[MUD-Dev] Much Respect to JessicaM

[Sean Kelly]

On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, Michael Tresca wrote:

> I'll take this one step further.  The nature of MMORPGs is
> user-crafted content.  In all media.  ALL MEDIA.
 
> No more traditional movies.  You plop the camera in a MMORPG, buy
> the rights from the guys who participate, clean it up, and sell
> it.  That's your next movie.  Virtual actors have already removed
> the need for storyboarders since you're filming the action in real
> time and can tweak the characters' actions later. Less and less
> traditional film roles are necessary.

This is provided that you're talking principally about american
cinema.  Different countries tend to have different strengths in
film-making and different ideas about what comprises a Good Film.
French films seem to be mostly thematic.  Some areas use it as a way
address political issues.  The US is very much story-driven.  As
much as I do like american movies, I think that the bulk of them
don't use the full potential of film as an artistic medium.  That
is, it is just another context for plain ol' storytelling.  The
camera is used as a window into that story, and cinematography is
mostly used to add emotional context to scenes.  Ultimately, there
is little to justify the use of film itself over, say, text.

I remember hearing once in reference to books -- writers use fiction
because it is generally more believable than if a story were told
truly.  That is, reality is generally far stranger and fiction is
toned-down or simplified reality.

Reality shows are an interesting (and popular) concept.  But the
situations still have to be carefully considered to provide more
than just voyeuristic entertainment.  The Osbournes was a stoke of
genius.  The upcoming show about real-life beverley hillbillies
makes me shudder.

Still, gaming gives rise to a slew of interesting storytelling
possibilities.  Between the interactive mode of the games themselves
to films created by "actors" using the Quake engine, I agree that
games should provide more and more interesting (and popular)
possibilities.

Sean


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