Creativity in Gaming
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As a creative writer, I've always been hindered by my own compulsive need to smooth and perfect. Somewhere along the way my ideas wind up smothered by punctuation, by grammar, by how I'd like a sentence to look and not what it should convey. This isn't unusual, either; we as writers have a hard time trusting ourselves. We're the ones who sit with a brilliant idea and all of three words on paper. We're the ones who pen a few pages and then throw them away. I've been told time and again that I need to write, just write -- no editing, no fretting. Expression, that's all. Nothing helped me believe this so much as text-based gaming, though.
Text-based gaming -- a form of interactive storytelling -- is an experiment in spontaneity. It's a study of character and story without the rigors of style, in which writers who get lost in prose can tell a tale knowing that no one else is pulling out the proofing pen. Exchanging 'poses' from different perspectives, players work with one another to piece together a plot (or a plot fragment) in real time, no nail-biting involved. At this pace, writers learn that detail is a priority and technique less so, and what comes of this realization is freedom. Forget imagery; forget figurative language. They'll happen but they'll happen only as needed -- and that's when they're at their strongest.
In FiranMUX, a multi-user text-based game created by Stephanie and Adam Dray, players choose from an expansive roster of characters and then start playing roles, be they those of servants, crafters, criminals or even nobles. Forget narrative distance; in time you'll understand every aspect of your character's mind and soon enough you'll start communicating it, too. In a story, we're expected to create psychologically realistic characters -- characters the reader can believe in -- but this is difficult at times. After all, we're only looking at a relative blip in a person's life, telling the exciting bits and often forgetting the dull ones, the ones that collectively shape our characters.
In another MU*, Settlers of Pern (founded by Schmitt), characters age and grow as they're played. One character began as a healer: reserved, self-confident, idealistic and untested. However, throughout role play, he started to fail, and in failing, lost much of his certainty. As he aged, he developed into a neurotic, and by the time he became an adult, he wasn't even a healer anymore. There's a balance when developing characters, between providing too much information and too little -- yet the creator should always know too much. In text-based gaming, I have the opportunity to learn all I want and then choose the aspects worth sharing. I've been able to apply this perspective to my stories as well.
I believe that the best way to write is from experience, but as a fantasy writer, I must admit I haven't spent much time around elves or faeries. Text-based gaming, however, offers sustained immersion in an out-of-this-world setting, and while no player is ever really riding on dragonback or mingling with the gods, there's something to be gained from writing it out. It's easier to understand magic when it's contrasted with morning chores; by playing both the practical and the surreal, with the help of others, I'm able to relate.
Without worrying about style, I can tell a story; without worrying about pacing, I can develop a character. Above all, though, text-based gaming keeps me writing -- it's practice disguised as a hobby. And like many creative writers, I know success lies in hoodwinking my inner procrastinator.
- Shelly Dunlop, of FiranMUX
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