[MUD-Dev] narrative

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Amanda Walker wrote:

> I think that concentrating on narrative may be a mistake.

It's certainly a mistake for some people.  People don't concentrate
on things they have little interest in.

> Game developers want to build worlds, not write stories.

Statistically speaking, you're absolutely correct.  The vast
majority of game designers see themselves as programmers, far more
than any other hat they might wear.  Very few see themselves
primarily as fine artists, filmmakers, or writers.  Most apply a
programmer's sensibility to what's worth doing or not doing, what
R&D sounds cool and what sounds like a waste of time.  There's a
tremendous apathy to the craft of writing in the game industry,
because the vast majority of game developers are non-writers.

What will ever change that circumstance?  I think it will take a
game that finally shows what interactive story can be, that makes a
lot of money, that blows all this amateurish player-driven emergent
"narrative" stuff out of the water.  Something that is compelling
beyond gamer geeks, that provides what mass market TV and film
audiences expect out of entertainment.  Only when someone makes a
big pile of $$$$$$$ on story will the game developers start to
regard it as important.  Even then, they'll resist it for a decade.


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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