Meditations On Social Media and Questing

Hail and well met once more;

I recently pledged towards the Kickstarter and left my personal thank you to Richard Garriott on the comments there... Afterwards I went to bed but was tormented by the period of before-sleep inspiration that occasionally comes, in this case about Shroud of The Avatar; and I wanted to share my thoughts here and see what people think... as well as leave some design ideas I had for how my thoughts could be applied.

To begin, there was much early talk by Richard of integrating SotA into Social Media; whilst we have since seen more information on developing a deep plot and background to the game (notably with the involvement of Tracy Hickman) and greater details of in game systems such as housing, the question of how the game should be integrated into people's social networks remains unsketched as yet.

The general value of Social Networking is obvious and undoubted, as proved by it's explosive growth over the years; that casual gaming can integrate it is proven most clearly by the success of Zynga. However there are also emerging issues with the concept, and the one I wanted to address here is the problem of over-exposure. Fortunately, Penny Arcade recently included "All Of The Jokes" in a single comic which can act as <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/03/08">a handy shortcut in describing them</a> The middle panel in particular captures the issue of data-rich, meaning-poor experience that can happen when too much is shared... and one can debate whether Facebook sharing in games such as Farmville are edging towards that over-exposure.

This is, I personally feel, a particularly important issue for Roleplaying Games; whilst one always has the option of travelling with a party of real life friends in a table top setting, or as a Guild in an MMO, the wider narrative arc, and experience is by nature set elsewhere; you are taking a <i>Role</i> after all, be it in Azeroth or Britannia. You do not choose the place or the time, only what is made of your time in that place.

This setting is vital to maintain; imagine how it would feel to experience not homesteads besieged by orcs, as may be possible in the current idea space of Shroud of the Avatar... but by reams of posters of someone's real life children, that no matter how many you cut down with thy sword, continue to swarm and multiply like divided slimes! A light hearted comparison, but one that I hope illustrates the risks in destroying the all important atmosphere.

We do not know yet whether anything more than the current generation of MMOs will be available in SotA: however as I lay thinking, I realised there is a way in which allowing social media to change the nature of content could work. The vital qualities would be that it would be context specific, as suggested above... but also that it not be over-bearing; that rarity and unexpectedness would keep the emotional impact of the engagement. Let me sketch my ideas.

Let us say you have invited a person to try SotA via Facebook. Rather than notify their wall with "Aron has killed an Orc!" every time he does, you simply have a small Facebook "Tavern" where your friends are displayed. Next to each name is 3 (for example) icons... these icons indicate that your friend has <b>seeded a quest for you</b>

How? It would depend upon development time and abilities. City of Heroes and Star Trek Online allowed full scripting, and centrally hosted missions; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTl21lTxB1k">Here is a youtube walk through of my own, cow pun heavy mission for CoH, for instance.</a> STO is free to play and currently still active if you want to research their Foundry. Such would be a wonderful addition, but may be asking too much. My own first idea is simpler...

Let us imagine that you can choose to seed a certain quest type. Concepts would include:

* An NPC suddenly recognising your friend, and saying "Adventurer! I have a gift for thee from Aron; he left it in my hands for just such this moment."

* A carving in a tree left in tribute to your friend

* A spontaneous party in celebration of your friend; NPCs raise a toast paid for by your friend when you enter an inn

* A sword stuck in a stone that only your friend can remove...

You get the basic concept; however, to keep it rare, unexpected and more importantly, not over-whelming, the seeded quests are limited to the suggested 3 say, <i>and the trigger isn't known to the seeder</i> They pay to seed the quest, create and donate a gift, but the NPC that gives the greeting, the inn the salute will occur isn't known. The recipient will know they're being thought of, as they'll get an indication that x of 3 opportunities for a personal encounter have been seeded, but when and where and what they can't know.

This would also consist of an advertising draw too; but a far more creative one than just "come water my crops!"; actual thought will be put into making something in the world, just for you, from me...

But persistence is also one of the chief values of an MMO, you may protest. I considered this and thought that, as long as it was also kept relatively uncommon, that would be fine. The example I thought of was...

Ethical Fishing

Let us say we want to fish, as we've done in Garriott games so often. But ethically! We put our catches back, perhaps tagging them with the date and weight at which they were caught.

