[MUD-Dev] narrative

[Matt Mihaly]

On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Brandon J. Van Every wrote:
> John Robert Arras wrote:
 
> If you accept that the task really is this difficult, then you can
> have your "complex simulation" or your "strong AI" simply by
> working with a talented human writer, or becoming one.

<EdNote: Question reworded>

What do you think the costs and complexity of such a task are?
 
>> I still think they're opposites. Diablo II isn't really
>> interactive.
 
> If Diablo II isn't interactive, then nothing in the game industry
> is interactive.  Which agrees with my thesis BTW.  I think calling
> Diablo II "non-interactive" defies both industry usage of the term
> and common sense.  Even "Tommy" interacts, he's a pinball wizard!

Nearly all MUDs are interactive by your definition. (Both graphical
and text.)

>> I am not interested in writing stories.
 
> Then we're not on the same page.  Maybe you could start a new
> thread with a different title?

Why? It's called "Narrative" not "Writing". They aren't the same
thing. Writing is just one way to convey a narrative, though you
aren't willing to recognize that apparently.

Frankly, for me at least, the sophistication of Morrowind is almost
enough for me. I am having such a good time in that world, and the
stories coming out of it are actually interesting to me. A good
friend of mine who is also playing Morrowind and I have spent
literally hours on the phone to each other eagerly relating our
trials, tribulations, and triumphs of our characters, and to me,
this is the best kind of storytelling.

Remember that people don't need a story shoved at them all the time
in games. Linear media is much better than that. Players are
willing, and usually eager, to tell their own stories based on the
events around them, regardless of whether those events are fully
"fleshed out" or not. My Morrowind experience is one example. When
my friend and I talk to each other about it, we're both aware that
we're imposing a slightly more sophisticated story upon the world
events, but that doesn't make it any less fun to tell each other
stories about our experiences with the stories in the game.

Sports addicts are the same way. They make an over-arching story for
themselves out of the events in a sport, even though those events
aren't set up to be a narrative or convey a story in any way. It
obviously works very very well.

--matt


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