Brody carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Brody has arrived. Grayback appropriates Bro's beer apparatus from the previous lecture. ;) Brody mutters something about needing some later, so ya better not drink it all. Kh'rrtyris thwaps her tail, chirring and hissing a little as she takes a disdainful seat. "Softskins..." Brody chuckles at the Nall. Grayback says, "Hey, watch it lizard breath, or I'll make luggage outta your hide." Vexon appears from a wing of the stage. Durinde shouts "Brody brody he's our man!" S'kales appears from nowhere, hovering above. Blue_Guest tosses his shoe down at the Lizzie. S'kales waves to Brody. Vexon smiles as he quietly slips in from backstage Brody waves to Vexon. Kh'rrtyris bares unpleasant fangs at Grayback. "Thsss. Your hide will hang from my wall, Demarian." She clucks deep within her throat and ignores him. Grayback says, "Heh, fat chance of that happenin'" Grayback says, "We stomped your scaly butts before, we'll do it again." S'kales drops to ground level and smacks Grayback, then rises again. (He's a ghost!) Vexon goes down the few steps to the seating area. Vexon comes down the few steps from the stage. Vexon appears on the catwalk above the stage momentarily Kh'rrtyris flicks her tail and ignores Grayback. Shedding and all. The stage lights come on, but curtains are still closed Vexon disappears into the service exit Vexon carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Fulton claps. Durinde says, "We want to see cindarella!" Blue_Guest says, "Cindarella? I thought this was Riverdance." S'kales snorts. Urza says, "No, riverdance is in the redhat hall at midnight. :)" Cball says, "Its not Riverdance!?" Blue_Guest ahs. "Cool." Urza says, "Riverdance is later." Cball is relieved, "I thought i missed it." :) Urza says, "Followed by some rousing Tae-Bo. (Run away, run away!)" S'kales grins. "Sorry, I have a cold!" Vexon appears from a wing of the stage. Vexon smiles as he slips in from backstage The curtains pull back, revealing Vexon as he steps to the podium. Fulton claps. Cball applauds China claps. Rarkov claps. Urza applauds lightly. Blue_Guest cheers. S'kales claps. Urza (wanted to be different. :) Apocalypse signals the trumpeters, who immediately sound the fanfare. Durinde claps polietly. Kh'rrtyris chirrs a little and thwaps her tail, clacking her jaws. Fulton claps. Grayback shrugs indifferently and checks out himself in a pocket mirror. Vexon smiles as he quickly tests the mic. Urza takes a seat in the Right Second Row. Vexon says, "Well, Hello ladies and gentlemen." Fulton claps. Apocalypse carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Vexon says, "Well.. what can I say? This man needs no introduction as he is truely become a legend, as well as his thriving MUSH." Vexon smiles, "Please welcome Brody from OtherSpace MUSH!!!" Vexon steps to the side of the stage and appluads Jayvin applauds! China claps. Fulton claps. Durinde gives standing ovation. "YEA GO BRODY!" Cball cheers! Grayback says, "Bro da Man. :)" Brody waves to the gang as he approaches the podium and thanks Kh'rrtyris clucks deep in her throat, her tail swishing with approval. "Thsss. Brody," she grunts., inclining her head regally. Balerion's arm gyrates spastically as he goes, Woof, woof, woof, woof!" Vexon has left. Urza claps as well. (was in another window. :) Blue_Guest yaaaaaaays. Duncan chuckles as he applauds politely Brody smiles and waits for the audience to calm a bit before proceeding. Fulton claps. Brody says, "Greetings. Thank you all for coming. My name is Wes Platt - also known as Brody. When I'm done yammering, feel free to ask questions - and when the session is over, I'll stick around even longer." Durinde calms down a tad Brody says, "Last year, I came to M*U*S*H to pitch a dream that has since become a promising reality: OtherSpace, an online interactive science fiction saga set in an original theme of my own creation." Brody says, "Original themes often fail. OtherSpace could easily have been a casualty. We could have pointed to myriad excuses: Too many MUSHes out there. Too much effort for a player to learn something new, when they can just go to a Trek or Star Wars game. Too few players willing to give it a shot. Many fail during their first few months, as their creators walk away in frustration because the voice that told them to build it and they would come was wrong." Brody says, "OtherSpace has flourished. We enjoy a wonderful symbiotic relationship between staff and players that has made OtherSpace an energetic environment