The NeS through 99 Lenses

[Gebohq]

This thread is my attempt to examine the online, collaborative story known as The Never-ending Story Thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373#post251150), its related works, and community in totality through a series of methods in an attempt to better understand its strengths and weaknesses. These methods, called lenses, are taken from the book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (http://artofgamedesign.com/) by Jesse Schell. While these are meant to be used for tackling issues in game design, I feel using them to examine the NeS will prove to be useful all the same, even if I will be approaching with some lenses through hypotheticals.

Starting Tuesday, April 13th, I will be making one post a day, using one lens each post. Attached to this post is a list of the lenses I will be using. Some assume that the reader has some knowledge only detailed in the book, in which case I may opt to explain briefly that material as I come to it. Please post any questions you may have prior or after any post I make, and feel free to post your own approaches to these lenses (please keep your posts serious). If you have not already done so, especially if you are unfamiliar with the NeS, I would suggest you read my thesis, Threads of the Never-ending Story (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551) before continuing with this thread, as I may be referencing thoughts from said thesis. At the very least, it should be clarified that the NeS, in this case, does NOT refer to either The Neverending Story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neverending_Story) or the Nintendo Entertainment System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System), but a (mostly) original, online, collaborative story.

Please pardon any poor spelling, grammar, word choice, awkward sentences, or the like that may crop up, as I rarely have the opportunities to go back and edit my content into something more polished.

[Gebohq]

Lens #1: The Lens of Essential Experience

To use this lens, you stop thinking about your game and start thinking about the experience of the player. Ask yourself these questions:
What experience do I want the player to have?
What is essential to the experience?
How can my game capture that essence?
If there is a big difference between the experience you want to create and the one you are actually creating, your game needs to change: You need to clearly state the essential experience you desire, and find as many ways as possible to instill this experience into your game.
For future reference, I will be treating the NeS, both as a product of story and as a process of writing for it, as the game in question. The 'player' I will be attempting to answer then as a reader, and then as a writer.

This lens is basically using the assumption that games (and entertainment in general) are means/medium of expressing an experience (though not the experience itself). One of the examples The Art of Game Design provides is that of a snowball fight: if one of the experiences was the sensation of it being cold (even if it was not very cold in reality), your game would have your characters showing their breath being visible and shivering when idle.

It might help if we were to use some other stories as examples first. For The Lord of the Rings, the experience might be that of an English myth -- a fantastical history that we might imagine could take place before the times of King Arthur. For Star Wars, it might be a combination of the grit of the World Wars and a classical opera that takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away." For The Matrix, the experience might be the feeling of slavery within our culture and technology and 'seeing past the veil' of said artificial 'reality.'

For the NeS, two things come to mind for the reader. The first experience in general I see is that of living, usually with some awareness, within a fictional story-world. Most story-worlds that have this meta-fictional element have it as a discovery for the reader and character (such as with Benjamin Majir (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post1006541)), but I think it's just as important (arguably moreso, I'm not sure on this myself) that the readers and characters accept such a meta-fictional element as the equivalent of a religion, the laws of physics, or merely an everyday trivial part of their lives with no mysterious or grand ramifications. I think the Death and Taxes (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post1006541) story-arc might be a good overall example of this. The second experience, somewhat tied to this, is a fusion (or paradox or juxtaposition) of the epic with the mundane. The Fight of the Century of the Week (the first storyarc) I think is a good representation of this experience.

For the writers, the major experience that comes to mind is the illusion that the story is alive, and yet the writers have some 'real' influence over it. We can write virtually whatever we want, but at the same time, the stuff that other writers reply with make it feel as if the characters and world have a will of their own. Even without the other writers, we're usually encouraged to write "on the fly" where we're sometimes surprised what follows suit.

As to what is essential to these experiences and how to capture them, for the first two, I would say 1) striking the right balance between "world-building" the meta-fictional/metaphysics of NeS and yet not turning "George Lucas" and over-explaining things that should be left unexplained, especially at the cost of traditional character conflicts (with some exception, I would say the battle between Thand and the NeScholars (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=25&styleid=15#post982027) does this well) and 2) infusing as much of a good balance between epic and mundane elements as we can (fighting a god of war on PPV). For the experience for the writers, simply making sure that we post often, and we post in response to the other writers as one does in improvised theater, should be enough. That can be a challenge in itself it seems these days.

Admittedly, I'm not sure how truly an "experience" the things I listed are. At the very least, they could stand to be more concrete, as with the Matrix example. "Straight" fiction (i.e. not genre fiction and things that could theoretically happen in real life) tend to potentially have the easiest time tackling experiences well. Fortunately, we still have more specific moments in the story where good experiences can be seen, such as when Erronem made Gebohq confront his (lack of) relationship with Maybechild (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&pp=40&page=15&styleid=15#post645790) back in Death of the Potentials (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=12&pp=40#post530424). The short of tackling with this lens is that we should continue to write what we know best from our own lives and attempt to express those experiences as concretely as possible.

As always, please question, comment, and criticize what I've said, and tackle the NeS through this lens.

[Gebohq]

Lens #2: The Lens of Surprise

Surprise is so basic that we can easily forget about it. Use this lens to remind yourself to fill your game with interesting surprises. Ask yourself these questions:
What will surprise players when they play my game?
Does the story in my game have surprises? Do the game rules? Does the artwork? The technology?
Do your rules give players ways to surprise each other?
Do your rules give players ways to surprise themselves?
Surprise is a crucial part of all entertainment – it is at the root of humor, strategy, and problem solving.
This lens is meant to help aid in Lens #3: The Lens of Fun, as the author of The Art of Game Design steps through what defines a game, and early on defines fun as "pleasure with surprises." I'm not sure I wholly agree with that, as there can be fun by having anticipation realized as well as doing certain things for the very reason that there are no surprises (this mostly applies when the risk of a "bad surprise" outweighs a good one). It is difficult to imagine fun without some level of pleasure, though. Still, this concept is still very important in entertainment, so I'll tackle with this lens all the same.

What surprises readers of NeS, from what I can gather, is the mix of embracing and subverting story conventions, and how random tidbits of absurdity can often end up naturally rolling together into a dramatic/comedic story point later on in the thread. This is only a guess, though, as I'm not really aware of any readers that aren't also writers. The best I can think we could do is ask from those who read the whole of NeS prior to writing, like Ben. The same surprises might also be applicable to writers, though, as well as the illusion of free will that the characters and story in general appears to have when writing and reading other writer's posts to follow.

Seeing if there are any surprises in the story is a bit redundant. As for rules, there really aren't any, but if we were to presume things like "writing in present tense" and "write in script format" and "work with material written by other writers" then yes, I think all those help to encourage that illusion of free will mentioned before. Unless we're counting the NeS comic (http://nes.sorrowind.net), there is no artwork present (and does the comic have visual surprises? I'm not sure, actually.) As for the technology, I'd be hard-pressed to think of something surprising about a message board... is that a bad thing? Again, I'm not sure.

As for the 'rules' surprising each other and themselves, like I said, I think what there is does help encourage a sense of surprise. Could there be other ways to encourage more surprises? I'm not sure, but it couldn't hurt to have more, probably. Just not sure how.

Any suggestions, comments, criticisms and such are more than welcomed!

[Gebohq]

Lens #3: The Lens of Fun

Fun is desirable in nearly every game, although sometimes fun defies analysis. To maximize your game’s fun, ask yourself these questions:
What parts of my game are fun? Why?
What parts need to be more fun?
This lens is useful in conjunction with Lens #2: The Lens of Surprise, so reading the above post may help.

What parts of the NeS are fun? For the readers, I would hope finding out how characters such as Gebohq handle the difficulties thrown at them as well as finding the comedic parts funny (though I've said in the past that the NeS is more fun than funny). For the writers, I'd imagine it's pretty similar, though with more emphasis on the fun in producing the story than 'receiving' as the reader. The process of writing though, as mentioned above, can also be fun when you're discovering how the characters will act and react right on the spot. I know I personally find it fun, for example, to try and craft Master Thand (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572894) as a memorable antagonist. I mean, how often do you read about antagonists who are actually philosophically wise and in the (at least significantly) moral right in any story, much less a fantasy one which are so often dominated with two-dimensional chessmasters (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheChessmaster) and power-hungry monsters of men?

What parts need to be more fun? Unfortunately, the answers are about the same. For the readers, it can be very easy to be let down by anti-climaxes, plot-holes too big even for the NeS, and the general vibe of the story being one big "inside joke" or the like, whether intentional or not. However, the balance to ensure a good read for the audience can also upset the fun for the writers. I've learned (and forgotten) again and again that planning for even the vaguest of structured plots and endings seems to often throw out the window any illusion of the story having a will of its own, denying the "surprises" that make writing for the NeS uniquely enjoyable. Going back to writing for the character of Thand, attempting to give any justice to his potential as a character is a pretty difficult task, even when not trying to weigh in all the considerations of the nature of the NeS. This list wouldn't be complete if I didn't also include the division of ideals concerning whether the NeS should be pure escapism (either for a reader, a writer, or both) or include more dramatic elements, which characters like Thand practically require. The difficulty reminds me of this post (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=4#post251042), where TLTE the Writer is torn between writing pure absurdity and pure epic drama.

Of course, what is and isn't fun for me may not be the same for others, and what I may find fun at one time might not be fun later. I don't believe fun should be the ultimate decider in how the NeS runs (or at the very least, fun needs to be considered for both a variety of readers and writers equally), but it's still important if we're to enjoy reading and writing for it.

Got any suggestions on how to make the NeS more fun? Want to question or criticize what I've said about fun in NeS? By all means, reply without restraint!

[Voodoosnowflake]

think part of the surprise fun factor is what kind of response you will receive from what you write. Surprise or unknown if what is written will metamorphosis in to something else and how that will happen. And just as things develop there is the unknown in what things fade away how things fade away.


