Comments | adamdray: [Firan] The Elder Game

adamdray

[Firan] The Elder Game

Jan 07, 2008 17:36

FiranMUX is the text-based multiplayer internet game that my wife and I have run continuously for the past 11 years. This post will be mainly of interest to designers of internet games, but you pen-and-paper designers might enjoy it anyway.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about Firan's "elder" game. In the MMO circles, an elder game is the stuff ( Read more... )

firan, mush, game design

Comments 5

jessypi January 8 2008, 00:24:29 UTC

I think you hit upon it, the elders want to see how the story ends.

nynrose January 8 2008, 13:45:15 UTC

I don't necessarily want to see how it ends, but how it progresses and unfolds, and learning about the surprises that are out there. It's like reading one, big continuous novel, waiting for what's around the next corner to jump out at me ( ... )

nevern02 January 8 2008, 15:28:09 UTC

I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

I feel like one of the afore mentioned "elders", but I'm still enough of a rookie that I get excited over alot of the larger plots. At the end of the day, however, it's the meta-plot that grabs me. What happens next in the world of Firan? I want to find out, and I want to be a part of it.

dpassmor January 8 2008, 18:33:26 UTC

I think you summarize this issue very well. Good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I had many goals for my character, some of which I accomplished, several of which I did not, for various reasons. In the end, I felt it was for the good of the game to pass on my 'position' to someone with a fresher perspective ( ... )

kieri January 11 2008, 02:29:02 UTC

How would I do things differently if I were you? I get the sense from your post that you know what you have to do. You can't be afraid to make big changes to the game and to the story. Defeat the Shamibelians. Ruin a clan. Disband another. Start a new one. Destroy Anarinuell in an earthquake. Kill a god. Birth a new one. There's plenty of unexplored territory. To me, the metaplot of Firan was always the 'endgame'. I just never felt like I reached it.I fully agree. Tear it up, rip it out, do something mad. Let Ellish be taken, or the Shamibelians invade for good, or have the gods decide to go all American Gladiator in the forum. Escalate it. Raise the stakes. Right now, the game is so thoroughly managed that nothing unexpected ever really happens, and if something does come up, it's tagged, sorted, organized and "handled" before it does any damage ( ... )