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Sistema

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  4. Posted · Edited by Sistema · Report reply

    Emergent narrative, a term introduced by designer Marc LeBlanc in his lecture "Formal Design Tools" at the 2000 Game Developers' Conference, refers to storytelling produced entirely by player actions and in-game events (Adams, 2010). Narrative can emerge from the simplest unintentional things, or can be specially and carefully designed by the developers to provide maximum potential of narratives being generated by players.

     

    The latter works very well in The Sims. Will Wright, creator of The Sims, has designed the game in such a way that narrative emerges from the player's actions, it emerges through gameplay; the player decides what the story of their sims will be, and uses the environment to enforce it.

     

    Those of you who have played Left 4 Dead will know that the difficulty is automatically adjusted according to the players' performance. However, it's not only the difficulty that being tweaked, Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, states, "The events are trying to give [the players] a sense of narrative. We look at sequences of events and try to take what their actions are, to generate new sequences. If they've been particularly challenged by one kind of creature then we can use that information to make decisions about how we use that creature in subsequent encounters. This is what makes procedural narrative more of a story-telling device than, say, a simple difficulty mechanism."

     

    The Grand Theft Auto series plays an exceptional role in player generated narrative. How many of you have ditched the main missions and just hopped into a car and given yourself a story, quest and goal of your own? Exploring, seeing how fast you can go, running away from cops, running over strippers, do these sound familiar?

     

    So all these narratives are generated when the player interacts with the environment, with the game space.

     

    Eternal Lands takes this a step further, like all MMORPGs do, because the player is no longer interacting with only the environment, they are interacting with other people. There are many empty houses in many cities in Eternal Lands. What's great is players choose a house they like and take ownership over it (not officially, but in spirit). They spend time there, they invite friends over. They use the objects found in the house to create a story. This is one example I could think of, I'd like to hear everyone else's. :P

     

    Sistema.

  5. Posted · Edited by Sistema · Report reply

    Greetings folks! Long time no see :)

     

    As some of you know (*hides from Acelon*), I have been occupied with uni for the past, hrmm, two years now, and thankfully everything has been running smoothly so far. Doing a games development degree is heaps of fun, it has its pros and cons, it's fantastic to be able to sketch, draw, model and animate anything that you can come up with in your imagination, but it's become hard to play a game without picking up on and criticising bad game design and mechanics :P

     

    Ok, now to the reason of this post.

     

    We do a mix between theory and practical classes at uni, and for one of my theory classes this semester I've decided to base my academic essay assignment on Eternal Lands :P On to the topic! \o/

     

    What I need from you guys is for you to examine, discuss and give me your opinion and thoughts on how the environment of Eternal Lands provides resources for the development of emergent narratives (careful when I say environment, in a games degree you need to think outside the box, environment can mean both in-game and on the forums). What I mean by emergent narrative is, narrative or a driving story that isn't embedded into the game, but rather created by the player or players that play the game (ie. "emerging" in their minds). I haven't been around for so long so I've lost track of many things. So please lend me your help :)

     

    One thing I'd like to request is some feedback from Radu and any fellow developers regarding how Eternal Lands is designed to house player generated narratives and what impact this has on the game, and how important of a factor this is. MMORPGs are quite good when it comes to emergent narratives because the worlds are so rich and full of small details that can be interpreted by players in many ways. And online forums is such a great way to extend this narrative. It's so fascinating :)

     

    In the following post I'll provide some further information and examples on this topic, feel free to read it. If there's anything you're confused about, anything you want to ask me, please don't hesitate.

     

    Thank you for your time, and nice to see you all again!

    And hello to all the new players! Nice to meet you all and hope to see you in-game one day!

     

    Sistema.

     

    P.S. Those of you who want to be quoted in a proper way, please drop a name you want to be quoted under (nicknames not preferred).

