[MUD-Dev] narrative

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Joe Andrieu wrote:

> If fictional examples will work better for you, check out the Star
> Trek: The Next Generation episode where Data asks the holodeck for
> a Sherlock-Holmesian story where Moriarity is capable of defeating
> data. The results is a fabulously structured interactive narrative
> where everyone is doing what comes naturally and the story arc is
> synthesized in result.

Aren't you forgetting that some guy sat down and wrote the teleplay
for that?

> My point is, it aint about the text. It's about the experience.

It's about the text.  That's the problem with all the
engineer-heads.  They think the experience is all about something
else other than... what you write.

>> Why do engineers put so much energy into trying to avoid the
>> writing?

> Cost. Plain and simple.

And so therefore they chase down all these R&D blind alleys.  In
that time, they could have written enough material manually for many
successful products.  Are you honestly going to claim that 6 months
of writing for a TV series isn't enough product to satiate a MUD
consumer?  Make 'em pay more money for the next 6 months of content.
Unlike TV, there's no maturity or sophistication of writing release
cycle among MUDders because (1) text MUDs don't actually sell, so
(2) all the engineers work on story generation problems because
they're entertained by that, and (3) the real writers go get real
writing jobs.

If you really think writing is too expensive to provide as a
product, you should say screw it and just provide Diablo II style
level-ups.  That's what all the successful, moneymaking MMORPGs do.
Screw R&D, it's a waste of time.

I'd be *very* impressed if there's a 3D graphical MUD out there
that's putting serious effort into manual storywriting.  Anyone know
of such a beast?


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.


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