Story Telling

* See also STORY (game element)
* See also Mission/Quest
* See also Rapture Reborn - an MMORPG expanding the Rapture story 
* See also STORY and MMORPG Lore and Canon
* See also Tap_into_the_Players_Creativity
* See also Explaining_Too_Much
* See also Storytime
* See also MMORPG_Lore
BioShock Rapture MMORPG Story Telling Mechanism : ( Player Content Creation ) 
pix add a cliche Once Upon A Time ...
Story was an important element in the BioShock Solo Games. That storytelling would continue and be 'upped' with the MMORPG.
A MMORPG has greated breadth to tell abigger story ( games being of limited length and general being of a linear format, which the Player does their Shooter activities.
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MMORPG Doing It Better ...
The BIG Idea is for the MMORPG game to substantially tap into Player Creativity - with NEW associated stories the Players can experience from the Rapture World, That of the SitS Mark Meltzer Story - though an awful lot of it was outside Rapture ( But then indirect linkages to the 1950s and 1960s World expands the possible stories AND were still important to the overall story of Rapture ). 
How many other Stories might the Players create for the past happenings in Rapture and what happened upto the MMORPGs present time. Some such stories may already exist as fan fictionExamine such works on the Internet : Fanfiction works are generally pretty weak and often barely even being a story. Lots are pretty damn awful. Many are just derivative, with convenient/improbable linkages to existing characters, and detailing 'New' Plasmids/Weapons/Big-Daddies/Splicers/etc .... Perhaps a few of those might hold interesting ideas which might be adapted, improved and 'fleshed out'.
* A Story outline would have to be proposed and pre-vetted to meet the MMORPG's Canon and Lore requirements ( too catch any mistakes early ... ) before the Player Author should proceed. 
* The final 'story' would also be vetted, and critiqued by the community and submitted for the usual Asset testing, and finally passed by the company checking process ( much being Legal and EULA issues ). 
* Many of the Fan-Fictions got pretty wild and conflicting with what actually was shown in the games, so this whole refining process is crucial.
* Many stories, being largely independent of the Game World ( specific details not really having effect on anything else ), wouldn't face as many 'integration' issues ... Not as much as trying to add a Mission or a Building block 'Scene' ( Which has ALOT of interactive components/props and/or 'Auto-fitting' needing to be Tested thoroughly ). 
* The form of presentation of such Stories might get pretty ornate/involved - With more than just Audio Diaries being involved -- including 'known' locations on the game world map and mentions of involvements with key NPC Characters.
* The external stories dealing with The Surface would have preexisting Guidelines and coordination of details and timelines to keep them cohesive.
* Stories of the events of the construction itself : The Undersea City of Rapture was a monumental undertaking, and alot of Construction activity in its 'Story' took place up in the surface world, with Ryan's organization carrying out the massive task of transport and building and finding the people to populate the city. 
* Rapture had dealings with with various outsiders ( including government institutions ) trying to figure out what was going on with this mysterious project, AND with all the suppliers and smugglers who had contact ( before and after Rapture was built ) adding complication. 
* Many people in various Online Forums have expressed the wish to see Rapture before it fell apart ... Before Burial At Sea Came out. Others have said they wanted to live there. SO Seeing Rapture BEFORE its fall would be of popular interest.
* There would be all the outside interactions while Ryan/Sofia Lamb attempted to keep Rapture a secret ( jammings, ships sunk, sightings made, etc ... )
* Other subjects would be about the formations of various Factions/gangs ( before and after Rapture's 'Fall' ), and their various interactions. 
* Likewise, there are events/people related to the histories outlined in BS1/BS2. There was ALOT of Rapture we have not yet seen.
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Story Forms :
* Turn story into a multi-part Mission - the Player has to research in the archives ( preferably with limited realistic tedium ), and be led around to get the next pieces of the story ( possibly minor puzzles/clues to solve ... not just be given it all like in the SitS content ). The pieces can be Accu-Vox Diary Recordings, Paper Documents, game Locations, Signs/Graffiti on walls, Witness Dialogues, game Items/Props, ( Hints - for the disinterested - This is Storytelling, not a Rubick's Cube ), etc ... Following the Story 'Trails' should not be made hard, as the purpose IS the telling of the Story.