Think one the expectations (conventions) (anticipations) we might have in the experience of writing or reading(watching, listening...) a story is to see a situation get resolved. That there will be some sort of ending to it. Or have the expectation to have an explanation for everything in the story (no plot holes). Having an ending to something or tying up loose ends does not always happen in the NeS. Some explanations of unexplained can be summed up as a plot hole. Writers have allowed (embraced?) holes in the story to be there even if they become a let down.

experiences of having control and not having control.

Kind of reward in participation in the experience of NeS is keeping the story alive and not allowing something named to last forever to die. thinking about the dammed or forgotten characters, their stories lost. To keep a story alive you have to continue to tell it.

[Gebohq]

Lens #4: The Lens of Curiosity

To use this lens, think about the player’s true motivations – not just the goals your game has set forth, but the reason the player wants to achieve those goals. Ask yourself these questions:
What questions does my game put into the player’s mind?
What am I doing to make them care about these questions?
What can I do to make them invent even more questions?
It helps to understand that curiosity is examined in relation to play, which the author of The Art of Game Design defines as "manipulation that indulges curiosity." The idea is that play requires action (manipulation) to willingly approach a problem (curiosity), such as when an toy assembly line worker decides to willingly beat a speed record set assembling so many toys. This idea becomes more clear when he defines a game (to be mentioned in a future lens), though it may also help to look at another definition of play, defined by Rules of Play (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_Play) as "free movement within a more rigid structure."

For the readers, I would hope they ask similar questions to what they also find fun, such as the following: how will characters like Gebohq deal with situations like his love complications with Rachel, and what motivates Thand to protect his treasury from the heroes, will (or more accurately how will) The Last True Evil act his part as the Ultimate Villain of NeS as Thand has fortold? For the writers, again, I imagine similar questions could pass their minds, such as what might happen if The Last True Evil were to harm his love, Losien (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post611354) a.k.a. Gebohq's sister? The writers might also ask simply "how will the other writers involve the material in my last post?"

As for what I'm doing to make them care about such questions, for the readers, hopefully writing the characters and their conflicts so the readers will invest in their problems. Admittedly, though, I don't think this is an active question I usually ask myself when writing -- I simply write what I think would make sense for the characters to do. For the writers, I do my best to both encourage and set an example as far as 1) improvising cooperatively to scenarios set by the posts of previous writers and 2) setting up new scenarios for them to play with in future posts. How successful I'm at with any of these parts is uncertain.

What can I do to make them invent even more questions? For the readers, I don't really know. Continue to weave characters and conflicts together? Encourage more talk from the readers on the workshop thread? Push to adapt the story into other mediums more, such as the NeS comic and NeS radio (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=44702)? As for the writers, again, I'm afraid I don't know what more I can do. Perhaps I'm not thinking at the right angle, but I'm not sure how else to apply this lens apart from character investment and meaningful collaborative back-and-forth writing, assuming I'm not missing some aspect even within those.

Thanks again for responding, Voodoo! Don't leave her out in this thread alone, everybody -- post your own thoughts too!

[Gebohq]

Lens #5: The Lens of Endogenous Value

To use this lens, think about your player’s feelings about items, objects, and scoring in your game. Ask yourself these questions:
What is valuable to the players in my game?
How can I make it more valuable to them?
What is the relationship between value in the game and the player’s motivation?
For those of you like me who have a horrible vocabulary, endogenous value is internally-derived value. Things in fiction and games and such really only have value within their magic circle of make-believe.

For the readers, what is valuable I would hope is (once again) their investment in characters they care about. If that investment isn't valuable to them, no epic masterpiece of dramatic tension or gut-busting joke will matter. For the writers, what they write is valuable, as well as how it is received by readers and other writers alike. That seems painfully obvious, but I've been reminded again and again that without constructively positive judgment (within my story responses and outside the story), writers feel their time is likely wasted. Since one of the few things the NeS does require is significant time investment, even with the most carefree of posting, their time needs to be well-rewarded.

How can I instill more value? I'm afraid my creativity is broken once again here. I feel any sort of formal reward system (such as new 'items' or scoring) would be a bad idea, in any case. Remembering that good characters are critical and maximizing collaboration might be sufficient in this case (which is of course easier said than done).

I think I already touched on the relationship between the value and motivation. Readers and writers both are motivated to see where the story and its characters do next, and if it comes across as arbitrary, self-serving or too slow, then it won't be worth their time to continue reading and writing for it. I know some are motivated by an audience they know is there, but I think that just goes back to the deeper points I already mentioned.

Speaking of feedback, you all want to give some... ;)

[Gebohq]

Lens #6: The Lens of Problem Solving

To use this lens, think about the problems your players must solve to succeed at your game, for every game has problems to solve. Ask yourself these questions:
What problems does my game ask the player to solve?
Are there hidden problems to solve that arise as a part of gameplay?
How can my game generate new problems so that players keep coming back?
This lens is important because a game, as defined in The Art of Game Design, is "a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude." I think I prefer a more formal definition provided in Rules of Play which states that a game is "a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome." I've already approached the NeS through that definition in my thesis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551#post921507), and approaching the NeS as a playful, problem-solving activity has its own very significant merits.

For the readers, the problems asked to solve are either fairly basic or theoretical/thematic. As mentioned many times already (and likely mentioned again and again as I go on), on a basic level, the readers are encouraged to solve the same problems the characters face. Granted, unless the reader becomes at least more vocal in their thoughts on how the story should progress, their attempts to problem-solve with the character are reflective at best, since the characters will solve the problems they face independently of the reader. On a theoretical or thematic level, though, there are times where, even given the high awareness/meta-fictional the characters have, they are not solving the bigger questions presented throughout the story. For example, Gebohq might confront his enemies with love as he did when the demon Helebon had him imprisoned (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=8&pp=40#post350237), but he did not think to solve whether loving your enemy is always the best solution. Good writers usually try not to be heavy-handed (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anvilicious) with their themes, but rather show the problems the theme presents for the reader to solve themselves. A common theme so far in the NeS seems to be the benefits and drawbacks of fight versus flight, confronting real problems versus escapism, and their application to love.

For the writers, the problems they are asked to solve almost always distill down to "how do I approach the story presented in the previous posts in an engaging manner?" This has already been mentioned in previous posts as well as my thesis, and is quite possibly the core of what defines the NeS as a whole. As with the importance of character conflicts with the readers, collaborative, playful crafting of the story between the writers is a point that will likely be hammered again and again.

As for hidden problems that arise from gameplay, I think the thematic ones mentioned for the reader fall under this category. This is especially true because, in the NeS, the writers usually avoid writing with themes in mind (as it can be easy to slip into it not being fun and/or heavy-handed), and yet the themes often can organically arise quite well on their own, making them a surprise for everybody. As for hidden problems for the writers, there are about a million that can apply to certain situations: does this make for a good story, does it make sense for the characters, does my post make it too boring or too frustrating for other writers to follow up with, weighing the importance of any one question against the others, and so on. But are there any hidden problems that don't relate to the distilled one mentioned earlier? I don't know. It'd be neat if there was, though.

How can new problems be generated [elegantly]? For the readers, just continuing to compound and reinforce character conflicts and themes should be fine, since we have enough material to not need anything new for quite some time yet. For the writers, more active writers is about the best way to generate new problems I can think of at this point. I know, big surprise coming from me, right? But it's honestly the only thing I can think.

Got any better ideas? Speak up, please!

[Cool Matty]

I think, from the past, the best methods of implementing new problems and conflicts was the abandonment of the staple NeS plot of the standard heroes going about defeating the next issue of the Big Bad. In the end they do get boiled down into the standard NeS plot, but it always brings in new and interesting material.

[Gebohq]

Lens #7: The Lens of the Elemental Tetrad

To use this lens, take stock of what your game is truly made of. Consider each element separately, and then all of them together as a whole. Ask yourself these questions:

Is my game design using elements of all four types?
Could my design be improved by enhancing elements in one or more of the categories?
Are the four elements in harmony, reinforcing each other, and working together toward a common theme?

The four types that make up the "elemental tetrad" in this case are aesthetics, story, mechanics and technology. I hope they're self-explanatory enough. Since I'm lazy, these are getting more bullet-pointed.

Does the NeS use:
Aesthetics: Not really, unless you count the webcomic. I suppose the text itself could be described as an aesthetic, in which case, I'm pretty sure it works.
Story: Uh, yes, at least for the readers.
Mechanics: I'd consider the collaborative writing and working with past material and story conventions to fall under this category, so yes, at least for the writers. No, I suppose, for the readers.
Technology: A message board is pretty good in my opinion.

Could the NeS be improved by enhancing:
Aesthetics: The webcomic could be pushed more, I suppose. Awareness of readability and poetics with writing itself might help too. Maybe in an ideal world, working with an ideal technology could improve this too.
Story: Story can always be improved, but on a fundamental level, I think we got this pretty set.
Mechanics: Doubtful.
Technology: I think it'd be really cool if we could make eBooks tied to this story. I'm not talking about Kindles or that junk, though, I mean something that feels and looks like an actual book, but use that technology that essentially makes it possible to have monitors on actual pages. Otherwise, though, what we got ain't bad.

Are the elements working together?
Yeah, I think they work pretty well. I want to be critical here, but I'm really not envisioning much better here, only additions that would make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Keep posting your comments, questions, criticisms and so on!

CoolMatty: Yeah, tangents can be a good way to solve problems new writers face as well as when the "main story" seems to be slowing down.

[Gebohq]

Lens #8: The Lens of Holographic Design

The use this lens, you must see everything in your game at once: the four elements and the player experience, as well as how they interrelate. It is acceptable to shift your focus from skin to skeleton and back again, but it is far better to view your game and experience holographically. Ask yourself these questions:
What elements of the game make the experience enjoyable?
What elements of the game detract from the experience?
How can I change game elements to improve the experience?
This is essentially trying to strike the balance of using Lens #1 (the Experience) with Lens #7 (the Elemental Tetrad), as this lens implies, to see both the "skin" (experience) and "skeleton" (elements) as a working whole. I will again be answering this a bit shorthand.

