Apocalypse carefully walks up the narrow stairs to the stage. Apocalypse says, "Welcome to the second annual MUDtoberfest. In this presentation, I will cover what I believe to be both the most important and most ignored aspect of a MUSH; building the IC world. Mind you, I speak not of the coding aspect, but rather of the conceptual structure: the actual universe in which the characters will interact. It is my opinion that this critical aspect of successful MUSHes is often overlooked, much to the detriment of the IC population." Apocalypse says, "This seminar, entitled "Details: The Devil's Workshop," is intended to present several concepts and examples of good and bad world-building. In the next twenty or so minutes, I will be covering a variety of topics, including building and coding, theme considerations, and documentation." China ndosnods. Apocalypse says, "I believe a bit of background is in order. I am known to many as Apocalypse, and I have been MUSHing for approximately four or five years. I've played on over a dozen games, on many of which I have had active leadership roles. Among these were the head of the Imperial Navy on a Star Wars MUSH (a position I attained after several years of playing there), a senior leadership position in the Mandalorian Navy on Clone Wars MUSH, and a ship's captain on Babylon 5 MUX. I've also been through Army JROTC, which taught me quite a bit about leadership. In my spare time, I'm an amateur psychologist, sociologist, author, and historian." Apocalypse says, "First, let me define what I mean by world-building. World-building is the process of conceptualizing, detailing, and implementing a thematic idea, and creating the supporting details to go along with the initial idea that develops into a theme. This process is identical for original themes and derivative works. The details vary, but the pattern does not." Apocalypse says, "The first step is, of course, to develop the initial idea for the MUSH. If it's to be an original theme, I very strongly recommend doing some research into the subject of motifs and heraldry; understanding why the classical elements make a particular theme so interesting (Star Wars, case-in-point) helps one to apply them in relative context. Most classical literature is based around a core of themes; love, betrayal, revenge, redemption and/or destruction. Shakespeare is an excellent example of this. It is my belief that, in order to truly create a theme with depth, one must not only define the external conflict into the theme, but the internal conflict as well; keep things interesting by throwing curveballs at the players. The presence of these motifs (or absence thereof), as well as their relevance to your theme are, in my opinion, what make or break an RP game." Apocalypse says, "An example of this is my current project, STAR WARS: Dark Forces MUSH. Star Wars, as I said before, is an excellent example of the classic themes stated above. It contains all of them in quantity, and yet manages to somehow be different; as George Lucas himself said, when he set out to create Star Wars, it was his intention to create a modern-day fairy-tale. The evolution of the movies' plot is interesting to see, as it takes on a life of its own. The scripts can be found at http://hem.passagen.se/wookiee/developm/. When I first set about to create a MUSH, I only had a very nebulous idea as to what I wanted to do. Being a hardcore Star Wars fan, as well as disaffected with the way I saw games being run into the ground, I knew that was where I wanted to go. It took me some time, however, to actually develop a theme. At this moment, I cannot say whether my theories are correct, but I firmly believe that if one is willing to accept the fact that your theme will mean different things to different people, the diversity can strengthen your MUSH." Apocalypse says, "And if I'm going too fast, let me know. :)" Apocalypse says, "An essential part of the development of the game as a cohesive unit was limiting the actual area that would be built. I settled for a major trade route, whose termini would, of course, be strategic locations in the Galactic Civil War. Another was the determination to see that the game would be plot-driven, not character-driven; it has been my observation that the latter type of game tends to stagnate, as it allows the players to choose the direction in which the game will progress. This ultimately ends in it going nowhere, as everyone naturally wishes to pull it in different directions, and also leads to OOC conflict between the players, and ultimately the players and the admins. This is not the way a MUSH should be run." Apocalypse says, "Plot and character are the two primary components of a story. A plot-driven theme is one in which the dynamics of the character (s) are of secondary importance to the movement of the plot, and its resolution. While this is not necessarily the best approach to take with a MUSH, it has the advantage of making actors out of the players, which engenders a particular mindset. On the other hand, a character-driven theme is one in which the dynamics of the individual participants becomes the primary focus of the game, and their actions are what determines the movement of the game's focus. This, also, is not good, as it ends up with either a small group of players determining where things go, or the entire population. In the former case, players complain about elitism, prejudice, and special preference; in the latter, nothing gets done, as everyone pulls in every direction at once." Apocalypse says, "Next, the details. Who did what in the history of your universe? Where is it set? What's possible, what's not, and what do people think the answer to those questions