tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post5672315860361567136..comments2024-01-02T23:18:18.412-08:00Comments on Yeebo Fernbottom's MMO Blog: Can emergent storytelling happen in a world defined by mechanics?Yeebohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-88494654263757116622011-02-23T09:35:33.422-08:002011-02-23T09:35:33.422-08:00Mechanics define a game, especially a computer gam...Mechanics define a game, especially a computer game, but people define the RP aspects. There were plenty of munchkin numberwonks in tabletop RPGs, too.<br /><br />So... yeah, mechanics are a significant limitation, but I think players are the bigger factor. Then again, if all you *can* do in a game is role play, that sort of changes the tone, too.Teshhttp://tishtoshtesh.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-79969239029803490082011-02-18T06:57:47.947-08:002011-02-18T06:57:47.947-08:00"If I say "Greetings, Warrior, have you ..."If I say "Greetings, Warrior, have you come to serve the Horde?" and iwillhumpurmom says "lol r u some kind of nerd?" it's VERY hard to stay immersed."<br /><br />I got a giggle out of that. Great points, there are a lot of reasons why RPing doesn't work well in modern MMOs besides limited vocabulary. It will be interesting to see what opportunities technology creates in the future. Some futurists think we'll hit singularity in about 25 years, surely an MMO that let's you climb a tree and throw pine cones can't be that far off.Yeebohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-73831154899436010542011-02-17T20:57:39.901-08:002011-02-17T20:57:39.901-08:00I think there's hope.
Regarding rp in games t...I think there's hope.<br /><br />Regarding rp in games the problem I've found is that most people (and me, certainly) need to bounce off other roleplayers in a virtuous circle for it to be any fun.<br /><br />If I say "Greetings, Warrior, have you come to serve the Horde?" and iwillhumpurmom says "lol r u some kind of nerd?" it's VERY hard to stay immersed. One can of course do it by cliquing off but that's pretty unappealing to. We're the weird roleplaying nerds who take our orcs off into the back woods of Azshara and do incomprehensible things.<br /><br />The next point is that, as you say, the vocabulary is so limited. RP in mmos tends to manifest as chat. When I played D&D, Runequest, Vampire, what was interesting wasn't the chat but the situations and they revolved around the action and the gameplay. It was very cool when one of the vampires I was with smuggled a gun into a nightclub by the icky method of shoving it up his ribcage. By comparison sitting around in a MMO with a bunch of RPers watching someone type some in-character speech is like watching paint try.<br /><br />MMOgamerchick is right in that technology will extend the vocabulary and make the creation of interesting stories possible. Imagine if there were an accretive MMO engine where you could try things like throwing pine cones at wolves and rather than instantly failing because the program doesn't recognise the action it gives you a standard small chance of success for any unknown action while flagging it for cataloguing in a growing database of possible actions.<br /><br />But until technology changes the disconnect between the player's stories and the gameplay is too great. For instance I had a face-off with a RPer I rather disliked. I challenged him to a duel, /mocked him, /roared then wrote up the encounter on the forums in a provocative way. He continued the story with something completely made up about how rubbish we were. It's how rp in mmos works - like a story where each player tells a little then the next player improvises the next bit. That doesn't mesh with confrontational gameplay.Stabshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08716211705647213383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-27753326878891829382011-02-17T16:00:43.791-08:002011-02-17T16:00:43.791-08:00I think you are right about that. I suspect, the f...I think you are right about that. I suspect, the freedom offered by the even broadest sandbox doesn't mean a lot more to an average player than something more "themepark" that has a lot of RP systems like LoTRO or EQ II. And yeah, I get a smile out of that too, even if it's not my cup of tea . . . a few isolated drunken incidents excepted... ;-)Yeebohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6711156850879162685.post-21888401115867097662011-02-17T14:42:03.850-08:002011-02-17T14:42:03.850-08:00This makes me think that in a sense, all the video...This makes me think that in a sense, all the video games we play today including the ones that allow a tad more freedom or choice are still essentially "on rails" because we are limited by the mechanics. I think it's more of a technology thing more than an MMO thing. Maybe someday our technology will be able to accommodate all that you talked about, letting us act out in actual virtual worlds in whatever manner we please. Until then though, it makes me smile to see that some people still play out their characters and their personalities, motivations and stories in the form of RP in public areas. Right now I guess we can only make do with emotes :PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com