* Narrative Sequence of Accu-Vox recordings ( some mechanism would make the recordings permanent so other Players cannot 'pickup the recorder' ... ). Unlike the linear games BS1/BS2 which steered you along the placements of the Accu-Vox, the Player in the MMORPG Story would have to be clued to finding the additional recordings. Note - like all Audio Diaries, what is said is not necessarily the Truth.
* Staged 'Play' using the 'choreographed' stage direction type Scripting that can be presented as a TV show or Play in a Theater ( or if voice-only as a Radio Program ). Film recordings in the City Archive ( a visual equivalent of the Diary Recordings ) ... Documentary form stuff, home movies, etc ...
* Flashbacks With NPCs acting out the story - the Player can walk around the staged setting and watch. ( Some Flashbacks might allow Player to take part ).
* BS1 type Ghost Stories played out at the game locations ( or attached to items/Props ).
* The Stories can vary in complexity : From short single scenes, to epic presentations like the entire Mark Meltzer story incorporating the 'There's Something in the Sea' materials, and then visually 'playing out' the events that happened IN Rapture ( and many on The Surface as well ). Example - You could actually have the scene where Meltzer fights with the Big Sister on the Beach ...
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Important is to facilitate doing this all without getting bogged down in making the technical part of an Asset work -- and thus allow many more creative people to actually create/produce something working and presentable.
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Game (MMORPG) Macro Plot :
Is there a Plot Progression in this MMORPG ?? :
* The Players efforts are to be reflected in the growth of New Rapture and the state of the environment and effect on the rest of the Rapture World. SO the map will change - not just changes in getting the City working again AND the economy by in the interactions with the Splicer factions.
** Flexible Quest system allows for relocating Quest scenario locations as Players gobble up/advance into city terrain.
** New (Player Created Stuff) Quests can be programmed/directed to happen in newest map areas Players have reached.
** Locations previously isolated from the Players ( adjacent to existing accessible terrain) can suddenly be opened up (even fairly close in to the City Center ).
* You Don't really want an 'Ending' - Auto-expansion of the Game Map covers one angle of that ( Can keep growing always with more 'The Wild' area available, and new remote locations outside the immediate Cityscape ). New Players 'coming in' in middle of an Ongoing Story.
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GM (GameMaster) Intervention To Keep Things Moving In The Overall Game :
* Can make corrections adjusting Rapture Factions if things get into unforeseen 'bad' state ( or to repair side-effects of loopholes )
* GMsGame Masters - from D&D usage - someone controlling/directing the game for the Players might (infrequently) direct Splicer Factions to enhance the Faction AIs strategies ( complex/intelligent strategy is actually hard to program/script, and won't be a priority when GMsGame Master - a D&D term for the person organizing the game/campaign are available to tweak things ).
* 'Events' ( staged situation that are open to all Players ) can be scheduled more/less frequently to vary the Players experience, and 'stir things up' periodically .
* Guidance to the 'Player Created Asset' Community to fill in deficiencies discovered once the game is operational ( like not enough entry level 'easy' quests ).
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MMORPG Storytelling Via Evidence :
Add a bit of variation to the storytelling 'Items from the Past' ( less reliance on the 'Audio Diary' ) : Like written Diaries, Videos, Writings on the Walls, Picture Books, Mails, Newspapers, Records, Visual Cues ( and definitely something better than those idiotic Chalkboards ... )
As mentioned elsewhere, a comprehensive Vetting of this Player-produced material would be done not just for Copyright violations, but to attempt a cohesive Rapture Story narrative ( events/people/places/motives ).
MMORPG - Show, Don't Tell ? ( avoiding the 'pushing of Players faces into Story 'clues' ) But that will require some actual storytelling talent ( Better than that recent Levine & Co production ... which isn't saying much - so ALOT Better ).
Missions can have randomly found clues for the 'Big Picture' Rapture Story. Players will publish online and spoil that overall Story ?? So maybe they will reinforce story elements. (( I didn't say this all would be easy. Vetting of Assets that have embedded values/attributes/logic - Particularly ones the CONTRADICT the 'Big Story' is a Vetting problem in itself. ))
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Professional Game Writers - So Many HAVEN'T A FUCKING CLUE :
How things fit, How things are made, How hard things ARE ACTUALLY made requiring a WHOLE lot of other things to exist to be made. "Game Writers - Can't even Teach" .
Rapture had so much of its economic mechanism explained or at least hinted at. It actually felt like being a City.
The writers of Infinite BS hardly even bothered, and so much of that game was bad fantasy cliche and outright absurdities.
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