what do you think of a game where the players write the story as they go along? As they go on quests their actions (brave or otherwise) get recorded into a gameworld history book, made into drinking songs, made into campfire stories, whatever. Also, how about after the player goes on his quest and comes back, he tells his story to a "grand storyteller" and then that person disseminates the story, integrates it into the greater story of the game. Basically, the idea is to make the player a part of the game in the same way that the mythical hero of yore is a part of the game. Right now in games the player is more of an outsider looking in through his window called the monitor. What if when the player came to the world, he made an definite impact on the world? A little test to see if players can write the story on their own. write one paragraph (not too long, no more longer than my total post) about a quest you "had" and post them here. Also, make sure it is concistant with the other stories already posted. Tell about the purpose of the quest, where you heard of such an adventure, how many people went with you, what obsticales you came to, you get the point. Just post. Are you even trying to be intelligent? 'cuz if you are, it ain't workin'

Won''t this be a rather biased sample? People who read this group tend to have some writing experience, unlike your average player.

Actually, I was thinking of having moderators called bards and storytellers that take details from players and weave stories out of them. Basically they would only need major details because that is all that really ever survives in legends.

This is a test to see if people can stay consistent with the world for their stories. This idea is far from fruition, but I would like to see what happens. Okay, here are the rules of my little game that I would like you to play with me here. The first person to post gets to pick the mode of the story (i.e. medieval, modern time, futuristic, otherworldly). After that, each post must remain consistant with the posts before them, but can add whatever they want (if it''s a futuristic world but you want a sword fight, add lightsabers). Though not a rule, I encourage you to make references to previous posts (for example, in your post you could be going on a quest to retrieve the armor of the fatefull character in a previous post).

Okay, I don''t want to start things off because I think that would be unfair, I''m looking for a start that I would not come up with. I will add posts if I can come up with anything though.

Are you even trying to be intelligent?
'cuz if you are, it ain't workin'

The cold rain drifted lazily past the window (how cliche!). Outside, birds sang in the trees, and the wind made the leaves rattle against the glass. I lay in bed, wondering what I might do today. The sky outside was gray and bleak, and prospects for any useful purpose to the day seemed lost, so I simply rose and went down the stairs to pour myself some cereal.

I appeared to be out, so I went to the computer to order some. In five minutes, I heard a metaling bang in the chute, and went over to retrive the cereal which had finally arrived. Service was certainly slow today. After my breakfast, I decided to take a walk in the rain. Grabbing my umbrella, I pushed the door open.

They had certainly done a good job simulating rain, I thought as I walked down the road. I had had this same though on every rainy day, but it always amazed me that rain could be so much like it was on Earth here on Mars. I had lived on Earth for nearly twelve years of my life, when my parents finally decided that the over crowded cities of Earth were no longer good enough for me. After all, the polution which filled the skies over nearly all the Earth couldn''t possibly be good for my health. So we decided to come up here to the "New Frontier" as people had grown fond of calling it. It had taken years for the first scientists to get the artificial atmosphere that they created for the planet to support life and stay within the planet, but eventually they succeeded, and mankind began their steady stream to the planets, begining with Mars.

Now, even Mars was begin to be crowded, but growth had slowed as Venus and the moon were colonized. Now there were many places to settle for the seven billion inhabitants of Earth.

The cities on Mars, however, were much less crowded than those on Earth, as new technologies, like the chute, had made banks and stores unnecessary. Now cities contained homes, warehouses, and factories. From the warehouses, goods were shipped to homes through the chute system which ran under the city. Also, all monetary transactions were now handled by computers, which meant that even money was a thing of the past.

I looked up and saw a ship soaring through the sky above me, probably taking sightseers to Earth. Technology had also brought us such innovations as anti-matter propultion, which allowed inter-planetary transport to occur at speeds hundreds of times faster than had been possible only a few years before.

I soon had circled the block, seeing friends out walking dogs, excersising, or just out in general. I strode through the door, taking a few quick breaths, and then walked over to my computer. I thought perhaps I might do some things before I left for work.

However, I quickly found that I could no longer access my personal accounts. In a panic I began to look around for some explaination as to what may have happened. I went to the web site for the Mars Federal Trade Comision, and found, to my dismay, that my account no longer existed on their data base. My pulse quickening, I began to search for an answer, sending an e-mail to the director asking for the reason for this sudden cancelation of my existance.




