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More
thoughts on the strengths of text
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15 November 2005
by Mike Rozak
Here are some more thoughts on the strengths of a text/verbal
world, as opposed to a 3D eye-candy centric world:
- Narration - In some ways, text/verbal systems
are much better at narration than 3D (eye-candy laden) worlds because text narration is
infinitely cheaper than 3D, and can be used to convey subtleties that are difficult in 3D.
Narrating what characters do (and what they're thinking) is particularly powerful when
words are used. Such narration can be used to help players empathise
with NPCs and internalise the goals handed out by them.
- Conversations - Likewise, conversations work
well with text because it's cheaper; there's no lip sync, facial animation, gestures,
voice recordings, etc. to worry about.
- Wasted content and choices - Contemporary
virtual worlds ensure that all content is ultimately accessible to all players. They
almost never block off content to players based on the choices players make. The reason:
Content (all that eye candy) is so expensive to produce that none of it is wasted.
Text, on the other hand, is cheap to produce, which means that designers can allow
players' decisions to block off content, providing yet another way that players can make
choices. Personal NPCs, for example, aren't possible
without wasted content.
- Slow-paced and cameo sub-games - Text is lousy
for high-speed adrenaline-packed sub-games. Its low production costs and flexibility make
it ideal for slow-paced and cameo sub-games. Adventure game puzzles are one such sub-game.
Some other strengths keep reoccurring every time I reconsider
the issue:
- Niche markets - Because of the low cost, text
worlds can target niche markets and communities.
- Depth of physics - A natural-language command
line provides (in many ways) more complex user input than a mouse. This extra/different
input ability allows the underlying world physics to be more complicated... "Kick
sand in the orc's eyes" is very difficult to convey with a mouse click, but easy to
type or speak.
- One author - Since text is cheap, worlds based
on text can be produced by one author (or a small group of friends), resulting in a
significantly different "feel" to the game than a large title, produced by
committee.
- User created content - Worlds with large
amounts of eye candy require armies of skilled people to create content. While amateur
users can run a 3D world editor and place monsters where they wish, they can't
significantly change a world (and accompanying eye candy) that took hundreds of
professionals to produce. Most players won't find a world with only minor changes worth
playing since they've "been there, done that."
For previous articles, see Of
mice and elephants and Small VW operators vs. large,
and Text vs. graphics.
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