Post by Orp Boon on Nov 3, 2011 20:12:21 GMT -5
I wrote an essay about this site and your guys. I thought you'd like to see it.
The single largest influence in my teenage life is a game called The Menagerie. I spent years participating in and creating games for friends and other players online through the play-by-post fantasy role-playing game called The Menagerie. I still talk to some players I met five years ago even though they no longer play. Through The Menagerie I learned about many diverse subjects that I would never have looked up otherwise; met people from all across the globe; and learned valuable experience in game design and storytelling.
Crafting, the creation of items in games, has always been an interest of mine. I love making recipes for historical or fantastical items. Writing recipes requires information from areas like chemistry, historical alchemy and weapon-smithing. Every item must be plausible for the medieval fantasy setting. For example, things like compasses are too hard to create in the medieval setting. Explosives must be fully researched and all ingredients have to be reasonably available in the setting. I’ve had to look up the history of many mundane things I had taken for granted like nails (first appearing in Ancient Rome), matches (which only started lighting themselves in the 19th century) and wire (made by ancient Egyptians for jewelry). The Menagerie also sparked my interest in world-building, the act of constructing a fictional world or universe. I explored areas of physics, biology, geography, geology, history and mythologies to get information I wanted to form my setting. All this information accumulates to form a very diverse base of knowledge of many subjects.
Because of The Menagerie and its great community, I have met so many people that I connect with and really enjoy communicating with. One of my best friends lives about a thousand miles away but I was able to meet him through the community. It wasn’t necessary to have a physical connection to someone to form a relationship with them. Most players do share a mental connection by holding interests in common. I found different music genres I didn’t know existed and learned about books I had never known. I also believe that role-playing and being able to accurately see things through a very different view is an important social skill that is practiced by participating in The Menagerie where you can play almost any character. All perspectives must be considered. The players tried to create a set of laws and codify the subjective system of rules. Weeks were spent simply trying to nail down what types of life should be protected and what shouldn’t.
The gameplay is mostly made up of quests which are adventures or events led by a game master where players role-play as their characters. In my quests I try to create a representation of the scene with not only well chosen words but illustrations and animations. A key plot point may have more impact if the players can see what’s going on with their own eyes. Because of this I became versed in image editing and using programs like Photoshop to create illustrations, maps, avatars and banners. Words are the majority of what a quest is made up of, though. Having the ability to write and lead players through an interesting story while allowing them freedom is pivotal to leading a quest well. Quests usually move forward towards a planned conclusion but sometimes a simple moral question or game is all that is needed to create the interest and complexity needed. This is what made me first look into game theory. I found a few simple games that create complexity when played. I only learned of interactions like the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Braess’s Paradox because I was interested in making a fun and captivating quest.
The Menagerie formed me into the person I am today and without it I would not have found many things that I consider fundamental to who I am and how I act.
The single largest influence in my teenage life is a game called The Menagerie. I spent years participating in and creating games for friends and other players online through the play-by-post fantasy role-playing game called The Menagerie. I still talk to some players I met five years ago even though they no longer play. Through The Menagerie I learned about many diverse subjects that I would never have looked up otherwise; met people from all across the globe; and learned valuable experience in game design and storytelling.
Crafting, the creation of items in games, has always been an interest of mine. I love making recipes for historical or fantastical items. Writing recipes requires information from areas like chemistry, historical alchemy and weapon-smithing. Every item must be plausible for the medieval fantasy setting. For example, things like compasses are too hard to create in the medieval setting. Explosives must be fully researched and all ingredients have to be reasonably available in the setting. I’ve had to look up the history of many mundane things I had taken for granted like nails (first appearing in Ancient Rome), matches (which only started lighting themselves in the 19th century) and wire (made by ancient Egyptians for jewelry). The Menagerie also sparked my interest in world-building, the act of constructing a fictional world or universe. I explored areas of physics, biology, geography, geology, history and mythologies to get information I wanted to form my setting. All this information accumulates to form a very diverse base of knowledge of many subjects.
Because of The Menagerie and its great community, I have met so many people that I connect with and really enjoy communicating with. One of my best friends lives about a thousand miles away but I was able to meet him through the community. It wasn’t necessary to have a physical connection to someone to form a relationship with them. Most players do share a mental connection by holding interests in common. I found different music genres I didn’t know existed and learned about books I had never known. I also believe that role-playing and being able to accurately see things through a very different view is an important social skill that is practiced by participating in The Menagerie where you can play almost any character. All perspectives must be considered. The players tried to create a set of laws and codify the subjective system of rules. Weeks were spent simply trying to nail down what types of life should be protected and what shouldn’t.
The gameplay is mostly made up of quests which are adventures or events led by a game master where players role-play as their characters. In my quests I try to create a representation of the scene with not only well chosen words but illustrations and animations. A key plot point may have more impact if the players can see what’s going on with their own eyes. Because of this I became versed in image editing and using programs like Photoshop to create illustrations, maps, avatars and banners. Words are the majority of what a quest is made up of, though. Having the ability to write and lead players through an interesting story while allowing them freedom is pivotal to leading a quest well. Quests usually move forward towards a planned conclusion but sometimes a simple moral question or game is all that is needed to create the interest and complexity needed. This is what made me first look into game theory. I found a few simple games that create complexity when played. I only learned of interactions like the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Braess’s Paradox because I was interested in making a fun and captivating quest.
The Menagerie formed me into the person I am today and without it I would not have found many things that I consider fundamental to who I am and how I act.