The next time we fish that same lake, there's a 1 in 100 or some-such chance of us catching the same fish ... now older and larger. Or... we catch someone else's fish! If they had an upper age limit, the fish dies and is deleted from the database (which has the advantage of keeping the records from inflating forever) but for the time it's alive, there's an opportunity to one day meet someone's catch again... perhaps with a poignant message also marked on it; "I came, I saw, I carped - Aron" perhaps. And if I chose to name it personally, such as "There's a ring I made just for you, inside this fish, Hanna" I can link it to them via Facebook etc letting them know that's one potential result if they go fishing there...

We shouldn't be afraid of the ring-bearing fish dying (deleted from database) when it gets too old; the poignancy of the One That Got Away is it's own powerful experience too, as any fisher can tell you.

Another idea I had; How about crafters can develop magical lenses and chalks, bonded to the soul of a single person. Certain areas in game can be scrawled with said chalk, say at the very bottom of a deep deadly dungeon, but the message can only be seen by the holder of the lens, when held up to the scene... secret decoder rings for players! Invisible runes they alone can see! But chalk eventually washes off of course...

The aim being again to make the actual world carry the message, and keep it within the setting, rather than just bombarding social media with bribes and adverts. Let us tweak the game to leave something out in the world beyond what we actually do or don't do together.

So... what do people think?

 

I think you would be better off breaking this down into more digestible chunks. I also started out posting 'walls of text', but found that I get a better response if I keep things concise.

 

I love the idea ha especially the fishing and ring haha, and if someone else catches the fish he may opt to let it go, keep ring, or take ring to person of interest haha

 

I think that the role-player in me agrees with your idea of keeping the social networking in the game itself - however I think the sort of ties to social networking that Mr. Garriott might have been suggesting is in the opposite direction; by that I mean keeping in-touch with the game away from your computer at home. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's my impression - and I think it's a good idea (again though my inner role-player despises it).

The reason I think being able to access parts of the persistent game-world via your smart-phone or iPad is because it's probably the only way I'll be able to get my wife excited about playing it. For some reason Pixel People is only enjoyable on the iPad on our way to the beach - for some reason at home she can't be bothered. She's the absolute opposite of a deeply immersed player but she'd make a hell of an in-game craftsman if it somehow became a mini-game on her iPad.

I think that whatever parts of the game-world can lend themselves to a portable device - be they forums or auctions or crafting mini-games - should be featured as a main draw for this game. Not because I'll ever use them but so that my wife will play. I'm not sure if I'm addressing this topic directly but there it is.

 

Well, the idea of having sub-games connected to the main world is actually something I'd agree with; the crafting in particular is a good example, as what do you really need of the game world, but a forge and a hammer to strike against it? Thus there's no reason you shouldn't be able to craft on a mobile device whilst on a train, in a queue etc, and then trade with people when you get home to the full PC...

What I don't want to see is that everyone who knows your wife knows she has done any crafting, unless they've already "opted in" in some sense. Most social media is based on a myth that what we all want is to be connected ... when what we want is to form connections, and that's not quite the same thing. You and your wife have a lifetime of connections together, of which your marriage is the main symbol; but you do not, indeed wouldn't necessarily want to connect on every thing despite the depth of connection you do have. Your wife will come to SotA if she can find something she likes in it. You will then share that connection too. But if she can't... you wouldn't I assume as a good partner badger her or pressure her into doing it all the same. And that's what social media is getting wrong; I don't want to see your honeymoon pictures most of the time. I'm not interested in your children, usually. It's good to see some of what you're playing, but I'm not going to want to share it alot of the time. That's just how people are; we're overlapping not identical.

Thus SotA needs to focus on the creative ways to integrate social media, and which is why I suggested questing as one way it could be done, or random little echoes of your activity in game. Letting people see the wider experience first and "Opt in", rather than be pressured to reconsider what they may already have an opinion on... what bothers about Farmville spam etc is that it's obviously high pressure sales techniques, without saying anything about the game or why you would like it other than "Everyone has a farm, and they all want melons on it... you should too, sign up and help grow their and your melons. Your life isn't complete without these melons. DO IT NOW." Where as SotA should be "I wrote this story for you, specifically you, in this world over here. Here's how you can read it."

 

I would sooner have my innards scoured by a pack of rabbid squirrels.

Social media is anything but.

May as well add 'achievements' while we're at it.

 

I have no intention of associating my SotA account with either Facebook or G+.