[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Storytelling in MMOGs article

[Freeman]

From: SpY

> I am definitely a "sandbox theorist" and in my meta- concept the
> story is always told in a retro perspective view on the players
> activities.  To me recording the ongoing action (cutting out the
> boring 90% and putting the thrilling 10% in some sort of "evening
> game news" frame) appears to be the way to go.

I get lumped into the "sandbox theorist" category whenever and
whereever this debate pops-up, but I'm not really.  Or at least not
entirely.

I agree with the approach of designing game systems deliberately to
produce emergent storytelling.  I don't see that as "the sandbox
approach", nor do I think that having a lack of hand-crafted,
pre-scripted stories in a game necessarily makes it "a sandbox".
Certainly there are some goal-oriented games out there with very
little in the way of storytelling in them.

Also, I don't think this approach necessitates a completely
hands-off approach.  Rather, design systems which result in the
genesis of a story emerging, then dive-in and "meddle" to make the
story more interesting than it would have been otherwise.  Then let
it resolve on its own, and follow-up as the sports-caster to make
sure everyone knows how it turned out (and for that matter, to make
it sound more interesting than it actually was).

The result, I think, would be *good* stories (because you meddle to
ensure that they are good, and then lie^H^H^Hexplain how good that
story was), which are also *about* the players (which is all the
players care about anyway).

It's not just a bunch of nobs for players to tweak (aka sandbox),
but also a system that guarantees there will be a story once players
start tweaking nobs.  Mid-stream meddling to ensure the story is
good.  Recap to ensure it is remembered as being good.

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