where change is constant, often at the hands of the players themselves." Brody says, "Rather than coming back to M*U*S*H to conduct a post mortem of a dream gone dormant, I'm happy to instead share a post vita discussion about why this patient is alive, well and thriving." Cball claps Durinde grins Brody says, "First, I'll elaborate on what OtherSpace is for those of you who haven't heard of it before. It's not just a game. Yes, it's fun. But it's not just a game. It is a shared science fiction universe where players become central characters in an evolving saga. Evolution and change are what make OtherSpace tick. I might conduct the train that tugs the story along, but the players keep that train fueled and moving, providing momentum and velocity by their own actions." Brody says, "Together, we've been through five story arcs so far. We've seen ancient secrets exposed. Worlds destroyed. Empires rise and fall. Players have faced death - some won, some lost. All changed. OtherSpace is more than just a game. Call it a made-for-Internet epic." Fulton claps. Brody says, "From an initial core of about a dozen loyal players in the summer of 1998 - including folks like Grayback and others here tonight - we've grown to about 100 players - with as many as 40 online at once during peak times. That's not bad for an original theme. So, how does OtherSpace do it? How do we succeed where so many others have failed? It hasn't been easy. We've hit bumps along the way. But we are constantly examining who we are, what we do, and how we can make the experience better." Brody says, "I'm now going to give you the ingredients that I think make OtherSpace a success - and it might be applied to your own original theme, if you've got one in mind." Brody says, "1) An original universe that players can slide into rather easily. Don't be too original. Sound like a slam at creativity? It's not. Once you build your universe, deriving what you will from familiar wellsprings, go crazy with creative story ideas. Take a look around mudconnector.com sometime. Notice how many Trek, Babylon 5, World of Darkness and Star Wars MU**es abound? Familiarity with a theme virtually guarantees that players will flock to those games. So, when you create your theme, don't be afraid to borrow elements - everyone else does. George Lucas tapped the wellspring of Joseph Campbell's hero myth, Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress, Flash Gordon, old World War II movies and American western films, put his own spin on them and created a brand new mythos that resonates with us not because it is alien but because it is familiar. If you want to be eclectic, great - but don't expect to be eclectic and popular." Kh'rrtyris flicks her tail, casts a regretful amber-ochre eye towards the lecturing Brody and rises, slipping as silently as she can towards the aisle. Brody says, "2) Get involved. As game creator, you've got a vested interest in the survival of your game. If you want it to work, you've got to be addicted to it before you can hook your players. It must be your guiding passion. Get in there, as often as possible, and play non-player characters. Run plots. Show players you're not just someone who lurks behind the scenes, making occasional appearances to flex the power that comes with a wizbit. If you don't have the ability or the inclination to do these things, and you're just in it for the power, then hang it up. Don't bother. It won't fly. And you'd better bring together a staff of admins who share your affinity for the theme and are just as enthusiastic about roleplaying with the players. You can't be everywhere at once. I've been blessed with staffers who rival me for quantity of NPCs in their closets." Brody says, "3) Establish a vibrant web presence that focuses on players and their accomplishments - thus making the game as much theirs, in a sense, as it is yours. That feeling of ownership gives them a reason to keep coming back. They see the impact they make on the universe - and so does everyone who visits the site. Check out the OtherSpace site, if you would: http://www.otherspace.org." Brody says, "We switched to this format in June, during the third story arc, "Pandora's Lament," at a time when our player base had plateaued. We had a website - a standard sort of affair with the usual thematic information and some nifty pictures created by my brother in law, Robert Kimsey. But it was static. It just sat there. It didn't reflect the dynamic potential of OtherSpace. When the previous webmaster departed OtherSpace, I took up