I don''t know if this is what you had in mind, but here is a start. Feel free to use my character, or begin another. I would like a female character, as mine is a bachelor...

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official Necromancer of GameDev forums Game Writing section

holy cow...

I think that''s a little too much detail. Since I first wrote this post, I''ve thought about this issue a little more. Generally, story telling would be boring. However, no history in the game would be dull.

I have no idea what I posted before, and I''m not going to read it. Who knows if I even still agree with myself. Anyway, reiterating what I remember of the concept.

As players play a game, they go on quests. Questing is a time honored tradition amongst roleplayers. However, once you do it, there isn''t any record of it other than the experience points you earned, the items you picked up, and the unwelcome gloating you give whenever you see another person. Heck, the quest itself gets reset and left for someone else to come along and complete again. In short, gamers have no effect on the world around them. The world may have a background story that explains the worlds current state, but this story is artificial, only the creators had a hand in writing it. Players come along and play for years on end, gaining high levels and powerful magic, slaying powerful monsters and other powerful players. But it is never recorded.

Imagine, if you will, the first two people to join a particular MMORPG. They''re good roleplayers, so one chooses evil, and the other chooses good, just to stay balanced. They both work hard at the game, and a year later have the two most powerful characters in the game. Since that time, many people have joined the game, and are at various levels, though none as high as the original two. These two are essentially the emmissaries of good and evil incarnate in the game. However, they only play at night, and all the people that play during the day have no clue they even exist. If the game were real, EVERYONE would know whom these two are, and EVERYONE would know to fear them. But they don''t. These two characters have the power to shape the world around them, but they can''t, because the game''s designer was too short sighted.

Persistent history is the key. The creators of the game put too much work into the back story of the game, and don''t leave enough for the players. In real life, we have the stories of Hercules and Persius and King Arthur to inspire us, but in the game there is only what the game creators wrote about fictional characters.

It doesn''t have to be much. Just some kind of record that these characters were their. If the evil guy killed the good guy, then the world could be thrown into a dark age, and more monsters would roam the earth. If a hero is slain while trying to defeat a dragon, then a memorial could be created for the hero. If that hero had some awesome armor, then that armor would stay where the body died, and it would become another quest to retrieve the armor of the great hero.

Quest Master: "You''re quest, kill this goblin."
Player: "Why?"
QM: "Because he''s terrorizing the village nearby"
Player: "I was just at that village, I didn''t see anything"
QM: "It''s part of the story"
Player: "But it didn''t actually happen. Where did the goblin come from?"
QM: "The game creators put him there. It''ll respawn an hour after you kill it."
Player: "Respawn?! Then why should I kill it if it will just be back in an hour?"

See my point? It''s all too arbitrary.

I have no idea how this would be implemented. Maybe it would be a simple matter, maybe it would be nigh near impossible. All I know is, it would totally rock.

I think that designers shouldn''t put in "quests" per se. Instead, have some major events that can occur at one point or another, say a plot, and only one person or group of people can complete a plot, in otherwords, no respawn. This plot can be set in action by various events, such as player actions, or a certain time period being reached. Background events can be made as the world progresses, just like in a plot based RPG. For example, when the game world starts, there are no monsters. X days after it begins, BOOM, out of nowhere, monsters everywhere. Where did they come from? The players first can quest to find the answer to this riddle. Perhaps their actions can spawn more plots to begin. Once they figure out the answer, they report back and it becomes part of the history of the world, with dates recorded. Once these pre-made plots run out, players can begin to create their own plots by, for example, forming a guild and terrorizing the world with magical artifacts. Or perhaps an NPC is in dangered by monsters. I''ll be back...

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official Necromancer of GameDev forums Game Writing section

Sorry, I''m using a computer at the library at my school, and someone needed to do work so I got kicked off. Anyway, the player saves the NPC, and the event is recorded in the world history book. Perhaps events can be organized and rated in certain ways to make it so you don''t see announcements every week like "player X killed so and so on this date!" That would get very boring. The players should be encouraged to make plots of their own so that the game will have a constant direction.

Oh, and my story... I think it has just the right amount of background. Any takers to continue it? SunandShadow, will you please create a character, since I know you''re around somewhere? This could be fun; we should do things like this more often!

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official Necromancer of GameDev forums Game Writing section

you just reminded me of another aspect that I thought would tie in well with the story and fame ideas being presented here. Medieval tournaments. I think jousting could become a very popular mini-game.