OOC: A Different View of Large Player Plots
Here is my contribution to the RP festival. This is some what of a living document, so I reserve the right to revise it and clarify parts when it needs it. This is also a reflection of my views and opinions on how to run larger plots that comes from lots of experiance with table top gaming, LARPing, and working on role-play based Mucks.
Enjoy!
While there are many varying opinions about the changing of the guard in ARK events, many people, including occasional role-players, would like to see more role-play events that they can take a part in. This comes as a slight problem as much of the more casual role-play is done either in private chat or small groups, and many times the ‘plots’ being run are very exclusive or personal to the characters involved. Some people would like the stage larger, and more complex plots but see the involvement of ARK events as the door that needs to open for them to do so.
This essay proposes a method or a vision of plot structuring and organization that looks to circumvent the normal pre-conceptions about what ground level players can accomplish with role-play. The focus will be on player level role-play, as opposed to ARK or FC level, as the starting point, since that is what most of us have access to and ARK events and FC have not been openly responsive to player input of late. The method proposed is also semi-structured, which allows role-play to be flexible enough to adapt to events as they happen, but also enduring enough to be visible and available to a larger player base. The structure is based on the idea of a peer to peer network, a rhizome web that can organically connect with other members of the network and becoming something greater then the sum of its parts.
The Levels of Plot
When we talk about plot in role-play, we are talking about a series of structured events that follow some sort of course, usually following some sort of conflict and its resolution. This is a pretty wide definition and can cover ‘railroad’ plots where every last detail is scripted and players are herded through the events like a theme park side show, or it can cover more informal plots where people know a vague course of events that they would like to follow but the content of those events is left to circumstance. This is different than casual role-play where players simply express their character’s actions and reactions without an agenda, like going to sit down for coffee or visiting old friends. Plot is an important concept because it is what many people expect from role-play through many mediums like movies, video games, table top RPGs, and novels.
In Anarchy Online, there are different levels of plotting that exist that deal with different levels of ability to create conflict or problems. The highest level is the level of canon plot, which is the exclusive domain of FunCom and its employees. Canon plot deals with what is real in the world and important story events that affect the overall climate of the game. Although players have influenced canon events, they rarely have an actual knowing or input into the course of those events simply because FunCom must make them agreeable enough for the entire game over three servers. Examples of canon events include the invasion of Borealis by Omni-Tek; and the capture and occupation of 4 Holes by the Unionists.
The next level of plot is expansive plot that is overseen by ARK events, a division of the Advisors of Rubi-Ka that promote role-play and stage role-play events. All plot events staged by ARK events operate within the canon of the game plot but they have certain powers and resources that allow them to use the systems of the game more flexibly. They can use custom dungeons, different character meshes, spawn monsters, and even make NPCs unkillable. Expansive plot events are set as stories within the course of larger events and may represent more pressing problems as ARK can act as the leadership of any major faction. Expansive plots are usually staged on all the game servers, but this is not necessarily so. Examples of Expansive plots include the Bahariae Arc, the Nanomage Legion Arc, and the Newland Elections.
The last plot level is the level of player plot that normal players have access to, and is the major focus of this method of organization. Player plot can be seen as extremely limited because it can only act within the canon of the game and can only result in resolutions of conflicts between players; additionally, meta-information about the wants, desires, and plans of the elements of the major faction cannot be assumed unless they are part of the canon. Player plot represents stories about events that happen to the ground level players in the conflict of Rubi-Ka, and (unless canonized) remain largely inconsequential to the larger events that happen in the game. This doesn’t mean that player plot cannot be interesting, exciting, or compelling; and as many historical examples have shown, they can be very unique and deal with issues that canon or expansive plot deals with because of the scope of the people they need to cater to. Examples of player plots include the formation of the Newland Guard Initiative, The spread of the drug White Trash, and the research into Neutral token boards done by RUR.
The Requirements of Large Player Plot
There are many types of player plots, but for our purposes we are going to discuss larger player plots that are mostly impersonal and/or are inclusive of lots of player involvement. This is the focus because this is what many players want to see when they think of a plot, an event they can get involved in and feel like they contributed. Plots that revolve around a single person make poor large plots because the ‘main character’ tends to hog the spot light and many of the major decisions revolved around their actions. To make a large plot successful, in that it has enough involvement and attention to run to its end (or where ever its going) there are some characteristics that need to be kept in mind.
To keep involvement in the plot it needs to be Open, or have the ability for players to become involved at most or all points in the course of the story. This is important because it is inclusive of people who may develop interest in the plot after the start, not know about the start of the plot, or were not able to join in the events at the start. While this is an aspect of successful plots, it is not iron clad; there are certainly situations where it is not appropriate or possible for other characters to join in.
To garner involvement in a plot, the simple fact that the plot is progressing or is going to start needs to be Public knowledge. This is not a dichotomy between keeping the details of a plot secret and making them public but the simple fact that in a game with a large player body you need to advertise to get involvement. Additionally, plots that are not known in the public sphere are generally not important to people and are easy to pass by. In conjunction with the last principle, plots that are open need to be made public knowledge as being open in some manner so that people will know that it is an on going story that people can join.
One of the major letdowns of ARK and FC plots is that the outcome is set in stone and the player involvement is generally very incidental; there are good reasons for why this is the case, but in the realm of player plot, this doesn’t need to be the case. Player plots than need to be Adaptive, and the course or outcome of the story change based on the actions of the players involved. This quality makes a plot seem more interesting because players that are involved with it can see that their actions matter, and allows for personal investment in the events.
In a slightly different light, player plots, like many large plots, need to be structured. That is that there needs to be a plan or guiding force to direct the actions toward the end of the story. This may seem antithetical to being adaptive, but that is a not true. In many situations where all the options possible in a truly adaptive plot, some times players will not know where to turn or what to do next to continue the story. Having a either a person or an outline of the plot provides structure to the infinity of possibilities, and depending on the degree of the structure, still allows for the plot to adapt to events.
In the realm of player plots, another quality is desirable: enduringness. A plot that endures is one that leaves its traces in the minds of those who know about it, even after the plot may have played out to its end. This makes it part of the history of stories that are in the world and can be used as a starting point or tie in for latter plots, or even simultaneously run plots. In this case, the people or documents that provided the structure to the plot in the first place should, ideally, remain available in the public domain as a source of information about the plot and somebody to work with for any latter tie-in’s.
