Re: Myst vs. Text Adventure

[erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)]

michael.gentry@ey.com wrote:
> If I may once again play Devil's Advocate:

Sure. :)

> [on "rigid, pre-arranged storylines"]

> What puzzles me is that I fail to see how text adventure games are all that
> different.

> They have the POTENTIAL to be different, obviously. But I've seen very few
> that honestly allow the player to interact with the plot to the extent of
> actually changing it from its pre-ordained course.

> "Losing Your Grip", "So Far", "Jigsaw", "Trinity", "Curses", "Babel",
> "Christminster" -- all of these have pre-ordained plots. The player is allowed
> some flexibility regarding the order in which he/she can solve the puzzles
> (which, for that matter, is also the case in Myst), but in every case the
> object is to simply get to the ending, not to write your own. In some cases --
> "Grip" and "So Far" in particular -- the final (and I mean VERY final) move
> allows you to alter the ending's emotional coloring a bit, but it really has
> little effect on the overall story arc. A "thin veneer" if ever I saw one.

I can only comment on my own games:

I never intended anything else. I invent a storyline, and then present it 
through the medium of interactive fiction. That's what I do. Other IF 
authors intend other things, and they haven't so darn badly either. 

> So, what's my point? Well, I think that we should all encourage more truly
> interactive plots, whether in text- or graphics-based fiction. The ability to
> create that is, I think, what really sets IF on a level above the frothing sea
> of DOOM-clones currently swamping the game market.

Mm. No.

First, you imply that "truly interactive" plots are inherently better than
"rigid pre-arranged" ones, to the point of using those judgemental terms.
I think they're just different forms. I have no desire to drop the one I
like to write in. 

Second, good writing -- even in a single-plot game -- *also* sets IF 
above the doom-clones. (There may be a doom-clone out there with 
brilliant writing, but I haven't encountered it. :-)

> I also think that if one is criticizing a game for its lack of
> plot-interactivity, one should keep in mind that most of the text-based IF out
> there -- including those which we generally consider to be the "really good
> ones" -- suffer from the same defect. One should a) be more consistent; b) be
> more tolerant; or c) write better games yourself.

I'm with (a). I don't criticize Myst for lack of plot interactivity. I 
criticize it for lack of *plot*, in the center 3/4ths of the center, and 
a pretty weak plot even in the beginning and ending segments that have any.

As I said, I think Riven showed tremendous improvement.

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."