My question is somewhat personalized, but it's an AMA and I would really love to get a response. First the somewhat lengthy background, the actual questions are at the end.
I've been playing a few MMO's casually, but I got bored with the run of the mill gameplay. So, I decided to do something creative and role play a poet. In other words, I write poems and try to sell them to other people for in-game money. Of course, the NPCs tend to be rather desinterested in my craft, but some players love what I do and do indeed give me some of their hard-earned gold coins. My character doesn't have another means to make money, no crafting, no fighting, just written words.
While playing a poet is a nice idea, I really want to branch out into interactive theatre. I have lots of ideas for role playing quests, where my friends and I play disposable characters to entertain other players with a story they can participate in. For instance, one story I have in mind is where I play a young boy named Oliver, who walks up to players and tries to steal from them. They will be angry at first, but soon figure out that the boy is forced by a person named Fagin to do the stealing, and they can help the boy by forcing the bad man (played by my friend) to grant the boy his freedom.
It's a bit like running a role playing session as a game master, but I want to do it as regular player, as this really forces me to focus on storytelling. I've done it a couple of times; it's a lot fun, but success depends on the player community and also on some game mechanics issues (like being able to have multiple alternate characters and finding other players quickly).
What do you think? Would you encourage player poets in SotA? Would you encourage "player-made stories" and "interactive theatre" (for a lack of a better word)?
So far, only UO had the balls to offer this kind of player agency, so I'm counting on you. :-) Also, I'd be happy to have an extended discussion on this, based on my experience of what works and what doesn't.
Vaugh19 karma
Hey Richard, thanks for doing an AMA!
My question is somewhat personalized, but it's an AMA and I would really love to get a response. First the somewhat lengthy background, the actual questions are at the end.
I've been playing a few MMO's casually, but I got bored with the run of the mill gameplay. So, I decided to do something creative and role play a poet. In other words, I write poems and try to sell them to other people for in-game money. Of course, the NPCs tend to be rather desinterested in my craft, but some players love what I do and do indeed give me some of their hard-earned gold coins. My character doesn't have another means to make money, no crafting, no fighting, just written words.
While playing a poet is a nice idea, I really want to branch out into interactive theatre. I have lots of ideas for role playing quests, where my friends and I play disposable characters to entertain other players with a story they can participate in. For instance, one story I have in mind is where I play a young boy named Oliver, who walks up to players and tries to steal from them. They will be angry at first, but soon figure out that the boy is forced by a person named Fagin to do the stealing, and they can help the boy by forcing the bad man (played by my friend) to grant the boy his freedom.
It's a bit like running a role playing session as a game master, but I want to do it as regular player, as this really forces me to focus on storytelling. I've done it a couple of times; it's a lot fun, but success depends on the player community and also on some game mechanics issues (like being able to have multiple alternate characters and finding other players quickly).
What do you think? Would you encourage player poets in SotA? Would you encourage "player-made stories" and "interactive theatre" (for a lack of a better word)?
So far, only UO had the balls to offer this kind of player agency, so I'm counting on you. :-) Also, I'd be happy to have an extended discussion on this, based on my experience of what works and what doesn't.
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