Also, a shorthand for the experiences (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1076586#post1075684) I hypothesized earlier: the sense and context of of a literal story world, juxtapositions of opposites like epic and mundane, and the sense that the story and its characters are alive.

What elements make the experience enjoyable?
Aesthetics: The text-only format encourages the imagination, where ultimately all stories exist, engaging with the story world and with the illusion of sentience(s) on both an immersive and analytical level.
Story: Ditto on aesthetics, as the story is pretty much built on those ideas.
Mechanics: Yes, so long as the activity remains more frequent than not.
Technology: Eh, having to read fiction in front of a computer can be problematic at times. From my experience, people definitely still prefer books for that.

What elements distract from the experience?
Aesthetics: I've been told that the "script" format the NeS usually adheres to is unpleasant to read. It's a trade-off I'm willing to accept for now to ease the fun and such for the writers, but it's still a valid point.
Story: While the "first draft" nature of the story does actually add to the experience at times, it can also easily come off as just an indulgence for poor writers. Even though many of the meta-fictional elements are designed to work WITH such 'limitations' in the story, they are generally elements that require a mastery of storytelling to pull off. The story is either adequate on a very basic level or possibly the greatest story ever told; there is no middle ground, and writers like myself are arrogant enough to think they can aim for such lofty goals.
Mechanics: There's no real penalty for not writing. On one hand, there really shouldn't be, but on the other hand, it's a critical component for the mechanics not to distract from the experience.
Technology: Without the ideal technology mentioned in Lens #7, the whole 'message board' interface probably jars from the experience.

How can I change elements to improve the experience?
Unfortunately, nothing feasible at this point. Once we have a larger "player base" to work with, things can probably be encouraged through published works and a type of wiki resource. However, I think those two things will likely have to come first before the "player base" will expand. So... write a NeS-related book and build a NeS wiki of sorts, and I may or may not be working on both! :ninja:

Want to comment, question, or criticize? Please do!

[Voodoosnowflake]

Think you can say the text is is an aesthetic thing.

We tend to keep with the script format. or if writing a huge chunk to put some negative space in between little chunks.

The layout is a way to manipulate how the viewers eyes will move when viewing the text. but rules in how we read (start at top left, go left to right, going down.) dictate for the most part how our eyes go across the page.

Think the negative space serves as a way to have the eyes stop for a bit.

With the script layout..putting a gap between lines. doing things like using bold for Char name. other things like italics.
guess the layout gives the text texture or a rhythm.

Play done using color for a certain character. -> Fred

[Gebohq]

Lens #9: The Lens of Unification

To use this lens, consider the reason behind it all. Ask yourself these questions:
What is my theme?
Am I using every means possible to reinforce that theme?
The Lens of Unification works well with the Lens of the Elemental Triad. Use the tetrad to separate out the elements of your game, so you can more easily study theme from the perspective of a unified theme.
To clarify, this is actually dealing with the traditional ideas of a theme. Take (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_%28arts%29) your pick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_%28literature%29).

What is the theme for the NeS? For the readers, this is a bit tricky, since the whole of NeS is generally episodic, consisting of various "story-arcs" that are loosely tied together. As mentioned earlier (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1076801#post1076479) in this thread, "a common theme so far in the NeS seems to be the benefits and drawbacks of fight versus flight, confronting real problems versus escapism, and their application to love." When confronted by Helebon (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=5&pp=40#post251114), the NeS escaped into its dreams. When Evil Geb seemingly harnessed the Ever-ending Plot (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=8&pp=40#post345227), the heroes left him trapped in the Dreamstate and escaped. When the Forgotten and the Avatar of Loss threatened to upset the balance of the NeS (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=20#post882167), the heroes abandoned some of their own to leave the problem be. When Gebohq and Rachel's love for each other threatened to ruin the NeS (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939188), Gebohq had to decide between her and doing the right thing. Elements can also be seen of the theme of the mundane and epic as well as the story world in general. As also mentioned earlier in this thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684), for the writers, I imagine the theme is similar to its experience - the illusion that the story is alive.

Am I using every possible means to reinforce these themes?

No.

And that's honestly how it should be. Every time I've tried to enforce a theme, it just stifles the story. The story has a knack for developing pretty good themes on its own, at any rate, so sticking with basic character conflicts and keeping the general experiences in mind I feel would be better.

Comments, questions, and criticism should make themselves at home on this thread.

As for Voodoo's last post: thank you for pointing out how aesthetics can appear even in a text format. :) I apologize for my brief responses to what people have posted here so far, and I will do my best after I finish these lenses to respond better to any replies people may wish me to do so.

[Gebohq]

Lens #10: The Lens of Resonance

To use this lens, you must look for hidden power [It requires a careful listening of oneself and others to find what moves us at our core]. Ask yourself these questions:
What is it about my game that feels powerful and special?
When I describe my game to people, what ideas get them really excited?
If I had no constraints of any kind, what would this game be like?
I have certain instincts about how this game should be. What is driving those instincts?

Powerful and special? When it works its best, I would say the sense of immediacy and co-ownership. The story is in the present, its future is uncertain, and as a writer, you own it all and yet none of it. Sounds pretty full of it, but I'm going to guess a lot of the other writers would think something similar.

Maybe I talk to the wrong people, or maybe I'm just not very good at "selling" the NeS, but it's pretty rare that anyone gets excited over any of the ideas and such I describe to them. I'm guessing they mostly think along the lines of "Over 10 years? That's one big inside joke! It's too much for me." But the stuff that I do find gets some sort of attention is the encouragement to abandon plot (even if they're very hesitant about the idea) and engaging with the story with other people.

No constraints? People would post all the time. I'd have reason to start encouraging a "filter" of what makes a better NeS writer (not randomly leaving the story with your characters in the middle of something story-critical, for example). It'd have "guest spots" by more famous storytellers to weave their own skill into the story (my interest is their skill, not their fame). It'd have various adaptations into comics and video games to further tell the story in ways that only their mediums could tell it. That ideal technology I talked about in Lens #7 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1075314#post1076586) would be pretty beneficial in general if done right. There's be a strong reader base who gave feedback as pure readers. And the writers would want to (and actually would!) talk to each other (in person would be the best, but even via something like Skype) more often than not. I'm sure I'm forgetting a thousand things here, but I think you probably get the idea.

What drive the instincts I have about the NeS? My experience writing frequently for the NeS and all the successes and failures I continually come across with it, my knowledge in game design, writing, and theater, and for those of you who don't think I'm confident, much less arrogant, the absolute certainty that there are some few truths I perceive purely, some few impossible problems that I can and will solve, and the will to see past those who would say I am wrong or incapable in those times. More than one of those rare moments find themselves with me and the NeS.

Are these things that I've mentioned which I feel resonate also "deep-truth themes" as the author of The Art of Game Design intended for this lens? I'm not sure. Perhaps the themes I provided before better fit that approach, or perhaps those combined with these are the whole of what resonates in the NeS.

Want to knock me down a peg? You know you do. Go on, do it. It'll be fun! Shoot your criticisms at me, or if you're not feeling so antagonistic, shoot the questions and comments instead!

[Gebohq]

Lens #11: The Lens of Infinite Inspiration

To use this lens, stop looking at your game, and stop looking at games like it. Instead, look everywhere else. Ask yourself these questions:
What is an experience I have had in my life that I would want to share with others?
In what small way can I capture the essence of that experience and put it into my game?
Pretty self-explanatory -- you get good ideas by thinking outside the box. But then if you went saying that, it wouldn't sound nearly as out of the box, now would it?

As far as experiences I've had that I have and would like to share, there's only two in NeS that I've done so far surprisingly. One is this scene (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&pp=40&page=15#post645790), which I think helped really drive into a climactic moment for that story-arc (one of them anyway). The other would probably be The Campaign: Without Credit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939188) and Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968) storyarcs in general, though there's a lot that could have probably been done to make them better focused on my experiences. In general, I tend to pull from video games and a little bit of theater. Love, games, and theater are certainly not that far into "everything else" when it comes to storytelling with an audience like the writers and I though, huh? It's amazing though what other writers could draw from though that they likely never will. Semievil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=1209) the writer, for instance, has a bachelors in philosophy, and he knows his stuff, but I would sooner be likely to stop writing for NeS than for him to use his experiences and knowledge in philosophy with a character like Thand (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572894).

What experiences and knowledge have I not written that I would like to share though? I'm not sure I have any. That is, I'd like to write about something, but I don't know if I actually have something in this context that I'd draw inspiration from. Most of my inspiration comes from simply imagining myself as the characters in a story world like the NeS, and it's rare that there are moments where I feel I can pull inspiration from somewhere "outside." I'm well aware of the "what's boring to me could be brilliantly exciting for someone else" but I'm not aware of any niches of my own life that would make for 'outside' inspiration. The best I usually manage is to step inside the shoes of friends and family and then pillage their experiences for the NeS. It's certainly something I could stand to think of more.

As for how I could capture some of my experiences and use them for the NeS, I actually do have one in mind I've been fermenting for some time. I tend to think of myself as someone fascinated with the world of fiction, of fantasy, of games, of motion between moments, of animation, but I don't escape in them so much as think of them in relation to "real life." Much like how Plot itself nearly ended the NeS literally (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=50&pp=40#post250524), I think "Real Life" could be an antagonizing role in the future of NeS, where that is often the cause of posts not being written, and how it could add to the world of NeS as a whole. With the nature of "Real Life" being founded in reality, though, there would be no definitive will of its own to prove its presence, but rather, only certain characters -- I'll call them Posters -- who wish to propagate reality into the world of NeS. They would have no power of their own, though -- everything they did could be explained as "straight fiction" story conventions being manipulated. There would even be con artists who could claim to know what is "truly real" and trick people for unrelated power. The character I had in mind in particular would not necessarily be such, but perhaps more like Apathis from Saga of the 3rd War and The Shadows of Darkness of the Vision Cycle (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=30088) series, or like myself, in that this character might love "reality" and wish to apply it to the fantasy story world of the NeS. This is a concept I wish to hold off though until at least the end of the current NeS thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372) for multiple reasons, though, so for now, the idea will continue to ferment.

