[MUD-Dev2] The Future of Quests

[Threshold]

Lachek Butalek wrote:
> \
> * The king of the land charges you, the valiant hero, to stop the 
> invading goblin army, for the third time. In return, he promises you a 
> great bounty, for the third time.
>
> But the third quest, however superbly generated, will trigger the 
> "uncanny" effect. It *seems* to be part of an integral, seamless 
> narrative, but to the player it is obviously impossible that the same 
> goblin army would attack three times in a week, and that the king should 
> happen to possess a whole armoury full of heritage weaponry to hand out.
>
>   

I understand what you are saying here, but piggy backing the "Uncanny 
Valley" theory here is just not right. There is a good point to be made 
here, and it seems like folks are trying to strengthen the point by 
connecting it to a trendy concept.

The analogy just doesn't fit, and it doesn't even come close to fitting. 
The Uncanny Valley is specifically about the way people react to an 
artificial human being made more and more human. A quest is not the 
replication of a human. Even in your example, the quest was not 
progressively made more human. The third example was a huge step back 
even on its face.

I think this is a very interesting and useful topic, but trying to 
connect it to the Uncanny Valley theory is just pounding a square peg 
through a round hole.