[MUD-Dev] narrative

[Joe Andrieu]

Bruce Mitchener wrote:
> Brandon J. Van Every wrote:

>> This may sound like chops busting, but I can honestly only
>> reflect on my experiences running freeform PBEM RPG games for
>> periods of 1.5 months fulltime at 7 different times from
>> 1998..2001.  The core issues are: I would like to deal with only
>> 5 players max including myself. I would like those players to be
>> inherently talented writers and actors.  I would like them to all
>> have the same level of energy for content production.  I would
>> like them to be in a similar ballpark of authorial goals.

> This would appear to be a dream state.  Having 20% of the
> population of a system enabled, willing and engaged in creating
> content for a game is probably unheard of, much less thinking
> about managing them and keeping them all working in the same
> direction and with the same set of authorial goals.

I would go further and suggest it is an undesirable state for most
players.  I expect that as a writer, Brandon, you crave other
talented writers. Yet the fact remains that most people are not
talented writers, nor do they want to spend all their time and
energy writing. People want to enjoy a well-written story; rarely do
they have the talent or tenacity to write such a story themselves.

The opportunity for AI in MUD-based narratives, IMNSHO, is to create
that first-person experience of being the hero in a dramatically
complete story while simultaneously experiencing a shared
environment with othere real peoplee. I'm referring to logging into
a MUD and experiencing the emotional equivalent of a great movie
where you are the protagonist: from introduction and complications
to climax and denoument with the pacing, depth, themes, motifs,
sound effects, soundtrack, cinematography, and catharsis we have
come to expect in modern story-based media.

Overcoming the obstacles to such a goal seem pretty far away,
especially natural language (and speach) recognition and
generation. Some are reasonably achieved today, such as sound
effects and dynamic soundtracks.

There is also great work being done using AI to drive an interactive
narrative thread where the user's actions actually drive the
plot. So, instead of UPS-style quests or interactive levels between
fixed narrative outtakes, the player's moment-to-moment action
drives an unfolding story; preferably with all the freedom of a
typical MUD while at the same time assuring synthesis of the
dramatic arc.

Note that this does NOT mean replacing the writer with a
computer. We may as well try using genetic algorithms to generate
new computer games. I'm a firm believer that the story arc itself
will be best created by a real human for the foreseeable
future. What the AI can do is provide real-time responsiveness to
the player, crafting the simulation to achieve the story as defined
by the writer/director/creator.

>> I do not see that a technology can ever resolve these issues.  I
>> believe if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself.  If
>> I gotta do it myself, I don't need an AI technology.

Just because you cannot see it does not make it impossible. There
are those who are working hard on these problems and making good
progress. Don't judge their efforts before you have explored them.

IMO, Brooks' meta-linear narrative is very much akin to Crawford's
story simulation; a potentially more fruitful thread is being
explored by Mateus & Stern in their current project, Facade
http://home.netcom.com/~apstern/interactivestory.net/

I would also give Crawford some slack.  The reason he has no product
is independent of the viability of his approach. It is for very much
the same reason Brooks hasn't put together a real product. Neither
is playing by the rules of the computer games industry, which
despite its faults is the best vehicle for funding and distributing
"real" interactive entertainment products.

I respect that until you see it succeed, there is no PROOF that it
works. Yet, when exploring new paradigms, it pays to fertilize and
water a thousand seeds in hope of growing the truly innovative
flower.

-j

--
Joe Andrieu 
Realtime  Drama
joe at andrieu.net
kestral at ugcs.caltech.edu


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