Where do you all draw your inspiration from? Please comment, question, and criticize what I've written as well, please!

[Gebohq]

Lens #12: The Lens of the Problem Statement

To use this lens, think of your game as the solution to a problem. Ask yourself these questions:
What problem, or problems, am I really trying to solve?
Have I been making assumptions about this game that really have nothing to do with its true purpose?
Is a game really the best solution? Why?
How will I be able to tell if the problem is solved?
This is somewhat related to Lens #6 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1077386#post1076479), and aims to help define a clear goal and constraints.

With that in mind, I imagine the problems being solved in relation to the readers are:
When is it best to run, evade and take flight versus standing your ground, confront, and fight, and how can the two co-exist and conflict with each other?
Another way to ask the above problem is when is it best to embrace escapism and the epic fantasy story-world of comedic, absurd meta-fiction versus engaging reality and the mundane 'normal' world of dramatic, sensible meta-narrative, and how can the two co-exist and conflict with each other?
How does love shape our lives with friends and loved ones, especially in relation to the questions above and below?
For the writers, I think the problems being solved would be:
How do I approach the story presented in the previous posts in an engaging manner?
How can I help present the problems mentioned above for the readers to solve for themselves in an engaging manner?

Have I been making assumptions about the NeS that have nothing to do with its true purpose? I wouldn't be surprised if I have, but I think I do my best to remain close to at least what I think the problem statements should be. Having them spelled out like this I think will help though.

Is an [interactive story thread] really the best solution? At least for the moment, yes, I think it is. Some aesthetics, mechanics, story and technologies might benefit from tweaks, but in their foundation, I think it captures the liquid compound (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551#post921541) nature of the NeS I talked about in my thesis.

How will I tell if these problems are ever solved? Is popularity and frequent and consistent activity a good indicator? Probably not entirely. I'm not sure when I'd know if these problems are solved except by instincts and feelings.

Got a problem with what I said, my bad puns included? Comment, question, and critic what I've said then!

[Gebohq]

Lens #13: The Lens of the Eight Filters

To use this lens, you must consider the many constraints your design must satisfy. You can only call your design finished when it can pass through all eight filters without requiring a change [though if your design requires more filters, don’t neglect them]. Ask yourself these questions:
Does my game feel right? [artistic impulse]
Will the intended audience like this game enough? [demographics]
Is this a well-designed game? [Experience Design]
Is this game novel enough? [innovation]
Will this game sell? [business and marketing]
Is it technically possible to build this game? [engineering]
Does this game meet our social and community goals? [cultural]
Do the playtesters enjoy the game enough? [play]
While there are other filters that would be better added here, and while a number of these are moot, I will be answering just these as I can all the same.

Does the NeS feel right?
Yeah, I think so, on the whole at least. The more something or someone does well, though, the more critical I become, so I find it difficult to be certain of my assessment here.

Will the intended audience like the NeS enough?
That's assuming I knew who the audience is for the NeS. As of now, I try to interest just about anybody, but I realize that there will be a lot of people whom the NeS doesn't interest them, and I don't intend to force the NeS to try and be all-inclusive or "lowest common denominator (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LowestCommonDenominator)" on anything but the most well-intentioned of the idea. I'm sure some marketing types and I would yell constantly at each other if I actually tried to use this filter.

[i]Is the NeS well-designed?
In relation to designing an experience mentioned in earlier parts like Lens #1 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1077567#post1075684), I think it ain't bad. We could probably do more as the writers to communicate with each other on the sort of thing I'm doing in this thread (so we attempt to be all on the same page, pun a little intended) and reward both readers and writers more to continue reading and writing somewhow.

Is the NeS novel enough?
I've not heard of too many interactive stories like this that have continued as long as it has or of this type of wacky modern, meta-fictional, comedic, etc. story. Published stories like the Discworld series and other interactive stories like the Toaster Saga (now long gone from the internet to my knowledge) came close, but even they seem few and far between. So yeah, I don't think lack of novelty is a concern for the NeS. It being too novel/unfamiliar might be, though.

Will the NeS sell?
Doesn't matter at this point, and as I implied in my thesis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551#post921547), might be a poor idea to try and sell the NeS (though I will eventually have to ask myself this if I have success in getting a novel written). With that in mind, I don't know, in large part because of the concerns mentioned in the above filters. I'm not very merchant-minded, nor do I like to be, but I at least have an unshakable confidence to believe it has at least the potential to sell well.

Is it technically possible to build the NeS?
The NeS has been "built" for nearly 11 years as of writing this. Yes, it's technically possible. Even my lofty ideals in the technology department mentioned before (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1077567#post1076586) I believe are technically possible (though very expensive).

Does the NeS meet our social and community goals?
This is a core component in the analysis of my thesis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551). Among the writers themselves, I think it does work fairly well, though I still feel it could do more to foster communication and community among them (as I still feel I'm more critical a role in the community than I'd prefer). Among the readers [who are not also writers], however, I feel the NeS does not meet any social or community goals, leaving them to feel "outside the loop" or out of an "inside joke." While there are no significant barriers for anyone to become a writer, I feel a reader should not have to become a writer to feel like they are part of a NeS community. At this point, however, I don't know how best to encourage such a reader-only community.

Do the playtesters enjoy the NeS enough?
Assuming the "playtesters" are both readers and writers, the short is that I don't know. I am unaware of any people who read but don't write for the story, and as for the writers, while I imagine they enjoy it a lot on the whole, I don't know if they enjoy it "enough" to pass this filter. I can't answer this myself, as there hasn't been a day I can remember where I didn't enjoy this, and I know I am not the usual case here. It'd be enlightening for me to try and get together some "playtesting" sessions down, though, and ask both readers and writers what they did and didn't like about certain things. Unfortunately, this is not really in my ability to carry out though.

Hmm... looks like something needs to change, if we're going by these filters. If only I knew what...

Want to try filtering the NeS out yourself, or you just have some comments, questions, and criticisms? Go for it!

[Gebohq]

Lens #14: The Lens of Risk Mitigation

To use this lens, stop thinking positively, and start seriously considering the things that could go horribly wrong with your game. Ask yourselves these questions:
What could keep this game from being great?
How can we stop that from happening?
This lens is meant to be used early in a project's development, using prototyping and playtesting techniques to find problems early before it's too late, something that the NeS thread is far past. However, examining the NeS with this lens could still be useful, so here's my attempt:

Aesthetics/Technology
Reading and writing on a message board like Massassi is not ideal. Most people prefer to read stories still in a print medium, or at the very least, in easy-to-digest chunks on a page structure more like a book. For writers, I know many turn to writing in a word processor so they can save (almost all of us have had our posts "eaten" by the forum at one time or another), and the tags and requirement to add paragraph breaks can be annoying.

On a reasonable level, the story could be moved to another message-board like system, one that is designed for maximum ease of reading and writing. Have it readable on a iPhone, for instance, could help, or options to reorganize posts in various ways, with a WYSIWYG interface and save feature. On an idealistic level, the technology to have computer screens on paper in something resembling a book, with perhaps a keyboard and stylus built in the inside hardcover, could work wonders.

Story
If it fails here, that's sort of a big problem, right? Well, from what I know, the NeS has improved in its storytelling over the years, and I think we do a pretty good job of working its 'faults' (plotholes, dramatic structure, general inconsistencies, script format, etc.) into the story itself. However, even with that in mind, those faults will still drag the story down without cooperation and respect among the writers, so again, communication between the writers is critical. Remembering that writers are aiming to entertain and engage readers at least equally to themselves is important in keeping the story strong. The rest comes down to those pesky details that often make or break art, which would have to be tackled on a case-by-case basis.

Mechanics
Writers not writing, and not writing with each other, pretty much ruins the NeS. This goes for not playing any game, not reading any story, and living life in general, but unlike those examples, I feel the NeS would have a much more difficult time being "picked back up" from times of inactivity (though I could be wrong). Again, rewarding readers and writers better would help with this, but unfortunately, I don't know the best ways to do that. Apart from that, though, I think the mechanics work well enough.

Experience
The NeS may find itself in danger of placing a Lucas-style world-building over characters and their conflicts, but I feel that risk can be easily mitigated by the attempt to retain a fusion between meta-fiction and meta-narrative, escapism and realism, etc. etc. The NeS may also find itself in danger of writers writing too independently of each other. This risk is harder to mitigate, since we're not about to shun even the spam-bots and one-post thread killers at this point. We can create storyarcs intended to challenge people to "screw up the story" to show how it can create some of the best experiences and story, as we did here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=49690), but we can only throw that premise out explicitly every so often, even if the implicit premise is always there.

There are likely many more risks that can present themselves, especially if a published work is made, but these are the basic sections this lens is suggested for, and other risks and issues have been, and will continue to be, brought up throughout this thread, as well as any means to mitigate the issues.

Feel I've missed some critical risks and issues, or tackled the ones I mentioned poorly? Please speak up! Question, comment, and criticize to your heart's content!

[Al Ciao]

As a disclaimer, I know much less than Geb about games and game design, plus I'm not as clever as he is, so don't expect my answers to these lenses to be near as insightful or long as his. Furthermore, there is a great possibility that I will understand some of what a particular lens is getting at, so if an answer is way off the mark, that's why. In addition, a lot of my answers to different lenses may overlap. As well, I'm focusing more on NeS as an experience for writers, rather than just readers.

LENS 1 - ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE
To me, the essential experience for NeS is FUN, for the reader, yes, but especially for the writer. (I write assuming that any readers are also writers, but this is probably true anyway.) Note also the distinction, as Geb has pointed out before, between "fun" and "funny". (Not that NeS isn't often funny as well.) I guess the primary question here is what about the experience makes it fun.
To me the fun elements is the impression of a large sandbox to play around in. Are you building a Wagnerian sand palace or a simple sand tower? Moats? What are all the other kids in the sandbox building? How can we fuse our castles together? Literally build them into one another? Have them be neighbors? Set them up as rival sand castles? It's an exercise in imagination and cooperation.

