Alright. So he's arguing for the embracing of social gaming, less copying of Tolkien's Middle Earth, internally-consistent worlds, a better suspension of disbelief than what is currently attempted, and the developer playing the game along with you. Let's talk about each of these concerns he brings up.
Gamers, as a culture, have drawn a line between themselves and the "socials." The mantra is that social games aren't real games, so social gamers aren't real gamers. This is false. Everyone plays games, so everyone is a gamer is how it should work. We played Mario, Sonic, and Pac-Man when we first started playing video games because those were the game available to us. Likewise, the new generation of gamers will play FarmVille, Angry Birds, and Bejewled because those are what is available to them. I agree with Garriott that the gaming community and the developers need to embrace the new social gaming scene.
Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, and Rings Of Power. How many times can we use Tolkien's universe with a different name slapped on it? I think everyone is beyond bored with the setting, but we are all too afraid to try something new. What is an elf if not a thin, exotic, long-lived forest dweller? Or an Dwarf that doesn't want to have sex with the ground itself and drink ale all day? Or a Human that isn't filled with wunderlust and greed? It's a hard world to imagine without these golden cows, but there's no way to find out if they are better without experimentation. I have to again agree with Garriott, though it is in trepidation, as I find his suggestions hard to fathom.
Internal consistency is something I have struggled with myself as a game master with my table-top group. How do you craft an internally consist world without it getting boring? For example, the player is presented with a cave that is being used by a tribe of orcs. If the entire cave is just one battle with orcs after another, it becomes a boring slog. If on the other hand, there is other creatures in the cave to spice up combat, to differentiate one battle from the next, it becomes more interesting. Unfortunately, without careful story telling, the second scenario is not internally consistent. I can only balk at the idea of being a good enough story teller to create an entire MMOG world that is both interesting and internally consistent.
Suspension of disbelief is very important in any video game, but Garriott makes a good point when he talks about the characters in these games are clearly defined as not you. My rub with this is it's actually a step back, to blank slate proteginists that say nothing, have no back story, and don't react, because the developer wants you to project yourself on to them. While it was a nice goal, it just never worked out and is now regarded as a bad idea or blamed on the lack of space on the game disc, or both. I want to play my games to escape, to be some one else for a little while, not pretend what it would be like if I got transported to Middle Earth.
Finally, we have this idea of the developer playing alongside the player. I honestly don't know what Garriott is getting at with this idea. He lauds the fact that he is Lord British and the king of Britannia in Ultima was Lord British. That it caused a real world interaction to take place because players wanted to speak with this person who had made the game they just finished which had been in the game as well. I find this assumption hard to believe, mainly because the Internet facilitates instant communication with anyone you want, and we really haven't see a drastic improvement in our video games.
All in all, a very well thought out piece that presents a lot of good ideas, but ultimately flawed for the importance it places on out dated ideas. Hopefully he can turn his ramblings into something as monolithic as Ultima - it would be nice to see Lord British remake the video game world one last time.
Nobody wants you to be king!
Internal consistency is something I have struggled with myself as a game master with my table-top group. How do you craft an internally consist world without it getting boring? For example, the player is presented with a cave that is being used by a tribe of orcs. If the entire cave is just one battle with orcs after another, it becomes a boring slog. If on the other hand, there is other creatures in the cave to spice up combat, to differentiate one battle from the next, it becomes more interesting. Unfortunately, without careful story telling, the second scenario is not internally consistent. I can only balk at the idea of being a good enough story teller to create an entire MMOG world that is both interesting and internally consistent.
Suspension of disbelief is very important in any video game, but Garriott makes a good point when he talks about the characters in these games are clearly defined as not you. My rub with this is it's actually a step back, to blank slate proteginists that say nothing, have no back story, and don't react, because the developer wants you to project yourself on to them. While it was a nice goal, it just never worked out and is now regarded as a bad idea or blamed on the lack of space on the game disc, or both. I want to play my games to escape, to be some one else for a little while, not pretend what it would be like if I got transported to Middle Earth.
Finally, we have this idea of the developer playing alongside the player. I honestly don't know what Garriott is getting at with this idea. He lauds the fact that he is Lord British and the king of Britannia in Ultima was Lord British. That it caused a real world interaction to take place because players wanted to speak with this person who had made the game they just finished which had been in the game as well. I find this assumption hard to believe, mainly because the Internet facilitates instant communication with anyone you want, and we really haven't see a drastic improvement in our video games.
All in all, a very well thought out piece that presents a lot of good ideas, but ultimately flawed for the importance it places on out dated ideas. Hopefully he can turn his ramblings into something as monolithic as Ultima - it would be nice to see Lord British remake the video game world one last time.
Nobody wants you to be king!
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