Storytelling in the online space

The following two snippets were originally Usenet posts, but I’ve extended them and added to them, so that they can make more sense without the context of the thread.

Well, I’ll be the first to admit that events in UO have not always lived up to expectations. But I do see a different sort of living, progressing, and growing. So maybe we’d benefit in this discussion from breaking down what we mean by these different things.

Let’s use a cube: one axis being who directs the growth/change/activity, one being what fictional context it uses, and the other being whether it actually causes the world to progress, grow, or change in any way.

This leads to the following:

Design-directed stuff that springs from the backplot but does not change the world. The gnoll scenario in EverQuest fits this bill. So does the Sherry the Mouse book in UO, or any other static backplot that serves to add detail.

Design-directed material that springs from the backplot but does affect the world is a knotty problem, and I think what most players refer to when they say “plot” in an online RPG setting. This would be something large like a plot to destroy the world–if it had the potential to actually kill everyone in the game.

Design-directed material that does not spring from the backplot and does not change the world would be something like a seasonal event or holiday celebration that does not change the world in any substantial way. So for example, having Santa Claus stand on corners and say “Ho ho ho”, which has no impact on the gameplay after the event is concluded.

Design-directed material that does not spring from the backplot and does change the world would be things like the introduction of a new type of armor, or (a UO-specific example) black dye tubs, as part of a seasonal holiday event. These introduced ripples into the economy that are still seen today–in the case of the black dye, still seen pretty strongly. Yes, a moderately minor sort of effect, but an effect nonetheless.

Player-directed material that springs from the backplot but does not change the world would be something like the Seekers of the Wisps. Fun for them, but of no real lasting consequence in the game–it does not change gameplay for the shard as a whole.

Player-directed material that does spring from the backplot and does affect the world would be things like the Trinsic Rebellion, or the Temple of Mondain. These things were and are causing significant effects in the gameplay of the shards in question–localized, to be sure, but fairly significant in that they affect the general atmosphere of the game in the affected regions.

Player-directed material that does not spring from the backplot and does not change the world is very very common. Countless themed dungeon crawls, small taverns running roleplay stories, etc.

Player-directed material that does not spring from the backplot and does change the world is often the most compelling to the players, it seems. Attacks on Kazola’s tavern. SiN demanding protection money. The SBR.

Setting aside immersion for the moment–let’s get back to the living/growing/progressing thing. I happen to agree that the issue of design-directed plot events that alter the world have indeed not come off in UO. I don’t think they’ve come off significantly in EQ yet either–to be honest, the only pay-for-play games I know of in which they DO come off and have significant impact on the game are Gemstone III, Dragonrealms, and Achaea. In those, volcanos bury cities, deities topple and as a result entire classes lose magical abilities for weeks, etc.

But I DO think that the player-directed stuff in UO is very strong, stronger than anything else out there in the pay-for-play arena, at any rate. And it’s at its strongest when it is not tied to the backplot with any great strength… and I also do see it as living, progressing, growing, changing the world, very often.

Ideally, I think, you hit all eight types. But it’s devilishly hard to do…

This is a fascinating area of discussion, and I’d love to pursue it more. It’d be interesting to add “scope” to the grid and see what it gets us.

As an example of events that we considered doing in UO but have not pursued: a ginseng blight ruins all the ginseng crop. Shops stop carrying it. A quest must be done to find a cure for the blight. Until then, no ginseng reagent unless you find it loose in the woods. There were many others along similar, major, game-afecting lines that we considered, but held off on because we were not sure that the playerbase was up for it.

On Achaea, they run similar huge plotlines with great regularity, and by all accounts their (much harder-core) playerbase loves it.