[MUD-Dev] Expectations of in-game reality

[Travis Casey]

Thursday, October 25, 2001, 4:40:26 PM, J C Lawrence wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Oct 2001 07:52:11 -0700
> Jeff Freeman <Freeman> wrote:

>> 'Course the issue of consistency doesn't have to be resolved by
>> introducing death.  It could be resolved by having all the NPCs
>> to stop pretending that some other NPC died, deleting the
>> graveyards, and so on.

> There are two sorts of internal consistency: logical and dramatic.
> In Gibson's Neuromancer the lead character spends almost the
> entire book bemoaning the fact that he wants to jack in and can't.
> During that time he has untold opportunities to and doesn't.

Are you sure that's not just a perception on your part?  My memory
is that the character bemoans that in the first part of the book,
but during that time, he's suffering from some sort of nerve
degradation which makes him literally unable to do it.  After his
new employers get him fixed up, he then spends a couple of days
jacked in, and after that, he no longer whines about jacking in, but
just does it.

> Yet the story works.

> A 50 tonne dragon with wings the size of postage stamps flying is
> not logically internally consistent, not unless you can also fly
> by wiggling your ears.  It makes good story however.  Why?

Can you point to any serious fantasy that has such a thing, though?
The only flying dragons with wings smaller than their body length
that I've seen depicted are either (1) in children's fantasy, where
they're trying for a silly appearance, or (2) Oriental dragons, who
don't have wings at all.  In the latter case, some stories say that
the dragons have magical pearls in their brains that allow them to
fly, and in some of those stories, people who manage to obtain one
of those pearls can use it to fly.

Most fantasy that's aimed at adults at least pays lip service to
consistency.

--
Travis Casey
efindel at earthlink.net

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