeldt
> wrote:                                                       

>> Even if you adapt that idea then i would re-ask Raph's question
>> in your wording;
 
>>   "Why is it that the average cartoon lets you project your own
>>   values and morals onto it better?"
 
> The average cartoon has a storyteller with the focus where he or
> she places it, and a singular agenda.
 
> Multiplayer games have multiple people with multiple agendas, and
> most players' focus is set upon their own self.

Yep, this is the canonical excuse for not telling meaningful stories
in games.  And IMO it's a piss-poor excuse.  All it means is that we
don't yet know *HOW* to tell stories in a multi-protagonist,
self-directed environment.  Well, the ancient Greeks didn't know
much about the arc of heroic development in their fiction (their
heroes start heroes and end heroes; if there's any transformation
it's for the worse, and isn't a transition of character), but over
time we've learned a lot more about story structure, character
motivation and development, and avoiding "deus ex machina."

Hopefully it won't take us many centuries to take the next step in
storytelling and extend this to the multi-person environment.

Mike Sellers
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