© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Designing Stories for Connected Worlds: Where The Designer’s Storytelling Stops and The Player’s Begins Jessica Mulligan Executive Producer Turbine Entertainment Software September 21, 2004

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. TODAY’S AGENDA The difference between storytelling and online storytelling What is an Online Game Story? How do you create compelling stories for millions of online game players? The Future Q&A

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. WHO AM I? EXPERIENCE: –Have been designing, developing and managing online games since –Since 1988, have variously managed development and/or the service side for General Electric, AOL, Interplay, EA and MM3D, among others. –Have been involved in over 50 online games and over dozen massively- multiplayer games, including Ultima Online, Dragon’s Gate, Warcraft II Online, Middle Earth Online and the Asheron’s Call Franchise. CURRENT POSITION: –Executive Producer managing the P&L of Asheron’s Call for Turbine Entertainment. AUTHOR: –Wrote the industry column Biting the Hand… for 6 years –With Bridgette Patrovsky, co-authored Developing Online Games: An Insider’s Guide in 2003, now in several languages worldwide. One of the pioneers –. and I have the arrows in my back to prove it

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Online Subscriber

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Storytelling Online Traditional stories have a beginning, middle and end. –Film –Novels –TV Online stories have no end. –Break points: the end is just the beginning –Free form: One more adventure in RPG-land

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. TraditionalOnline Storytelling Designer Driven – You follow someone else’s story One Main Objective A Clear Ending Player Driven – Players use the game to create their own stories Many Objectives Rarely Ends, or ends as a scenario in a larger thread In Short… OBSERVATIONAL: You tell the story, the audience observes and reacts. PARTICIPATORY: You start the story, the audience participates and drives your work.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Why this Difference? Traditional stories are presented via entertainment devices. –Oral Storytelling –Film Screen –Books –Television Set –Radio Online stories are presented via information tools. –PCs –Consoles –PDAs –Cell Phones

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. What is a Traditional Story? The Oral Tradition In the market At the city gate A professional, wandering guild The story wandered into your sphere or lived there as the keeper of the flame Translated to modern devices: In most cases, you make a decision to go to the story

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Traditional Story (con’t) Little Participation You listened to the storyteller You watched the performers Set Objectives Tell an “approved” story –Religious –Political –Cultural

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. What Has Transformed? Today’s Online Story Players participate in one or more roles The player becomes the performers Very little pure observation The storyteller is also a director Free-Form Objectives Every player a Hero Every action a Story Every story changes direction constantly

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. What is an Online Game Story? An online story is a starting place with 4 elements: Bait Make the player stop and pay attention Hook Make the player want to know more Engaged Make the player take some action to know more Interaction and Change The real game story begins!

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner PART THE FIRST It is an ancient mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, greybeard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye - The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child: The Mariner hath his will.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. THE BAIT PART THE FIRST It is an ancient mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?”

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Hook "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, greybeard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Engaged He holds him with his glittering eye - The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child: The Mariner hath his will.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Interaction The wedding-guest sat on a stone: He cannot chose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. OK, What Happens Next? Your Story Changes! Player Motivation Player Action Player Effect

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines The Linear Script

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines The Branched Tree

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines The Extended Loop

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines Non-Connected Stories

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines The Interactive Game with Multiple Stories and Multiple Endings

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Types of Storylines The Futility of Pre-Planned Endings in Online Games

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. What Do We Learn From This? Don’t Over-Plan –Even the most carefully designed, non- linear story will break down in the face of thousands of participants Be Flexible –Watch what happens and then do some of that “designer stuff”. Embrace The Players –Remember that you are there for them.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Hey, Am I Useless? Fear Not, Gallant Bard… The players need you… and they know it The GameMaster/Bard –Players want more than a GM and less than an film auteur In a sense, you are the spirit guide in a vision quest.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Core Vision Vision –Audience (Demographic, Play habits) –Core Active Theme Exciting adventure? Social gaming? Building cities? The battle of good vs evil? –Context (Story) –Environment (Look & Feel, Location, etc..)

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Design Process Design vs. Exploration Don’t Overdocument Don’t Overexplore –when to focus design “Play on Paper” - don’t wait until it’s built Focus Testing – test your assumptions Prototyping – play your design early The role of the lead Designer –Every system in an MMO is monstrously complex.. –You have to have somebody who can hold it all in their head –Conceptual bandwidth is as essential as gaming experience

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Don’t forget the Tools Plan in Parallel with Gamedev –Very difficult to retro tool integration later –Need dev teams to support this integration

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Don’t forget the Tools Tool Types –Content Authoring Art Assets Quests World Building –Customer Service –Data –WebPub –Billing/Authorization

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Lessons & Solutions Tools, Tools, Tools! Data, Data, Data! Content, Content, Content! More Facile Authoring Tools Larger Design Teams Authoring Tools Tracking Tools In-game transactions Moderation History Network Monitoring Revise, Revise, Revise! Improved Communication Reacting to the Players Enhancing Their Story

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Future Mobility –There are electronic portals into and out of everyone’s life Mobile and Regular Phones PDAs Wireless Computing –Games and stories will follow you everywhere

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Future Blurring: What is Real? –The line between reality and online will become increasingly tenuous –Once you opt in, the game and the story will become part of your reality –The new reality game show will be partly online and partly on TV

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. The Future Interconnectivity –The lines between old and new media will break down completely –Stories will be experienced simultaneously across a range of input and output devices –This will require the Bard of the future to tell his stories in a new way

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Summing Up PARTICIPATION: Online stories are more about participation than they are about observation. NEW MEDIUM: This is not TV or film; linear stories do not work well. FLEXIBILITY: The player begins to modify your story as soon as he touches it; be ready to alter your story, not that of the players. VISION: The player wants you to provide context for his/her personal or group story. THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE: You can’t separate the Customer Service aspect from the story; everything affects how the players perceive you and your story.

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Summing Up The Future It’s all about the new technology, baby!

© Turbine Entertainment Software Corp. All Rights Reserved. Thank you for listening! Question and Answer Period