Cuppy got me thinking this weekend with her comments on the multiple genre is it possible.
“While I play the game, I’m constantly immersing myself in the world and really create a connection between my game character and the environment I’m playing in. I feel that on a roleplaying level, it would be extremely difficult for me to take my high fantasy characters and plop them in the middle of World War II. My little fairy druid would really be out of place in a steam punk environment”.
So maybe as opposed to, is it possible to create a mmorpg that covers more than one genre with out being defined under one specific genre itself. The question maybe, does the character you play define the genre of the game itself ? is it static or can a character be dynamic enough to move between genres without being stuck in this one environment ….?
So sitting there this weekend at a family reunion, I sort of came to the conclusions that we are almost talking about a chicken and egg thing. You play and elf therefore you are playing in a fantasy realm, you play in a fantasy environment you expect to be able to play an elf. You play an elf you don’t expect to be playing in Victorian England bouncing around in a carriage on the way to 10 Bakers street … would you ?
(3 beers later at the said family reunion)
…. Would you ? hell I say why not.
When you play a certain type of character such as an Elf you have a pre-concieved notion of the environment you will be playing in. Many forms of media have engrained this into us and therefore we take this to be the norm.
However, for example and there are many examples out, In the Dreseden files, the setting is the modern world and has fairies, elves and demons bouncing around quite happily in it. Would you be comfortable playing an elf in this environment ? Yes as the background clearly defines who you are and why am I here.
(3 more beers and I’m left wondering why my left leg feels numb)
So to address Cuppys concern on whether or not its possible based on immersion and character. I say yes it is. Providing the background to where you are playing, explains why I’m playing here and why as an Elf am I in Victorian England bouncing around in a carriage on my way to 10 Bakers street.
In essence If you were to design a multi genre game the story has to be very ‘visible’ from the get go if you are to have any chance in breaking preconceived notions and make sure you feel comfortable playing in this type of environment.
However based on todays mmorpg games and game desging (questing / raiding etc) are there any that with in the first hour of play get you right up to speed on the background and answer the question or who am I and why am I here that are not based on established IP such as warhammer, lord of the rings ? Would a multi genre mmorpg be able to break your preconceived notions of play style and be succsesful, who knows would be fun to try ….
Hmm… maybe this is the real direction Stargate Worlds should take.
Hoenstly, it’s one of those million-dollar ideas that would need a billion dollar budget at this point in time. But one day, as these things we all love grow and become more and more mainstream… it will happen. It’s just a matter of when.
It might help to make the hub you mentioned before into some kind of neutral zone, in terms of setting. You provide the backstory there, before the player ever steps foot into an adventure zone. As they continue to play the game, you might provide further clues to the backstory in the various realms, but only interpret those clues into insights back in the neutral hub.
More than anything else, I think players would just want some continuity and stability in their characters and overall goals. If stepping into another realm effectively puts the player’s present character on hiatus, then the player probably wouldn’t like that. You could probably set it up where it’s ok sending an elf into WWII (but not WWI…they’re too short for trench warfare
), but the player needs something to be steady from realm to realm.
You are right Aaron the character would need to be the key element in this type of game, as the environment would be changing all the time, so a constant would be needed to help ground them.
It would make sense that if the character is the key then a really good character development system would be required. Good job I have a cracking idea for this, but will save this for later down the road
I think that what you’ve hit on here resonates with the heart of the fantasy theme in general. If you look at recent trends, and recent games coming out (maybe not massive, but single player is a start) like Kingdom Hearts: they put you, as the master of your character, right into the heart of Disney-movie settings. It’s very unsettling, but at the same time, feels completely natural. Who’d of thought that anyone but a little kid could have fun in an environment like this? It’s completely disarming. The fact that this game was produced by the same people who’ve masterminded all of the Final Fantasy games really makes you think about what kind of implications this game will have on the genre in the future. A dark, fantasy tale with light, whimsical overtones.
You look at some of the older fairy-tale novels: a la Chronicles of Narnia and other books dealing with a fairy-tale story in a harsh, grim reality, and Cuppy’s projection of her fairy druid into the heart of a WWII environment doesn’t seem that far off. Isn’t that where all of this fantasy stuff came about in the first place? If you can’t change the world, why not imagine what it would be like if imagination were running rampant!
Another good example, though not a game, is the recent movie, Pan’s Labyrinth. I strongly suggest it, if only for its incredibly good depiction of a true-to-life fairy tale. There are fairies, fauns, ents, and other fantastic creatures, but we’re never taken by alarm by them, and never really surprised to see them where they pop up.
So, maybe it’s a problem of the game “fantasy”/”role-playing” genre not being quite caught up with the book and gaming genre which spawned it?
I want my environment to be a product of me
Here is where I get to talk about what fantasy means in general, and what role-playing means in particular. The main question in the quoted post revolves around whether or not there needs to be an explicit declaration of the environment and background …
Loved Pans Labrynthe Ryan and as he said and I second please see it.
Anyway back to the point. Ryan is correct is that modern writers / games are leagues ahead of the mmorpg world. Not just in story but in developing a believable background that you feel comfortable with. The question is how would you bring this to the mmorpg genre ….
Personally I’m not sure, however I think one step forward is placing the player of the game in a situation / environment that they have personal experience with and yet can very easily add ‘fantasy’ elements to it without going way out there to a point where it feels wrong …..
I guess unconciously I had addressed this with the idea of Strangelands being set in a dream world. We all have dreams and have a sense of connection to them and since they are dreams adding fantasy elements etc to them is not to out of the ordinary for us.
However that would be just one small part of the puzzle to bring a mmorpg up to par with modern fantasy stories …. characters and there roles would be one part, what other parts I dont know … suggestions … ???