14
05
2009
On Interactive Fiction and the Narrative Quality of Second Life
Posted in /dev/random, articles
Given my earlier promise to bring this up, I’d like to go off the rails for a bit to discuss a guilty pleasure. Over the last several months, I’ve developed a bad habit of playing interactive fiction. Don’t panic; this addiction is entirely benign, and shouldn’t impact our regularly-scheduled posts on Second Life.
(However, other factors have impacted this a bit. More hopefully in the coming months. – Ed)
(Image via Usonian’s Flickr stream)
It may come as a shock to readers here, but in an age of increasing emphasis on visuals and 3D graphics, I feel we still have much to learn from the acetic forebears of MUDs, MOOs, and others. As true to its roots as its ever been, the IF genre has much to offer to creators in Second Life.
But don’t just take my word for it. Keep reading.
—
My main intrigue in IF is, in base form, twofold.
First, proponents of IF place emphasis on narrative quality, given this is the defining characteristic of the medium. Second, IF titles attempt to tackle the reason we play and enjoy the medium. These are qualities that Second Life sorely lacks.
With cards firmly on the table, let me elaborate.
In IF, through proper narration and character modeling (in a literary sense), the player is always kept on track and apprised of the goal at hand. Goals are either slowly revealed to the player, or bluntly driven in with every step. Puzzles are solved by logic, or more commonly, through the use of picking up and using everything that’s not bolted down.
True masters go a step further. Masters don’t just lead the player; they actively engage them. Instead of simply leading the reader by the hand, pros weave them into the story. Instead of a linear adventure, paths diverge without detracting from the story. And throughout, the player is told to constantly push further, explore, and experiment.
(Image via Flickr user nonXpert (group link))
Of course, successful engagement of the player is best served with a side of intrigue and hook, plot or otherwise. The best venues for engagement in IF appear to be humor (Augmented Fourth), deep writing and characters (Make It Good), or unique settings and gameplay (Inside Woman, All Things Devours). This is loosely verified based on comments on raif/rgif, various contest postings, and my own experiences playing through these titles. Before you ask, yes, this is all accomplished completely in text.
Perhaps overarching throughout, many IF games also attempt to tackle the reasons for writing, playing, and occasionally, seek out existential questions. This should come as no surprise, given the IF genre’s roots in writing and novelist perfection.
Moving back to our original topic for this blog, this sort of engagement is sorely lacking in Second Life.
Given the impetus to create and sell works in a purely abstract sense, many creators seem to have forgotten the point of what it is they’re creating. While there are many corner shops and vendors, there are very few worlds to explore, which has led Second Life to take on more of a frivolous quality than that originally intended or envisioned. I suspect prohibitively high costs are a factor in this, as is the vast commercialization of the product.
In my time in Second Life, I’ve spent time working with club owners, sim owners, RPG makers, and projects spanning from Dark Life to the Isle of Wyrms. In all of these cases, the visuals and social aspects hold a premium. Often, the emphasis is commercialization first (to recover costs), visuals and community second, and narrative quality or rich experience as dead last.
Very few of these areas offer what could be considered a true “path” for new players or intrigue for residents. This leads to one of Second Life’s defining characteristics: a constant disjointed feeling of wanderlust, to which many people simply cannot relate.
There have been exceptions to this. Several recent projects in Second Life have attempted to create niche products, using the world as a platform. This has had some mixed success; very few applications lend themselves to a rich 3D or visual experience, beyond the confines of gimmicks and marketing. Visual education, arts projects, simulated sciences, and architecture have flourished, though there is much ground left to cover.
From the hobbyist perspective, Numbakulla ranked highly on this list for richness of experience and narrative quality. Unique to projects like Numbakulla (and before it, various shades of adventure and Myst spinoffs), one could experience a true mystery to solve and richness of narrative that one does not normally experience in Second Life.
This was quickly noticed, and indeed, the Pot Healer adventure enjoyed fair popularity by Second Life standards. However, given the high costs of maintaining the sim over time, this build has changed hands several times. Many other projects of this nature have simply folded, by either failing to retain interest, or through gradual conversion into a commercial product nothing like the original.
(Image via Liqueur Felix’s Flickr stream)
Before I continue, it may seem that I dislike the commercial aspects of Second Life. This is flatly untrue. Indeed, Second Life could not survive without its strong, real world currency system and virtual economy that has inspired so many newer writers and artists to ply their trade with the medium.
However, I feel that the stark commercialization at expense of all else limits Second Life’s abilities as a platform.
The strongest aspect of this is its incentives. The cost of owning appreciable land in Second Life is prohibitively high, to the order of several hundred dollars USD a month to own just one sim. The primary message to residents has, since at least 2006, been commercial in nature.
Why, then, should anyone attempt to create their dreams when they’re working hard to maintain their land payments?
(Image via Lif…’s Flickr stream)
This all strays significantly from the original topic. My attempt is not to rag on Second Life or IF — merely to point out what each medium lacks, such that we may improve upon them both. And ultimately, the continued survival of IF and Second Life both hinge on incentives, intrigue, and balance.
For IF, artistic pursuits lend themselves to very compelling worlds that are difficult to market and sell.
For Second Life, commercial maximism has created an experience that is slowly rotting itself without intrigue.
