Get Social, Get Writing, Get Educated

Since GDC09, we’ve been busy with appearances and projects.  Anne recently spoke at Digital L.A.’s Games Go Social panel in May and discussed the social aspects of games and how successful social games, iPhone games, and casual MMOs are bringing games to the mainstream.  Meanwhile, I analyzed the current crop of social games and offered design ideals for the next generation of social games in an article for Gamasutra, called “The Social Game Boom.”

Next week, I’ll be at CMU for the 2009 Game Education Summit, on June 16-17, 2009.  I’ll be on a panel with noted game writers and academics Lee Sheldon, Richard Dansky, Drew Davidson, and Elisabeth Nonas addressing last year’s hullabaloo on how game writers don’t belong in the game industry.  We’ll also be discussing narrative design and writing for ARGs and non-AAA games.

Additionally, I’ll be co-presenting with Ricardo Rademacher, CEO of Futur-E-Scape, in a session entitled “Creativity, Constraints, and Compromises.” Ricardo Rademacher recently presented his educational theory of MMOGs at the Independent MMO Game Developers Conference in Las Vegas last April.  We’ll be discussing how his educational theory meshed with narrative design to develop a fantasy MMORPG that also teaches physics.  In fact, this game was a case study in our chapter for the book, Writing for Video Game Genres.

Next, I’ll be moderating a panel on educational MMOs and virtual worlds at State of Play VI, on June 19-20, 2009 at New York Law School.  In this panel discussion, leading researchers and creators of educational virtual worlds will discuss the challenges of aligning curriculum and learning with fun. A central theme to the discussion will be to try and establish some best practices for the integration of theory and curriculum into educational virtual worlds.

Attending any of these conferences?  Let me know!

Posted by Sande for Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.

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A Return to Storytelling

I’ve just returned from the Engage! Expo (formerly Virtual Worlds 2009), which focuses on virtual worlds rather than MMOs.  In the case of virtual worlds, sometimes developers have the Field of Dreams notion of “if you build it, they will come” and there’s nothing planned for activities or story other than “they’ll just do social stuff like mini-games and chat.”  For years, people have heralded emergent stories as the greatest thing ever, but if the realm of activities are mundane, the emergent story may be boring and uneventful.

In the first part of the hour devoted to narrative in the conference, Jesse Cleverly reminded us that stories exist to help people make sense of the world.  Therefore, stories have order.  If you look at a screenplay, you may realize that there is economy in words and action (“arrive late, exit early”) and that it’s nothing at all like slice-of-life vignettes.  Stories, in fact, are fashioned.  Emergent story is about taking what happened and fashioning it into a story.  It’s about storytelling.  If I just rattle off “I drove to Wal-Mart.  I bought toilet paper.  I came home.” –  Wow, that’s incredibly boring.  Obviously, there’s an art to storytelling.

Just as Jack Buser, who’s responsible for SCEA’s PlayStation Home, yearned for a missing social component in online play, Jesse Cleverly remarked that storytelling in interactive media is not a brave new frontier like people say.  Maybe we are yearning for a return to the storytelling of yore, those days when people listened to minstrels and poets.  They’d crowd around and yell comments.  Perhaps the poet would embellish or refine the story each time.  These storytellers traveled from town to town and eventually, these stories became myths.

When I did the panel on Writing for Fantasy Game Worlds, one question I asked was about how D&D compared to computer RPGs.  The panelists all had vivid memories of their campaigns in D&D.  The storytelling had reeled them in.  They remarked that computer RPGs were tremendously lacking in the level of interaction when compared to a D&D session.  The storyteller can modify the story at will, embellishing or altering the circumstances to heighten the drama.

So, what do you think?  Do you think computer games represent a desirable return to traditional storytelling or is it a divergence?

Posted by Sande for Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.

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Three case studies on story in MMOs

MMOs are becoming more story-driven.  This is an assertion backed by anecdotal evidence from developers, personal experience writing for MMOs such as WIZARD 101, as well as recent MMO expansions.  While that’s all fine and good, does story have an impact on the sales of MMOs?  Or does it just mean that to get in the MMO space today you better have a big story to back it up? I’ll be personally investigating the following three MMOs, but I would love your feedback!

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Now the fastest selling PC game in history, Lich King brings more zone story to the table, as opposed to single character story.  Unfortunately, I can’t speak with authority on whether this is true or not.  Why?  Because I am still at 68% download on patch # umpteen for my WoW.  However, I will bravely go forward and investigate further once it finishes.  Have you played Lich King?  Do you find a greater emphasis on story, or do you feel it is more of the same?

RuneScape
For two years it’s been the most successful free-to-play MMORPG according to the Guinness Book of World Records.  What’s more, it’s the top video game search term of the year, even beating out Lindsay Lohan in the great search race.  I will bravely run around this free world as soon as WoW gets past 69% download.  In the meantime, what’s your take on the story in RuneScape, or is its main claim to fame “fun and free?”

Tabula Rasa
As you must have heard by now, Tabula Rasa is closing its doors very shortly.  While it took many years to make, it boasted at most 30,000 subscribers.  Before going down for good, however, Tabula Rasa will also be free to play starting in January 10th, at which time I will sneak in and take a look around since I forgot to do so during their beta.  What’s your take on why Tabula Rasa didn’t make it?

