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

[Sean Kelly]

On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Marc DM wrote:
 
> I agree with you Jessica. 'Story' should be replaced with
> 'Experience' (not experience points! but real experience, valuable
> experience, experience where you learn something from). You don't
> want to offer a story, you want to offer an experience. Writers
> and filmdirectors offer an experience and they do this THROUGH a
> story. And we, world designers, we visualize what possible
> experiences we want the players to have in our worlds and then
> create our worlds so that players can have these experiences.

I challenge you to name 5 american films released in the past 2
years that teach or even aim to teach anything.  For each film you
name, also list its type and approximate box-office success.

That said, I saw "Spirited Away" this past weekend and thought it
was a fantastic representation of a film that could be seen as
having a message but managed to keep it quite subtle.  Definately
recommended.

> I like to approach my designs from the 'What do I want to learn
> the audience' point of view. It's very rational.. For instance how
> do I learn people that racism isn't good? There was this movie,
> American History X, that succeeded in this very well. It was a
> story about a rascist who got to know a 'nigger' in prison and
> discovered these 'niggers' could be nice too, even friends, so
> that his rascist reasoning fell appart. A story learns you
> something and that's why movies and television are such a popular
> medium, you can learn a lot from it.

So Seinfeld was the #1 show for how long because people saw it as a
valuable object lesson?  Do we turn to tv dramas full of
dysfunctional people to learn about the travails of life?  And if
one of the popular lessons is racism, how many telivision shows have
a mixed-race cast or feature minorities in non-cliched roles?

> How could I learn through this new medium, online worlds,
> something of value to my inhabitants or players. How could I learn
> them that 'rascism is no good'?

d00d r4ci5m sUxx0rs!

> How would it be to step into the skin of a 'nigger' in a rascist
> society?  This is what online worlds make us possible to do. You
> can create a society that works just like the real world society
> works. With that difference that there is some magic possible over
> there, that isn't possible over here, such as changing
> viewpoints. You can have different lives, different avatars, in
> the same society and experience the world from different
> angles. You can see what the results are from your actions without
> riscing to much (that's playing). Only your online persona will
> drag the results of your actions with him, not your real life
> persona.

If a player can see the results of their actions without risking
much, how do they identify negative behavior?  What motivates them
not to repeat such behavior?

> I find it extreemly exciting that in some time people will be able
> to play policeman, drugs dealer or even major in some virtual
> city. I find it exciting to think of a gaming world that would
> allow my grandma to play a hooker trying to survive in some rough
> city and my little sister playing mother, trying to live together
> with a husband and take care of the children.

I'm having trouble understanding how playing a hooker in an ORPG
will teach someone anything about what it is like to be a hooker in
RL.  Or, for that matter, why a person would be motivated to play a
virtual hooker out of any kind of objective, inquisitive interest at
all.  And how many parents would let their children play an ORPG
that allowed people to play criminals, hookers, and struggling
parents (assuming any kids wanted to play the game anyway)?  And
frankly, I'd worry about the state of a world where people had to
turn to an ORPG to learn that being a young, struggling parent
sucks.

> Online Worlds are a serious learning tool and telling stories is
> not the way to go! Online worlds tell their story, offer an
> experience THROUGH the interdependent relations of the different
> elements that are part of your univers. You as a designer decides
> how the universe works and then the players will figure out how it
> works and that way will learn something, it's that simple. Long
> live the sandbox metaphor!

I'm not sure I agree.  There's a place for storytelling in ORPGs so
long as the players are allowed to shape it.  And I think for the
most part players appreciate a contextual world.  It gives them a
sense of motivation beyond leveling or the need to one-up each other
in some Lord of the Flies-esque struggle for supremacy.

As for learning -- I agree that the players will learn something by
figuring out how your universe works, but what they learn is how to
navigate the world and manipulate it to their advantage.  I've
learned strategy and problem-solving from games but I've never
learned any sort of life-lesson.  And I have the feeling that if I
felt that a game was trying to impose a lesson on me I'd probably
quit playing it.  People spend enough time being preached to without
it becoming a part of their entertainment as well.

Sean


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