are? This is where most of the depth comes from. It's not enough to put two contestants in a ring and say, "Fight!" Where's the ring? Why are they fighting? Who's promoting them? What's at stake? These are the questions that must be answered by a successful world-builder. When one gives the characters names, personalities, and histories, they suddenly become more interesting; what motivated Fighter X to become a boxer? Why did he agree to the match with Fighter Y, who's obviously the superior fighter?" Apocalypse says, "Depth is not enough, however; consistency is also important. If one creates a "bad-guy" race on a serious science fiction game, don't make them guys in costumes; give them a unique psychology (albeit one that can be understood by humans). There are numerous examples of this in modern literature. I can think of several offhand; the Aaalaag from Gordon R. Dickson's "Way of the Pilgrim," the Moties from Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven's "The Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand," and the Saurons from Pournelle's "War World" shared universe." Shock-Jock nodnods. Apocalypse says, "In the case of Dickson's aliens, they have a very unique, yet very Human, psychology. It's not necessarily for your bad guys to be criminally insane; rather, one can simply think about how Humans would have developed under those circumstances, and go from there. The Aalaag are a race of militarists and conquerors who descend upon Earth and enslave Humanity. As the book goes on, it reveals more and more about their psychology; clues such as their forms of address ("immaculate sir" and "untarnished sir") between each other as well as to the Humans (to whom they refer as beasts). As it happens, their motivation is to build up an industrial base to launch an expedition back to their homeworld to retake it from the aliens that conquered it. Unfortunately, they don't bargain on the Humans being so much like them that they are incapable of submitting. The catch, however, is that direct force will not work against the alien occupiers; only passive resistance!!! This sort of detail is what makes a plot interesting." Apocalypse says, "Consistency also takes another form; continuity. Continuity of plot is important, as a major TP falling apart in the middle is bad, especially when it comes as a result of the person running the plot suddenly realized that they'd allowed something to happen that would ruin the outcome. Rather than starting over (which gets everyone involved upset and leaves one wide-open for exploitation), introduce plot twists and actively intervene in the story to guide it; NPCs are great for this sort of thing." Apocalypse says, "In an original theme, there are many more details that a world-builder needs to address; languages, names, the relationships between the various factions, etc. These are all essential parts of the environment. With a derivative theme, however, the vast majority of these details have already been worked out, which is one of the things that makes them more attractive. A good theme will also include characters with depth; not everyone is always as they seem, and many are wolves in sheep's clothing. Cold Wars are also good; keep the conflict, but do it by proxy. It gets more people involved, and also makes for more political intrigue, as the other side can't directly accuse you of having perpetrated an incident if you can plausibly deny involvement without sounding alarmist. Economic warfare is another excellent way of keeping two sides in conflict without actually having them fight. Remember, not every conflict is a fight." Apocalypse says, "Again, motifs are important. They provide a frame of reference with which people can gain a superficial understanding of a universe; an understanding of the surface is a necessary prerequisite to gaining a true understanding. If someone can't understand your theme, chances are, you won't be able to hold their interest, and you lose players that way." Shock-Jock says, "Motif?" Falcon says, "X-window" Falcon says, "oops, wrong motif :P" Apocalypse says, "A theme or idea that comes up constantly through a work." Apocalypse now opens the floor to questions. "Please use the audience code. -help lecture2 gives you the commands you need." Shock-Jock says, "Are you saying that when you write your theme that you should write it like a story, with an ending, but keep the ending to yourself? And then try and drive the players to that ending, what if they end up choosing a different outcome, or are not satisifed with the outcome, and if you do satisfy your whole theme where do you go from there?" Apocalypse says, "What I'm suggesting is that you write the beginning, and provide a number of possible endings, and attempt to guide the movement of the game toward those particular decision trees, but in the end, let the actions of the players decide which particular tree will be followed. Present them with choices, but don't necessarily have them make the choices themselves." Shock-Jock nods Apocalypse says, "I.e., you create the decision-trees, not necessarily the players." Apocalypse says, "Anyone else?" Shock-Jock says, "and if you do follow through your whole plot, to you continue with a sequel or do you write a new story?" Apocalypse says, "That's up to you." Shock-Jock nods. Apocalypse says, "If you feel capable of making a sequel, or if you see room for one, feel free. Otherwise, a new story would probably be in order." Apocalypse says, "I'll take that as a no." Apocalypse says, "Alright, thanks for attending, and I'll see you all later." Jayvin claps. Apocalypse goes down the few steps to the seating area. Apocalypse comes down the few steps from the stage.