Okay, so that's not very technical, but it's that same quality of experience that I get out of NeS and that I think would be wonderful for others to have.

To get this experience, one needs writers who are writing relatively frequently - more than two would be ideal, but too many gets messy, but then what about NeS isn't messy? - as well as writers who are willing to reach out to other writers, even if it's only instory, by building off their ideas instead of simply railroading one's own idea of a subplotline (something I used to do a LOT). The first element is probably the easier of the two, but even that can be difficult, especially since Geb is our primary recruiters. Having other writers try to recruit their friends would be a good idea, and something I'm trying to do with a few people I know (I'm introducing one guy I know who likes to write by first introducing him to NeSi).

The second element, that of interdependence on other's ideas and story building blocks, can be even harder, as it's something that depends a great deal on the personality of the writer. It seems extremely hard for most writers to let go of the idea that they are in control - because it's very hard to be in control of anything in NeS, other than the post you are writing right now. Yes, we can make plans and share them with other writers, but as Benjamin Mahir said once in the workshop, "Not only do you need a Plan B, but Plans C, D, and E, and be prepared to write up a Plan F on the seat of your pants when the next plot twist hits."

LENS 2 - SURPRISE
Haha! Surprise is the very definition of NeS - one never knows what's happening next. When we try to plan something, it usually ends up being anticlimactic because the writers get bogged down by it. (Either that, or it takes months to write: witness NeS1999.) If anything, we need more surprise sometimes. It is the natural tendency of writers - even those as venerable as the Gebster himself - to make some kind of an outline for the next story arc. Of course, the flipside of that is that without some kind of plan or outline, writers sometimes don't know what to write.

Perhaps our main problem with planning story arcs is that we tend to decide on how it's going to end instead of just pointing the characters in a direction. For example, with the Without Credit arc, we knew we were heading for a showdown with Vice in which Guy Book needs to be rescued so that lovable Geb can recover. On the other hand, the sub-arc on page 26 when some heroes go to Disneyworld merely had a direction: "Let's go to Disneyworld so Sem can reunite with his family!" This, perhaps, can be key to making more surprises and less bogged-down anticlimaxes: directions instead of destinations.

To answer some of the more specific questions about this lens: The direction the story is going in will surprise the readers/writers. (Geb's commment about how embracing or subverting story conventions and how random tidbits of absurdity take on greater importance is a GREAT one.) About the rules, art, and technology offering surprises, Geb pretty much covers that.
Writers can definitely surprise others with their posts, obviously - but often, the greatest surprise is surprising oneself. I often don't know exactly how my post will turn out - in some cases I have NO idea. I simply start with the end of the last post and go. If there's no particularly destination one must reach, you just roll with the punches, even the self-inflicted ones.

LENS 3 - FUN
Much of the fun in NeS comes from the surprise (#2) that comes from the interplay of imagination and cooperation (see #1).
On the other hand, matters of style can also make the NeS more or less fun to read. A simple script-like style - with double spacing - makes the reading easier on the eyes, whereas reading posts like Shade's old ones (sorry, Shade, if you're reading this) or JM's short novel post Dec 1st '09 or even mine lately (because my comp's not cooperating with me; kudos to Geb for editing double spaces into them) take away from the fun factor. Also, the style of the writing can help.

With many apologies to West Wind and Majiir - who are incredibly talented and brilliant writers who I wish would come back - sometimes people can write in a very heavy narrative style, with long paragraphs of dense text - appropriate for a novel, but difficult on a computer screen, particularly for a story which is generally much lighter in tone than a novel.

As far as the balance between what Geb calls escapism and epic drama... To me, epic drama can also be an escape; by giving meaning to a story, we get some sort of catharsis when the real world often confuses us with its lack of sense or meaning at times. But I digress. I used to lean more towards epic drama; now I lean more to zaniness. Of course, I still like epic drama and use it in my posts, but even then I try to have a hefty dose of zaniness in it. I think both approaches are good, but they just need to be balanced. The biggest problem with epic drama is that it often involves a destination rather than merely a direction (see my notes on Lens #2 above) and as such can bog down the writers. If a writer or writers wants to use some kind of epic drama in his posts or (gasp) plans, (s)he needs to be prepared to see it through himself or else to see it fall by the wayside. On the other hand, other writers should be prepared to cooperate to some degree with the dramatic writers' inclinations. This may be easier for some writers than others. Tracer, for example, prefers unlimited codfish to ultimate power. (Of course, where would we be without Tracer? The story would be much duller and less interesting, for certain.)

I suppose that boils down to Geb's juxtaposition between the epic and the mundane.

On a side note, I anxiously await TLTE's return to NeS, so we can build off each other's epic ideas. :-)

Something else I find very fun about NeS is that it's basically created a setting, a world, of its very own. With hallmarks like a second star or the Sahara having become a giant lake swimming with mutant scorpions, or events like Helebon's brief but hellish dominion, NeS has its own flavor and history apart from "generic Earth setting". One thing I love to play with is how the rest of the world perceives the NeSheroes and their actions, whether it's writing a newscast by Tod Ayitsgon Narain or a reaction from Hero Force One to their lesser-known counterparts.

LENS 4 - CURIOSITY
Often, writers for the NeS come in with their own goals for what they want to create. Back in the day, for example, I wanted to create an epic story about Highemp seeking to conquer the NeS before eventually being redeemed in a grandiose drama. More recently, JM wanted to write the story of JM the Character's split consciousness. I have to admit, ultimately I think these singular goals are often defeating to the spirit of NeS itself. Not that having personal writing goals is bad, but when that's your only driving force, it damages what the story could be. In my case, I was too focused on writing Highemp's story and having go where I wanted it to go, that I couldn't adequately respond to other scenarios set up within the story. I got steamed at Tracer when he zombified my character and put him on Jeopardy, instead of rolling with the punches. (That was back in the 20s of the original thread.)

On a less obsessive level, nearly all writers are more interested in their own characters - Cool Matty, for example, had his subset of characters that he wrote for a lot. And he was by no means alone in that. Often, if a writer didn't know what to do with his/her own character, (s)he wound up writing nothing at all. Kudos to Tracer - not only does he write with any and all characters, he doesn't even have a character of his own (though there was briefly an Agent Tracer who got killed off page 50). Not even Geb has that singleminded devotion to zaniness wherever it can be found.

If more of us could be more like Tracer - or at least more like Geb - and write for all sorts of different characters and scenarios, NeS could get along a lot better. (Of course, many writers have done just that, most recently, brilliant people like Benjamin Mahir and TheBritt.) The question here is, how can NeS put this type of curiosity into writers' minds and make them care about it more?
I'm at a loss to answer that, as much of it depends on the personality of the writer him- or herself. Perhaps the best way is to set up interesting scenarios in one's own posts and seeing how other writers jump on it.

LENS 5 - ENDOGENOUS VALUE
Geb pretty much hits all the points here. A formal reward system would be bad, I agree, and the best rewards for the writers are responses and feedback to their posts, both instory and out of story. If someone writes his posts but his story developments are ignored or rendered moot by a plothole, then he feels left out. And even better are out-of-story compliments (or even constructive criticism). I know when I read Britt's review of NeS1888, I was grinning from ear to ear. It was more than just a line saying, "Hey I loved it," it mentioned specific things he liked or found interesting, plus it was absolutely glowing. I bet all writers could use more of that!

LENS 6 - PROBLEM SOLVING
For the writers, as Geb said, most of the problems boil down to that one question about writing a post that's interesting and builds off previous posts. However, there can also be problems of interaction between the writers themselves. Perhaps the biggest conflict (that I know of) was with my constant powerplaying in years past. More than a few writers were upset with me, but TLTE especially got upset (justifiably so, I might add), and thus a major conflict occurred between himself and me. Most disagreements between writers won't be nearly so dramatic, but I think it raises the excellent point that writers must solve interpersonal problems. TLTE and I solved much of ours in the story itself (NeShattered page 1), although poor Geb was a go-between for us, as I didn't have MSN and TLTE didn't have AIM, and only Geb had both. Thus we see that interpersonal problems can be solved in at least two ways: either by direct communication, and/or by settling it instory.

LENS 7 - ELEMENTAL TETRAD
I pretty much agree with Geb here (surprise surprise), but I do have a couple things to add. I think the white text on black background qualifies as an aesthetic. I think it makes NeS easier to read, as it's different from the usual boring black-on-white text, but is still easy to read because of the color contrast (as opposed to blue writing on a green background).
Also, I think some of the mechanics (unless I'm misunderstanding the term) also include unwritten "rules" such as writing NeS in a script-like format or writing narration in italics. That's all I have to add, sorry.
Geb: Here's a $20 for agreeing with me.

Thanks.

[Gebohq]

Lens #15: The Lens of the Toy

To use this lens, stop thinking about whether your game is fun to play, and start thinking about whether it is fun to play with. [Use this lens on either an existing game or to invent new toys and find whether they lend themselves to new games.] Ask yourself these questions:
If the NeS had no goal, would it be fun at all? If not, how can I change that?
When people see the NeS, do they want to start interacting with it, even before they know what to do? If not, how can I change that?
In answer to the first question, yes. In fact, if not crafted carefully, goals can actually hinder its fun factor. While a round robin-style story isn't usually considered a "toy" in the traditional sense, I think the concept of adding to a story moment-by-moment by different writers qualifies enough in this case. There's inherent fun in the round-robin structure, and the NeS has made it possible to play with it beyond a few short writing exercises. Combining this with the ideal technologies mentioned before could make this more of a "traditional" toy.

However, when people see the NeS, they are usually very hesitant to start interacting with it, ESPECIALLY before they "know what to do" in context. They see it as either a story or sometimes a game, and their expectations with either of them set up ideas in their heads that make it far too daunting to just "play" with the story, get their feet wet, or dive right in as they should.