I will be exploring these three games for story and fun in the coming weeks and months.  That doesn’t mean you can’t weigh in — you can even post anonymously.  Does the story in these games help, hurt, or have no effect?

Of course, if you care to join me in my adventures, feel free to drop me a line at anne (at) writerscabal.com.

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What type of gamer is everyone else?

We often talk about writing and designing a game for each gamer type, especially Bartle’s Player Types.  Now’s your chance to find out where you lie.  GamerDNA has hit 500,000 tests today and offers visitors a way to learn about their playstyles.  What’s interesting is that the site offers a way to chart the aggregate of everyone’s tests.

So far, of Bartle’s original Four, explorers are the highest at 38.1% of players.  However, I think this result is skewed, because explorers might be twice as likely to explore taking such a test!  Socializers are the lowest.  I don’t know if you get an output you can easily share when you complete the test (the site is lagged due to Kotaku traffic), but if not, that could be why socializers are low.  Surprisingly, achievers come in second to last at 19.1%.  Perhaps the presence or emphasis on multiplayer FPS makes the survey skew toward “Killers” who come in second at 29%.

In addition to the Bartle’s Test, there’s also the “Decades of Influence,” and FPS and RTS multiplayer style tests.  Wait a day or so until they’ve got their servers back in order, then go over there and check out your style.  Learned anything surprising?  Share your results!

Next week: Stay tuned next week for a humorous look at game writers — our first collaborative post with writer Chris Avellone, who draws a mean stick figure.

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You don’t know Austin GDC 2008 until you’ve read this

Sande trekked over to Austin to get you the latest on what’s going on at the Game Developers Conference.  Whether you attended these sessions or not, check out what you missed by reading Sande’s articles over at Edge Online.

Know Your Characters

Tom Abernathy tells you that story comes from character.  He goes further to say character inspires mechanics.  Now if only we can get developers to develop characters before mechanics and we’ll be all set!

What’s Wrong With Questing and How to Fix It

Attendees brainstorm on solutions to the seminal text box for delivering quests.  Many MMOs and games have taken a stab at it.  Added benefit of eliminating the text box in favor of icons or one-liners?  You save your writers’ time so they can focus on making a good adventure.

Future Gaming

Where will games be in 35 years?  Find out what a towel has to do with it!

Google Lively Becoming Game-Friendly

Worlds in Motion Summit reveals that Google isn’t interested in dollars.  Oh, I’m sorry.  Virtual dollars.

Other News from Austin:

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Cartoon Network Flexes IP in MMO

Building an Online Disneyland

Anything from AGDC you’re just dying to learn about?  Got any hot tips?  Click on the comment below and do your magic.

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Wizard 101 goes live!

Woohoo!  Our latest effort, Wizard 101, went live last week!  Aimed at tweens, this fantasy MMO has been entertaining adults as well.  You play a young wizard who must battle against a dark force across several worlds, all the while learning to fight magical battles similar to a collectible card game.  Whether you have a young’un itching to play a wizard, or you are, you should check it out.  Sande and I played together using voicechat over Skype (yes, odd choice) and had a great time.  For a limited time, players can subscribe for a year for only $60, and the first level is free to play.  So grab a buddy and go for a spin!

Check out user comments on this 1up review to see if it’s for you, or explore extensive notes from a beta and current player at West Karana. Interested in gameplay?  Take a look at this sped up boss battle:

Have you played yet?  See you in class!

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Bartle versus MMOs, but solutions are in sight

I cannot believe I missed this.  Our new ION buddy Scott Jennings, who’s working on an unannounced MMO, posted a link on his blog to an interview with Bartle.  It spawned a lengthy conversation in comments, with Bartle himself weighing in several times.  Here’s the crux of Bartle’s argument:

1. MMO designers don’t have the interest or ability to improve on the MMO genre in general
2. MMO designers don’t give any reason or meaning to the worlds they create

Commenters immediately went to town on Bartle, condemning him for only being a consultant among other issues.  In the interest of full disclosure, we are actually consulting on an MMO where Bartle is also a consultant.  That said, having both consulted and worked on a number of MMOs, I have to agree that if you’ve worked on more than one, you get an idea of what is innovative and what isn’t.  If you happen to work on more than one during the course of a year, you really get to see what’s going on currently in the world of MMOs.  As for Jennings and Bartle’s assertion that designers don’t have knowledge of game design history, here’s a quick refresher from a game story perspective.

On the second issue, I can’t claim to know what is going on in the minds of all MMO designers, and neither does Bartle.  However, assuming Bartle is correct, starting with a unique vision, then setting up your world and gameplay to convey it is a step in the right direction.  It’s not enough to say “sci fi world” or “fantasy world,” because this type of world could fit into any game of the genre (not for nothing, but we presented a panel on Writing for Fantasy Worlds).  The worlds of Warhammer, Age of Conan, and World of Warcraft all take place in fantasy worlds, but fantasy worlds — and fantasy games — shouldn’t be interchangable.

Hop on over to broken toys and throw your comment into the mix, or drop your comment down below and tell me if you think Bartle’s dim view of MMO innovation is right or wrong, especially when it comes to MMO game story.   

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