the challenge and created the new site myself - my first effort in HTML. The new website didn't have Java applets, but it did focus far more on the players. I added a roster of active PCs. I created a news page that broadcast their activities - including verbatim transcripts of roleplaying sessions, which help give prospective newcomers a window into our world. And I established a page specifically for player fiction based in the OtherSpace universe. The effect was like zapping an unconscious patient with defibrillators. In April and May combined, we had about 12,000 hits on the OtherSpace site. Since June, we have had about 70,000 hits." Brody says, "4) Keep in touch with your players when they are off-MUSH. For us, this was a simple matter of establishing a onelist.com e-mail community (OtherSpaceMUSH), and creating a network that allows us to give regular updates about OtherSpace activities to the players. Sometimes, players lose MUSH addresses - but if they are in our onelist mailing database and receive an update, the update message comes complete with our website and telnet address. That can prove invaluable." Brody says, "5) Advertise at places like M*U*S*H and the Storyteller's Circle (get an embassy there, we did!). Post announcements to rec.games.mud.announce on Usenet. Get your site added to www.mudconnector.com or gamecommandos.com. Submit your site to every search engine you can find. Join web rings relevant to your theme. Network on the net. You can't just count on people to come merely because you built it. You must sell it. If you don't have the time or inclination to do this - or the people to do it for you - hang it up." Brody says, "6) Get a solid bunch of players who like your theme and become so well-versed in it that they can help recruit newcomers. This is the toughest mission to accomplish, because after you've built it and advertised it, and created a website for it, you will get a boatload of twinks and passing fanciers for every one or two solid, dedicated players. How do you keep the good ones? Prove they matter. Prove they make a difference. Face it, without them, all you've got is a pretty playground. You need them to bring it alive. That doesn't mean you follow every demand they make, but it does mean you listen and treat them with respect. Powermongers get lonely fast. If that's what you're in it for - hang it up." Brody says, "Something else we're doing at OtherSpace are the First OS Roleplaying Awards. We're recognizing RP excellence by the players - and letting the players nominate and choose their favorites. We've got our nominees listed on the website if you want to check them out. The awards ceremony will be the first week in November." Brody says, "Bottom line: To make an original theme MUSH work, it must be a selfless full-time job with no prospect for salary and few benefits (except the satisfaction of a job well done). You must surround yourself with equally insane people. You must be as devoted to your players as you want them to be to your game. And you must get the word out, frequently and with authority and enthusiasm." Brody says, "In closing, I'd like to share a bit of what's next for OtherSpace." Brody says, "First, I'm continuing to work on a tabletop RPG system, which we're already using to manage skills and refereed combat online. I'm also writing a novel based on the original story arc we ran last year. Yeah, I'm doing this for free now, but don't be misled: One day, I'd like to do this kind of thing for a living." Brody says, "Second, the players are barreling toward Arc Six, which I expect to begin in January 2000 - assuming, of course, that anyone still has a working computer and Satan hasn't come to fetch his bride and pitch the rest of us into the flaming bowels of Hell. If we survive the coming RL apocalypse, OtherSpace will embark on its longest and most ambitious arc to date. Without giving too much away, let me just say that this arc will turn OtherSpace on its head, end the universe as we know it and make everyone who ever complained that the universe was too big take notice: They ain't seen nothin' yet."" Brody grins. "That's it from me. Any questions?" Fulton claps. China applauds. Blue_Guest hoots and applauds. Durinde cheers Yoseph claps Urza says, "Excuse me, I'd like to ask for the address of OtherSpace. If you already said it, I apologize, but i have been multitasking heavily." Grayback says, "Otherspace.org 1790. :)" Urza says, "thank you." Brody bows, then nods to Duncan. "Go ahead." Duncan says, "how do you manage your admin