As for how to change that, that's a bit more difficult. I'm hoping to build a sort of wiki in the near future to help, as wikis have a special ability to suck people into just browsing for hours, the effect of which I would hope be a familiarizing with the craft and community (though there would be parts dedicated to new people). Other than that, though, the task is difficult. Like I said talking about the risks with the experience in the previous lens analysis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1078084#post1077904), we can only post so many "try to ruin the NeS" storyarcs to explicitly help new writers best understand the NeS, and it's difficult to think of any other methods to help bring out the spirit of the toy, as it were. Perhaps someday, I'll find some other good tactics to use.

Also, many thanks to Al Ciao for responding as much as he did! I will do my best to respond in full after I've finished writing through these lenses myself. I would suggest you all not wait to post your own replies, though, as even the shortest of commentaries would be made much longer if one decided to wait until the end, and the thoughts won't be fresh in your mind!

So reply now with your comments, questions, and criticisms, please!

[Tracer]

Having other writers try to recruit their friends would be a good idea, and something I'm trying to do with a few people I know

I for one am ashamed of my internet alter-ego and do my best to keep it a secret.

[Gebohq]

I for one am ashamed of my internet alter-ego and do my best to keep it a secret.
Disappointing, but certainly understandable.

[Gebohq]

Lens #16: The Lens of the Player

To use this lens, stop thinking about your game, and start thinking about your player. Ask yourself these questions about the people who will play your game:

In general, what do they like?
What don’t they like? Why?
What do they expect to see in a game?
If I were in their place, what would I want to see in a game?
What would they like or dislike about my game in particular?

A good game designer should always be thinking of the player, and should be an advocate of the player. Skilled designers hold the Lens of the Player and the Lens of the Holographic Design in the same hand, thinking about the player, the experience of the game, and the mechanics [and art/story/technology] of the game all at the same time. Thinking about the player is useful, but even more useful is watching them play your game. The more you observe them playing, the more easily you’ll be able to predict what they are going to enjoy.
This will be a difficult one for me to answer on part of the writers and especially on part of the readers.

In general, what do they like?
I'm going to take a not-so-wild stab here and say that both the readers and writers like things generally deemed geeky, nerdy, dorky, what-have-you. Reading books, playing video games (beyond the big sellers), entertainment of the fantasy and science fiction genre, violent action, fanservice (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Fanservice) (for guys, as they still make up a large portion of the 'players'), role-playing games, and things of that general nature. Both probably also lean towards comedy that is dirty and/or absurd (in the stylings of Monty Python, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc.). There is a streak of liking romance, in one fashion or another, as well.

Due to the forum on which this story is written, Star Wars is also a franchise that they tend to like significantly.

What don’t they like? Why?
Not being able to get on the internet...? I'm afraid I can't imagine something for this one. I don't know if it's because what they don't like is too diverse or if I'm just unable to put the pieces together.

What do they expect to see in something like the NeS?
Expect? Probably only the tired old "expect the unexpected." Maybe story elements similar to what are found in superhero comic books, maybe a level of comedic absurdity, and if they've read anything more than a post, for the 'plot' not to make much sense.

What would they want to see is something I'll try to answer in the next one.

If I were in their place, what would I want to see in something like the NeS?
As a reader, I would want to see more comedy and admittedly less drama. It's not to say there hasn't been good drama, and I'm a strong advocate of pushing for it when it'll service the story, but more often than not, our attempts at drama in NeS tend to fall short, either being too melodramatic (see parts of the last post on page 50) or boring. At the very least, I'd want the comedy and drama to play off each other, sort of like they do in TV shows like Scrubs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrubs_%28TV_series%29). The root desire is just that the NeS be interesting to read, though, whether it be from inherent interest, interest in its style, ability to empathize with the story (and to others), and all other methods touched on previously and in future lenses. From that, it'll matter much less if, for instance, there are gaping plot-holes that would normally ruin most other stories.

As a writer, I want to simply know that what I write matters (which has been touched on earlier and will likely be said again ad naseum). Admittedly, however, even I want there to be times when I can just spout off ideas and have someone else write about them, because I am a lazy bum (something I tried to tackle with partly in the Campaign: Without Credit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939806) story-arc and probably didn't entirely succeed in my goal. A "cliff notes" wiki resource would probably also appease my traditional writer side who would like to know more about the NeS and its characters (something I'm working on hopefully having up in the foreseeable future).

What would they like or dislike about the NeS in particular?
For readers, they probably like its humor and dislike its 'unapproachable' immensity (of which often flushes plot down the toilet). Beyond that, I'm really not too sure.

For writers, I imagine they like the core experience of feeling like they can produce the story and consume it at the same time with mostly equal ability to writing or reading a traditional story. They usually like the ability to not have to worry about creating plot-holes and the like as well once they are more familiar with the NeS. New writers, just like new readers, don't like its intimidating size, and plot-holes and such. Even veteran writers though I imagine don't like the time commitment needed on even the most minimum of levels, nor of course do they like when they feel their contributions are not significant or judged well.

Please add your own thoughts, questions, and criticisms you have, either as a "player" yourself or as how you imagine other "players" would respond!

[Tracer]

What would they like or dislike about the NeS in particular?

As I writer, I don't like the way that many of the characters have poorly defined roles and personalities. The best characters for me are Krig, Janitor Bob, TLTE, Geb and Captain Sran. I find that all of the above have very well-crafted (for us ;p) personalities and as a result get written in a consistent manner. I think this is important because it allows the story to have actual character development.

Also for me these are the characters that really stand out. Many of the other "main" characters are hard to write for and somewhat boring to read about because they have no defining attributes and no real opinions on anything. For example, I know that in any given situation Krig the Viking would probably try to 1)eat a thing, 2)drink a thing, or 3) smash a thing. This makes him fun and easy to write for. J-Bob (though he isn't really in the story much anymore) is the same way: he approaches problems (and life) from the perspective of a guy who likes to clean things. For other characters it's no so easy - you may notice that the last time I was going strong writing Semievil, Antestarr and Ford were basically interchangeable in all my posts.

By the same token I usually try to superimpose a personality on characters. This is why I like to write for seldom-used characters. Again, the last time I was writing I pushed to make Cris B into a tries-too-hard doofus guy who really wants attention. I also tried to make MZZT into less of a generic guy and more of an unappreciated tech dude whose good work always seems to go unnoticed. I'm not on a mission to "fix" NeS, I just enjoy it more when the characters stand apart from one-another.

For the record, I'm not all "it has to be off the wall zany lolcodfishlol", I just think that for the most part the story works better when the characters actually do stuff, as opposed to planning to do stuff (some of the best writing in NeS is TLTE the writer's plotting posts regarding Thand) so I tend to write this way. Also, one of the problems I have with my writing is that I'll think of an ending to my current episode or whatever but not how I'm going to get there so I'll just kind of gloss over the parts I haven't really thought of yet. It's partly because of the sometimes rapid-fire nature of NeS that I want to make sure I get the good part that I've already come up with in but that's not much of an excuse.

[Gebohq]

For the record, I'm not all "it has to be off the wall zany lolcodfishlol"...
But...but... unlimited codfish (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=4#post251042)! :(

As for what you said about the characters you prefer to write for, I think that has a lot to do with wanting to write for flat(ter) characters, something I touched on in my thesis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551&styleid=15#post918229). I think Gebohq might actually have a strangely good balance of flat and rounded character depth for the NeS... but that might just be wishful thinking too.

[Tracer]

I don't understand what you mean, writing for flatter characters?

[Gebohq]

It's possible I may have misunderstood you, but in either case, it's a point to be made:

Flat characters (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlatCharacter) are usually characterized by one (or very few) simple traits. Krig (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250879), as you said, can often be shown to either just eat something, smash something, or something along those lines. You're not going to have Krig start questioning his own motives, or given some insight as to why he does little else but eat and smash, or given a situation where he would even think to do anything else. For the most part, the strength of the character of Krig relies on that simplicity. Flat(ter) characters are critical in oral storytelling, where complex development would not be remembered as easily (or not heard at all from a previous storytelling session), and they are still very useful in a story like the NeS, where similar situations can arise.

A rounded character (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoundedCharacter), on the other hand, has more complexity that can't be outlined like Krig's. The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882), for instance, started out as a more flat character (Soviet spy) and then developed into a more rounded character: his conflict between his desire to be a good guy or a bad guy, his love interest with Losien (and how that influences his friendships with Gebohq, for example), his affection for Amal, his hatred of magic-users, his inability to grow a good garden... It is this complexity that makes The Last True Evil an interesting character, especially if he is to serve the role of the Ultimate Villain.

There are plenty of characters in NeS who could stand to be written better, whether they be flat or rounded. If they're flatter, their engaging characteristic needs to carry the whole weight of its appeal. If they're rounder, their complexities need to work off each other so that the sum appeal is at least equal to that of its parts, if not more. Either way, all characters don't hurt from having at least a catchy tag or two as mentioned here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=25626#post991245) (I really need to finish that at some point), as well as have a good introduction and the like.

From what I gathered, you prefer to write for characters with more singular characteristics or "tags" (in the NeS) than ones that need to have their characteristics juggled with other characters and events in the story. Flatter characters also tend to lend themselves to comedies more, which is something the writers usually aim for in the NeS.

Does that clarify what I meant?

[Tracer]

Oh I see. And now on with the lenses!

[Gebohq]

Lens #17: The Lens of Pleasure

To use this lens, think about the kinds of pleasure your game does and does not provide. [Use this with the Lens of Infinite Inspiration for pleasures not commonly found in most games.] Ask yourself these questions:
What pleasures does the NeS give to players? Can these be improved?
What pleasures are missing from your experience? Why? Can they be added?
Some examples of types of pleasure, given in The Art of Game Design, include pleasure from sensation, fantasy (the imaginary world/imagination), narrative (drama), challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, submission (the act of entering the "magic circle" of a game), anticipation, delight in another's misfortune, gift giving, humor, possibility (potential), pride in an accomplishment, purification (think clearing lines in the game of Tetris), surprise, thrill (fear within safety), triumph over adversity (which can be a variant on challenge), and wonder (awe and amazement). The Bartle Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test) is a method of identifying four general player types by their primary pleasure in multiplayer games, and can be useful to examine the balance of a game's community. What I have just provided will be a root in analyzing the NeS with this particular lens.