As someone deeply interested in the former and the latter, it would be interesting to see Second Life regain the pioneer spirit that drove many of us to use it in the first place. For IF, I wish only that authors can retain their drive to create and innovate within the medium, despite difficulties marketing and selling IF stories.
And in both cases, the best we can hope for is balance.
(However, other factors have impacted this a bit. More hopefully in the coming months. – Ed)
(Image via Usonian’s Flickr stream)
It may come as a shock to readers here, but in an age of increasing emphasis on visuals and 3D graphics, I feel we still have much to learn from the acetic forebears of MUDs, MOOs, and others. As true to its roots as its ever been, the IF genre has much to offer to creators in Second Life.
But don’t just take my word for it. Keep reading.
—
My main intrigue in IF is, in base form, twofold.
First, proponents of IF place emphasis on narrative quality, given this is the defining characteristic of the medium. Second, IF titles attempt to tackle the reason we play and enjoy the medium. These are qualities that Second Life sorely lacks.
With cards firmly on the table, let me elaborate.
In IF, through proper narration and character modeling (in a literary sense), the player is always kept on track and apprised of the goal at hand. Goals are either slowly revealed to the player, or bluntly driven in with every step. Puzzles are solved by logic, or more commonly, through the use of picking up and using everything that’s not bolted down.
True masters go a step further. Masters don’t just lead the player; they actively engage them. Instead of simply leading the reader by the hand, pros weave them into the story. Instead of a linear adventure, paths diverge without detracting from the story. And throughout, the player is told to constantly push further, explore, and experiment.
(Image via Flickr user nonXpert (group link))
Of course, successful engagement of the player is best served with a side of intrigue and hook, plot or otherwise. The best venues for engagement in IF appear to be humor (Augmented Fourth), deep writing and characters (Make It Good), or unique settings and gameplay (Inside Woman, All Things Devours). This is loosely verified based on comments on raif/rgif, various contest postings, and my own experiences playing through these titles. Before you ask, yes, this is all accomplished completely in text.
Perhaps overarching throughout, many IF games also attempt to tackle the reasons for writing, playing, and occasionally, seek out existential questions. This should come as no surprise, given the IF genre’s roots in writing and novelist perfection.
Moving back to our original topic for this blog, this sort of engagement is sorely lacking in Second Life.
Given the impetus to create and sell works in a purely abstract sense, many creators seem to have forgotten the point of what it is they’re creating. While there are many corner shops and vendors, there are very few worlds to explore, which has led Second Life to take on more of a frivolous quality than that originally intended or envisioned. I suspect prohibitively high costs are a factor in this, as is the vast commercialization of the product.
In my time in Second Life, I’ve spent time working with club owners, sim owners, RPG makers, and projects spanning from Dark Life to the Isle of Wyrms. In all of these cases, the visuals and social aspects hold a premium. Often, the emphasis is commercialization first (to recover costs), visuals and community second, and narrative quality or rich experience as dead last.
Very few of these areas offer what could be considered a true “path” for new players or intrigue for residents. This leads to one of Second Life’s defining characteristics: a constant disjointed feeling of wanderlust, to which many people simply cannot relate.
There have been exceptions to this. Several recent projects in Second Life have attempted to create niche products, using the world as a platform. This has had some mixed success; very few applications lend themselves to a rich 3D or visual experience, beyond the confines of gimmicks and marketing. Visual education, arts projects, simulated sciences, and architecture have flourished, though there is much ground left to cover.
From the hobbyist perspective, Numbakulla ranked highly on this list for richness of experience and narrative quality. Unique to projects like Numbakulla (and before it, various shades of adventure and Myst spinoffs), one could experience a true mystery to solve and richness of narrative that one does not normally experience in Second Life.
This was quickly noticed, and indeed, the Pot Healer adventure enjoyed fair popularity by Second Life standards. However, given the high costs of maintaining the sim over time, this build has changed hands several times. Many other projects of this nature have simply folded, by either failing to retain interest, or through gradual conversion into a commercial product nothing like the original.
(Image via Liqueur Felix’s Flickr stream)
Before I continue, it may seem that I dislike the commercial aspects of Second Life. This is flatly untrue. Indeed, Second Life could not survive without its strong, real world currency system and virtual economy that has inspired so many newer writers and artists to ply their trade with the medium.
However, I feel that the stark commercialization at expense of all else limits Second Life’s abilities as a platform.
The strongest aspect of this is its incentives. The cost of owning appreciable land in Second Life is prohibitively high, to the order of several hundred dollars USD a month to own just one sim. The primary message to residents has, since at least 2006, been commercial in nature.
Why, then, should anyone attempt to create their dreams when they’re working hard to maintain their land payments?
(Image via Lif…’s Flickr stream)
This all strays significantly from the original topic. My attempt is not to rag on Second Life or IF — merely to point out what each medium lacks, such that we may improve upon them both. And ultimately, the continued survival of IF and Second Life both hinge on incentives, intrigue, and balance.
For IF, artistic pursuits lend themselves to very compelling worlds that are difficult to market and sell.
For Second Life, commercial maximism has created an experience that is slowly rotting itself without intrigue.
As someone deeply interested in the former and the latter, it would be interesting to see Second Life regain the pioneer spirit that drove many of us to use it in the first place. For IF, I wish only that authors can retain their drive to create and innovate within the medium, despite difficulties marketing and selling IF stories.
And in both cases, the best we can hope for is balance.
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