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Hiya. That is great that EL is now supported by XFire. Great job everyone that helped support EL. :) . I am also interested in joining the EL community on XFire. My XFire username is GossamerOfEG

    I've accepted you, Gossamer :)

     

     

    Well, congratulations to all EL/Xfire users :D It took a while, but better late than never, right? :)

    I'd like to thank everyone who posted in the EL thread on the Xfire forums, Xfire wouldn't have added EL if it weren't for you guys! :)

     

    I think all the players who use Xfire should leave a thank you post on their forums: http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=F...pic&t=16022 (that's our thread there, created 3 years ago!! >.<) Because there's a zillion games out there and we're quite lucky (after three years?) to have been added.

     

    Anyway, if anyone else uses Xfire and wants to be added to the EL Players Guild on Xfire just drop a message in this thread. And if you don't use it, maybe you should check it out? ;)

     

    Hope you all enjoy it ^^

    Now get those hours coming! :)

     

    Thanks!

    Sistema

  21. Posted · Report reply

    What exactly does it say?

     

    Can you post your error_log.txt (which is in "\My Documents\Eternal Lands\") and your computer specs, please? =)

    Have you tried reinstalling the game? Or updating your video card drivers? Those are what usually cause the problems.

    You need to supply us with more information if you want us to help out.

     

    ~Sistema

  24. Posted · Edited by Sistema · Report reply

    (OOC: It's been quite a while since I've written, or roleplayed :D I hope it doesn't sound too bad :D)

     

    Leaning on his wooden staff, he looked up at the building which stood before him. A weary smile, that was barely visible under his red hood, appeared. He had finally made it to the tavern. The soft light which shone upon him when he turned his gaze to the moons highlighted the lines on his face, giving away his elderly age. Carefully examining the two moons -the smile instantly fading away from his face- he whispered to himself, "The final night before the signs change . . . before-"

     

    His thoughts were interrupted by loud roars and a scream which came from within the tavern. Ignoring the pain from his frail legs he hurried to the entrance, his wooden staff aiding him. He pushed the tavern's door open to find a group of people crammed up around a table. No one had noticed his entrance. He quickly scanned the room. An elven woman dressed in white who had a lethal dagger in her hand was standing on the bar, blood dripping from the blade. A dead body laid close by her. Some dwarves were watching, laughing their beards off in the other corner, one was pointing at a lady opposite them. His eyes went to the lady, then to her pocket which was being guarded with her hands, it must be her, he thought. His eyes then went to the tall orchan that had his arms wrapped around the lady; one arm around her neck, the other trying to reach into her pocket. He must have seen it.

     

    He stretched his left hand out towards the orchan and started whispering words of magic which made the tip of his wooden staff glow bright blue. It was then that most of the crowd noticed that a mage had entered the tavern. His grey hair rose as he swivelled his staff around him. He finally pointed the tip at the orchan and finished his sentence. A burst of light shot directly out at the orchan just as he let go of the woman, sending him straight to the tavern wall, leaving him unconscious.

     

    The room was silent. All eyes were on him. He lowered his staff and leaned on it, breathing heavily. "It's Cain!" someone gasped, and went running out of the tavern.

     

    He slowly made his way to the lady, who still seemed to be in shock. "Back to your businesses!" he yelled. Everyone resumed their eating, talking and drinking, but it wasn't hard to see the occasional glances that came towards him. He beckoned the woman to sit down, he could clearly tell she was a draegoni from the green scales on her cheek. It took a while for him to recover. "You have it, do you not?" he asked her when he had finally caught his breath. The lady nodded. "Keep it safe and hidden," he said, smiling, "there should be others soon to come." He closed his eyes, "There's at least one other in this tavern, I can feel it."

     

    He turned his head around, the white clothed elven woman had been listening to them. She also had her hand securing something in her pocket.

     

     

    (OOC: Sorry I had to rush into the tavern :D I hope I didn't ruin anything xD

    Ok, we're supposedly waiting for others with stones to arrive? And will the whole RP be going on in the tavern? Because it's a rather small place, and that orchan may wake up any time soon :D)

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