staff... having an orginal theme must make it harder to recruit good admin" Brody nods to Duncan. "Actually, it's easier when you find great players who latch onto your theme and are admin material. Grayback, for example." Brody says, "I was lucky enough to have a core of friends from another MU** who knew how to code and followed me along on this little experiment." Brody nods to Balerion. "Your turn." Balerion says, "Just how much time does running the game take up for you, personally? It sounds like you put in a lot of time and effort, especially managing the arcs. I'm curious as to how you manage to keep an RL. ;)" Brody chuckles and nods. "I also have a real life full-time job. OS is a second full-time job. I put an immense amount of time and energy into it. I'm also quite lucky to have a sympathetic wife who wants to see me make this into something bigger so I can quit my day job and live large." Durinde says, "What do you put into the bandwith that makes the game so addictive?" Blue_Guest snickers. Fulton snorts. Brody hehs at Durinde, then points to Yoseph. "Yes?" Yoseph says, "I've run several games, that have mostly failed, some of them due to poor leadership/slow coding etc, but others have been doing well, and then we get hacked over and over and over to the point no one wants to bother with it. Have you ever had that problem, and even if you haven't, what would you do about it if you did?" Brody says, "The hacking problem? Yes, we've had people try to hack in. We're on a secure server now. Only a select few people have access, and it stays that way. It means more work for me, but less work in the long run, if ya know what I mean." Brody nods to the Blue_Guest. "Your turn." Blue_Guest says, "Do you think the time will come when the planned arcs will be dropped completely (ie, not just a lull in action), and players will be left to conjur up their own major plots? If so, when?" Brody smiles. "Well...I am, even as we speak, open to proposals from players for large plots. A player-created plot by Grayback in January became an integral part of our arcs even now. It is my expectation that I'm going to continue to write arcs - but when a player presents an idea for an arc to me that seems strong enough to spotlight *as* an arc, I'll be open to that. And Arc VI itself will be a rather open-ended arc - with lots of room for player-crafted ideas." Blue_Guest nods. Blue_Guest says, "Thanks." Brody says, "Balerion, you have another question?" Balerion says, "I've been interested in the idea of this kind of overall MUSH plotting in an attempt to tie everything together on a game so that you've a cohesive story that one day players can talk about as if it were a favorite novel rather than a jumble of disconnected fun RP scenes and plots. Do you find the method of plotting with an eye to flowing and continuous arcs as great a boon as you initially hoped? Does it ever get out of hand? And, finally, how far ahead do you write out arcs? Two arcs over where you're at currently, or do you start writing the next arc towards th end of the current one?" Brody chuckles. "I outline arcs, first of all. It is folly to script it in detail. And I don't start work on the next arc outline until I see where the PCs are going with the current one, generally. I have a general idea where I want to go with the story, but they're the ones who take me there." Brody says, "Now, as for your other question..." Brody says, "Yes, it's been a tremendous boon - for me and, I think, the players. They always have something different to look forward to. They constantly try to guess what my next move is going to be - just as I'm wondering what there's is going to be. These end up playing out like old fashioned tabletop games, and I've been having a great time as a GM :)" Brody says, "And the sense of things *always happening* led to the development of the PC oriented website - so, it's all good." Brody glances around. "Any other questions?" Brody nods. "Thank you all for coming. I'll stick around in the lobby if anyone wants to talk." Brody smiles and steps down. Brody goes down the few steps to the seating area. Brody comes down the few steps from the stage. Brody has arrived. Brody wanders back over to Grayback to retrieve his beer cap and keg. Grayback BUUURPS and hands an empty keg over. Balerion says, "Thanks for the lecture, Brody. :)" Brody nods. "You're welcome. Glad to have ya here to listen." Brody grumbles at the sight of the empty keg. "Damned drunken Demarians..." Sharpeye hehs. Grayback says, "Shay...watch it...I's...BUURP.."