Some pleasures mentioned above that the NeS provides are fantasy (a story world ruled by story conventions), narrative (at least I hope so for the readers!), challenge (for the writers to write with the previous posts), fellowship (the collaborative nature of writing), discovery (for the writers in writing posts spontaneously), expression (for the writers, by writing), anticipation (for that next post!), humor, possibility (where the story can go), and surprise (tied into discovery). Out of Bartle's Test, the NeS probably encourages the explorer type the most. In general, crafting engaging situations for both readers and writers will improve any of these: more specific ways to improve can be found in the previous lenses (as well as likely future ones).

Sensation is missing from the NeS because the written word only provides so much there (and is arguably the antithesis of fantasy/imagination). Delight in another's misfortune is missing (I hope, unless we're talking about misfortune writers inflict on their characters) as that would ruin the core experience for the writers. As for the others... I don't really have any significant thoughts on them one way or another, and I don't think it's necessary to add any of them into the NeS.

Admittedly, I'm not feeling as critical with this lens as I probably should. Care to do better? The pleasure is all yours (pun painfully intended). :)

[Gebohq]

Lens #18: The Lens of Flow

To use this lens, consider what is holding your player’s focus. Ask yourself these questions:
Does my game have clear goals? If not, how can I fix that?
Are the goals of the player the same goals I intended?
Are there parts of the game that distract players to the point they forget their goal? If so, can these distractions be reduced, or tied into the game goals?
Does my game provide a steady stream of not-too-easy, not-too-hard challenges, taking into account the fact that the player’s skills may be gradually improving?
Are the player’s skills improving at the rate I had hoped? If not, how can I change that?
If you're not familiar with the psychological theory of flow, the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29) summarizes it pretty well, and this graph (http://commadot.com/jquery/images/flow.png) displays ideal flow in an experience. Some major components of flow include: clear goals, concentration, direct and immediate feedback, continuous challenge, and a paradoxical feeling of personal control and loss of self-consciousness.

For this lens, I will be focusing on the 'players' as writers, as I do not believe readers can truly "achieve" goals in a work of fiction, only empathize with the goals of the characters. Applying this lens to the characters I don't believe is useful enough on its own and could actually mislead a writer from taking a better dramatic approach (even if flow bears resemblance to most dramatic arcs).

Does the NeS have clear goals? If not, how can I fix that?
The short: No. It could probably be fixed with communication and setting stronger, clearer examples.

The long: In general, the goals of the writers are to solve the problems, which in analyzing with Lens #12 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1078389#post1077567) I suggested were:
How do I approach the story presented in the previous posts in an engaging manner?
How can I help present problems for the characters that the readers can solve for themselves in an engaging manner?
I have not made this clear in the past to most writers joining in the past, instead having told them that they can pretty much just "write whatever" so long as it was "in the spirit of the NeS" which I suggested they would gather from reading the last page or so of the story. Even with veteran writers, I have only really ever implied through example and anecdotes, partly because I probably didn't think of an overall clear goal myself.

Goals become easier to define when attempting to write for specific story-arcs, or scenes within them. Perhaps the preference for "direction" over a "plan" for a story actually stems from wanting clear goals (but not predetermined outcomes). For instance, ruin the NeS (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=49690) is a very clear goal with a seemingly easy (yet actually very hard) challenge with no pre-determined outcome. On the other hand, the Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968) story-arc did not have a very clear goal for the writers (my aim in part was for satirizing role-playing games) and had a pre-determined outcome as well (the protagonists would succeed). As a side tangent, I do not regret pushing forward with the Story Arcade story arc, but there was a lot to be learned from it.

As for fixing the need for clearer goals, simply communicating with the writers on our goals so that we're on (mostly) the same page, and then actually following through with our goals through the posts we write, should fix this problem.

Are the goals of the player the same goals I intended?
I'm not sure. In general, I would say yes, though there have been times when the collaborative foundation of the NeS seems to be forgotten by a writer to pursue a more traditional writer's or game-player's goals, and as Al has mentioned, some of us also fall for self-indulgence that relate to neither good founded methods of writing or playing. As for specific goals, I think they often differ, again, mostly when the writer ignores (or is ignorant of) the goals of another.

Are there parts of the NeS that distract players to the point they forget their goal? If so, can these distractions be reduced, or tied into the goals in the NeS?
Unfortunately, the one thing that makes the NeS possible is also probably the largest culprit of distraction: the Internet and its ability to offer anonymity. Collaboration is more difficult when the writers live often hundreds of thousands of miles apart, and it takes more energy and time to collaborate online than it would in person. I have a feeling there are other components, possibly within the story itself, that could distract the writers from their goals, but I'm having a difficult time thinking of them right now. I'm not sure there is much that can be done to reduce or tie such things into the goals of the NeS either.

Does the NeS provide a steady stream of not-too-easy, not-too-hard challenges, taking into account the fact that the player’s skills may be gradually improving?
No. Since the NeS does not have an end (even the most massive of multiplayer online RPGs have a maximum character level and a finite number of quests), and since we depend on new writers all the time, crafting such a stream would be incredibly challenging at best, if not impossible. The NeS is heavily reliant on writers creating their own "flow stream" -- at least as of now -- and that makes it very easy for them to also not design a proper "flow stream" as well.

Are the player’s skills improving at the rate I had hoped? If not, how can I change that?
If we're to judge by the narrative contents within the NeS as a whole, I would say yes. This is difficult to determine, though, as many writers have joined and dropped throughout the course of its history. I would still say that most writers improve a great deal from when they start writing to whenever last they wrote, which I find to be encouraging.

[Gebohq]

Lens #19: The Lens of Needs

To use this lens, stop thinking about your game, and start thinking about what basic human needs it fulfills. Ask yourself these questions:
On which levels of Maslow’s hierarchy is my game operating?
How can I make my game fulfill more basic needs than it already is?
On the levels my game is currently operating, how can it fulfill those needs even better?
It sounds strange to talk about a game fulfilling basic human needs, but everything that people do is an attempt to fulfill these needs in some way. And keep in mind, some games fulfill needs better than others – your game can’t just promise the need, but must deliver on the fulfillment of the need. If a player imagines that playing your game is going to make them feel better about themselves, or get to know their friends better, and your game doesn’t deliver on these needs, your player will move on to a game that does.
For those of you unfamiliar with Maslow's hierarchy of need, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs) once again saves the day. It's certainly got its own flaws as a theory, but it's useful enough to analyze the NeS with it. The basic premise is that more base needs (such as food and shelter) need to be fulfilled before one can properly try to fulfill higher needs (such as the need for creative self-expression).

On which levels of Maslow’s hierarchy is the NeS operating?
The lowest level the NeS can operate for the writers is on the level of love and belonging (since the community is a fairly important aspect of the NeS), though it operates more on the level of esteem and especially in self-actualization (creativity and achievement in crafting story posts). For the readers, it can only hope to operate on the level of self-actualization, if any at all.

How can I make the NeS fulfill more basic needs than it already is?
Um... make it a job? Add some addictive substances to it? Yeah... probably not a good idea. Fiction and games should not operate on a level below love and belonging as far as I'm concerned.

On the levels the NeS is currently operating, how can it fulfill those needs even better?
Focusing more on the community (though I'm not sure how would be best). Reward people with praise for writing any posts, and especially what good stuff they write (unlike me -- bad me!). Reward attempts at creativity. I could provide more concrete ideas... but that would make too much sense.

Feel the need to interject? You know you do (if only to stop me from making bad puns). Comment, question, and criticize away!

[Gebohq]

Lens #20: The Lens of Judgment

To decide if your game is a good judge of the players, ask yourself these questions:
What does your game judge about the players?
How does it communicate this judgment?
Do players feel the judgment is fair?
Do they care about the judgment?
Does the judgment make them want to improve?
This is tied in part to the level of esteem in the previous lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1078729#post1078729), and is based on the assumption that people want to be judged (so long as it's judged fairly). I think this is true to a certain extent, though I think most people would still hope to hear positive judgment over even the smallest negative-yet-largely-constructively-critical judgment. After all, all of us get a little down when we hear it could have been judged more favorably. Still, this is again a useful lens to examine the NeS with, so examine I will.

What does your game judge about the players?
For the readers, not much more than their reading comprehension, imagination, and sometimes ability to think deeper. For the writers, it judges readability in their writing, ability to engage readers and writers (a catch-all for story-telling that includes humor and drama where applicable), improvisational skills in regards to writing, and a level of sociability with the other writers -- some of these which may be judged more from the writers themselves than the inherent structure of the story.

How does it communicate this judgment?
Within the story, any of the judgments applicable would be communicated through how the judged person's post is integrated into further posts. Material integrated significantly into the story appears to be judged more favorably, while material ignored or altered significantly appears to be judged less so. Most judgment (or lack thereof) is made outside the story, though, either through the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373) or through personal IMs, e-mails, or the like.

Do players feel the judgment is fair?
I don't know, and I'd be hard-pressed to venture a guess. I know I tend not to give enough feedback/judgment on people's posts (mostly because I don't wish to flood the workshop or their personal communication systems), and when I do, I tend to be be cold and overly-critical, which is also why I don't communicate my judgment often, saving them for only the people I have high regards and/or feel they can take it with a grain of salt. My judgment for pretty much any post (if not all posts) should always be assumed to at least say "a story post -- hooray!" regardless of quality.

Do they care about the judgment?
Often, at least when the judgment comes from me. Again, I'm hesitant to communicate my judgment because I feel it [i]shouldn't[/url] be dependent on me, but I'd find it difficult to think of a good alternative too.

Does the judgment make them want to improve?
I have a feeling it might. I'd like to think the NeS is a place where people can feel good about improving themselves, and not a place for either complacent or stressful writing.

