No Time To Play

I was just reading about the making of Darkfall — a good read for any gamer who dreams of making their own MMO, and who isn’t? — when a particular bit grabbed my attention:

We quickly learned the greek word “avrio” which means “tomorrow”. Whenever there is a problem that needs to be fixed asap, the natural greek reaction is “avrio… avrio”.

That’s the wisdom of a millenia-old civilization for you. A bit of wisdom we have forgotten in our frantic drive for more. And “more” is the kind of god who demands human sacrifices… sometimes literally.

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Let me tell you about the man named Chris Crawford. A legendary game designer, he created several landmark war- and strategy games, and most importantly wrote a good deal about it. His 1984 book The Art of Computer Game Design (available for free online) is pretty much required reading in this business. For at least 15 years, he’s been working on a system for interactive storytelling called Storytron — formerly Erasmatron — which he hopes will revolutionize gaming.

After reading my recent article about games and stories, a friend pointed out that my ideas sound a lot like the concept that underlies Storytron. Unfortunately, that wasn’t my point at all, and whether the misunderstanding was my fault or his, a clarification can only help.

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Remember this article from three months ago, which decried the treatment classic game franchises get nowadays? Turns out, the feeling is shared. Which isn’t exactly surprising, and maybe I wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it, but for the remarks I made in my previous article.

See, the fact that many modern games (and movies) have terrible stories can be forgiven. It’s a matter of fashion, and fashions go as easily as they come. But when you make a sequel of a cult classic from decades ago, turning it into a brainless GFX-fest — as is the current trend — simply can’t go unnoticed.

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So, I spent much of last week preparing and then running an RPG session. Normally, I suck at making up stories (believe me, I tried for years). But as a game master, I’m actually adequate, or so my players tell me. Which used to puzzle me: if static, linear storytelling is hard, interactive storytelling should be much harder, right?

It took me a long time to understand that it’s the other way around. With the imagination of other people helping you, it should be much easier (for reasons I will explain in a moment). But this conclusion raises another question: if that’s the case, why do videogames, as a rule, have such sucky stories that some people question whether they should try for stories at all?

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There is a gap in my videogame repertoire. Specifically, I don’t do RPGs.

Oh, I’ve played a few of the classics (Fallout 1&2, Planescape Torment, the first Ultimas) as well as the occasional MMO. Roguelikes might count as well, depending on your definition. But for the most part I’ve played RPGs in ways that only involve computers incidentally, or not at all. Namely via forums, text based virtual worlds, or simply around a table with a few friends.

You caught me; I like to read and write a lot. But even if you’re into glitzy graphics, pen&paper RPGs (a.k.a. tabletop) might hold some points of interest for you.

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Every time some artist, or author, or publisher moves to a “pay what you want” or “freemium” business model, trolls inevitably show up to yell how this is never going to work, despite numerous examples to the contrary. A similar outcry could be heard a few months ago, when several high-profile MMORPGs announced moving to a free-to-play model. So I guess they’re in trouble by now?

In a word, NOPE. Ars Technica gives a quick heads-up on how Lord of the Rings Online is doing:

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I’ve always been a sucker for the written text, ever since I’ve learn how to read (sometime between the ages of 4 and 5). Oh, I’d watch a movie or two with starry eyes, but then I’d always return to reading books. No wonder, then, that nowadays I am fascinated by text-based computer games. You know, those things many people believe to be a thing of the past. (Which isn’t exactly true: roguelikes are alive and well, interactive fiction is experiencing a revival, and even MUDs are doing fine.)

But I never realized just how important they were in the history of computer games until I tried to draw the diagram below. Count the bold items:

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