Want to judge better yourself, or judge The Judge and the other NeS women in a beauty contest? Then comment, question, and criticize with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #21: The Lens of Functional Space

To use this lens, think about the space in which your game really takes place when all surface elements are stripped away. Ask yourself these questions:
Is the space of this game discrete or continuous?
How many dimensions does it have?
What are the boundaries of the space?
Are there sub-spaces? How are they connected?
Is there more than one useful way to abstractly model the space of this game?
Now we're starting to approach more lenses that will be intended more for games, especially with video games in mind. However, I'm going to press forth and do my best anyway, since I think they can provide some useful insight!

Is the space of the NeS discrete or continuous?
To give a simple example of what is meant by discrete and continuous, the space of tic-tac-toe is discrete, and the space on a pool table (in play) is continuous. Games can be analyzed as both types of spaces though.

As far as the NeS is concerned, I'm not sure. If we consider its space discrete, it is mostly linear (in that it's on a thread and written mostly in chronological order) and story segments are broken up by posts, with the 'space' in a post being largely like a square on a Monopoly board. If we consider its space continuous, we can note that there are few 'boundaries' in writing within the space of the NeS - at least in comparison to traditional stories and role-playing games, and especially if we view it from within the story world itself.

How many dimensions does it have?
It has zero dimensions, much like a game of 20 questions. It can be thought of as a one-dimensional space though (in its linear nature). Within the story...however many dimensions we want? I mean, there's an eighth dimension (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=2&pp=40#post250990) after all... :P

What are the boundaries of the space?
Typically, the boundaries are the thread which the story is written on, though it has sometimes expanded to the Interactive Story Board at large. Within the thread, boundaries further define who writes which posts. Within the context of the story, the boundaries are pretty loose, but I tend to encourage people to keep the characters on Earth, leaving the solar system a mostly-abandoned frontier and other dimensions a side venture.

Are there sub-spaces? How are they connected?
An example of sub-spaces can be found in most videogame RPGs, where you have an overworld map and then 'nested' spaces of towns and dungeons and such. I don't believe the NeS has any such spaces, in-story or out.

Is there more than one useful way to abstractly model the space of the NeS?
Possibly, but my imagination is not creative enough to think of other ways to abstractly model such ideas.

Please feel free to comment, question, criticize and have your own take at it.

[Gebohq]

Lens #22: The Lens of Dynamic State

To use this lens, think about what information changes during your game, and who is aware of it. Ask yourself these questions:
What are the objects in my game?
What are the attributes of the objects?
What are the possible states for each attribute? What triggers the state changes for each attribute?
What state is known by the game only?
What state is known by all the players?
What state is known by some, or only one player?
Would changing who knows what state improve my game in some way?
The objects and their attributes are described in The Art of Game Design as the nouns and their adjectives of a game. Objects in Super Mario Bros., for instance, would include Mario, enemies, power-ups, coins, etc. and their attributes would be things such as alive, dead, walking, obtained, and the like, with state changes being made by coming into contact with an object, waiting for the game timer to run out, and so on. It would take far too long to answer these questions in full for the NeS, so I will only be providing either very general answers or a couple, very specific examples.

What are the objects in the NeS?
Objects withinin the story itself include its large cast of characters (such as Gebohq (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post375230), The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882), Al Ciao (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1022639#post1022639), Rachel (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post891128), and Master Thand (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572894)), personal items they carry (such as the NeSword and an engagement ring), plotholes (which manifest literally as unstable sources of power and transportation), story conventions, and any number of random things. Outside the story-world, objects include the array of words in the English language for the writers (as well as their attributes, with their state changes being governed by its grammar).

What are the attributes of the objects?
Attributes can include behaviors and emotions for the characters as well as their roles in the story (protagonist, antagonist, good guy, bad guy, love interest, comic relief, serious relief). The attributes of story conventions vary immensely, thus making it an art form and challenge in itself to wield properly (resources such as TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage) show the immensity of the objects, attributes, and state changes that story conventions cover).

What are the possible states for each attribute? What triggers the state changes for each attribute?
State changes in the characters are determined by events in the story, who they interact with, what they interact with, how they interact with them, where and when they interact with them, why they interact with them... The Elements of Story (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373&page=28#post869671) I wrote up some time ago might be a good insight into the story's objects, attributes, and its state changes.

Rachel, for instance, serves to protect the story from turning too dull by creating conflict. If the side of Good seems to be too strong, she will act as an antagonist, and if the side of Evil seems to be too strong, she will act as a protagonist. She also has a love/hate relationship of sorts with Gebohq, so if harm comes his way, she will likely aim to defend him, but if he's doing well, she will likely aim to make his life difficult, and these things can work in concert or conflict with her other roles.

What state is known by the NeS only?
None. While the illusion may be present that the NeS has an autonomous nature to it, it can not act to move the story on its own.

What state is known by all the players?
Anything that has already been posted. Realistically, the further back into the story one goes, though, the less the average reader or writer will know of it. While the story is not hidden, its immense size makes it increasingly difficult to "know" all of its objects and the like.

What state is known by some, or only one player?
Pretty much anything that is not written yet. While we have the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373) to communicate our knowledge, writers are given the freedom to retain story ideas they wish to use for themselves (or only share with a few other writers through private messages). This is especially true when a writer creates story material on the spot, so that they themselves do not know what "state" in the story they're in until they write it (which adds to the illusion that the NeS itself has knowledge only it knows, as it feels like the writer is "drawing" from it like some sculptors claim to feel when carving a scultpure).

Would changing who knows what state improve the NeS in some way?
Not really. While I am a strong advocate that the writers should make as much of their story ideas public among other writers as they can. Even I though realize the merit of keeping some ideas to themselves, so as to add to the illusion of the automatism of the NeS as well as to have one's cake (to be a reader unaware of what the future of the story holds) and eat it too (to be a writer for it and have some idea where it will go). Still, I believe that a story should be able to stand strong even when its "mystery" from a first reading is gone, so I err on the side of public knowledge of the "states" in the story for the writers. The current knowledge of the story's state for the readers should remain the same, if not hidden even more (which I'm hoping a wiki resource will make possible).

[Gebohq]

Lens #23: The Lens of Emergence

To make sure your game has interesting qualities of emergence, ask yourself these questions:
How many verbs do my players have?
How many objects can each verb act on?
How many ways can players achieve their goals?
How many subjects do the players control?
How do side effects change constraints?
This lens, and the next lens, are tied together, as they both involve actions, which the author of The Art of Game Design sometimes calls "verbs" (partly in relation to the previous lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1079160#post1079160) which involves objects). Actions in a game are critical (as I will talk about more in the next lens), and they are a means of encouraging emergence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence).

Some methods of encouraging emergent behavior are as follows: having a large number of meaningful resultant (effect-oriented) actions in proportion to operation-oriented actions, adding more "verbs" (operative actions), adding "verbs" that can act on many objects, goals that can be achieved in more than one way, having a number of subjects/objects, and having actions with side-effects that change the constraints of the game. These are not solutions in themselves, but only tools to grow emergence like a garden.

How many verbs do my players have?
For the readers, only the perceived actions of the characters. For the writers, there would seem to be as nearly infinite as there are literally verbs in the English language. However, a simplified method could also be considered in relation to the problem statements mentioned in Lens #12 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1079160#post1077567). In no particular order, a writer may at any time when writing their post take the following general actions:
add more conflict
resolve a conflict
add more comedy or drama
make a character rounder or flatter
How many objects can each verb act on?
Any of the above can act on the vast variety of objects that are in the NeS. One small addition of conflict can provide the story with a great deal of perceived life of its own.

How many ways can players achieve their goals?
Again, a virtually infinite number of ways are possible for writers to achieve their goal. Even the reader has a similar potential for following the perceived actions of the characters.

How many subjects do the players control?
Once more, they have a large pool of subjects that they can control, though they usually prefer to focus on one (or a few) that are "theirs" -- a notion I do my best to discourage. Control is made possible through collaboration, which is a concept I think is not only critical to the NeS, but a rarely-tapped possibility in games themselves, especially the role-playing kind.

How do side effects change constraints?
This is assuming that the NeS has constraints... Let's first try to figure out which constraints the writers may have:
They must obey the forum rules (ex. no foul language)
They should be cooperative and respectful to the other readers (where applicable) and writers
They should write material that is enjoyable/engaging for other readers and writers
They are encouraged to write in a script format
They are encouraged to write in the present tense
With that in mind, adding conflict may push the boundaries of rules such as no foul language, resolving conflicts may cause (intentional or accidental) disrespect or disinterest with regarding another person, and adding comedy may play with the structure of the present-tense, script format.

All in all, though, what this lens tells me is that there is too much, which the author of The Art of Game Design points out risks being "bloated, confusing, and inelegant" -- especially when these elements are not meaningful. A possible solution to this is to encourage the writers to work more with different angles on what has already been established (characters and their established behaviors, objects, goals, etc.) instead of crafting with new actions and objects, and to keep the "verbs" as tight and simple as possible.

[Gebohq]

Lens #24: The Lens of Action

To use this lens, think about what your players can do and what they can’t, and why. Ask yourself these questions:
What are the operational actions in my game?
What are the resultant actions?
What resultant actions would I like to see? How can I change my game in order to make those possible?
Am I happy with the ratio of resultant to operational actions?
What actions do players wish they could do in my game that they cannot? Can I somehow enable these, either as operational or resultant actions?
Action, as presented by Alexander Galloway in Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/G/galloway_gaming.html), is what defines games as a medium. It is the crux of meaningful play (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaningful_play), and I would argue, a pivotal element of communication and life. While the NeS is not a game, it is hard to overstate the value of examining it through this lens.

What are the operational actions in the NeS?
Operational actions are the "verbs" discussed about in the previous lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079342), and can be thought of as the active, direct actions taken. Sometimes it can be difficult to separate operational from resultant, as good operational and resultant actions are often symbiotic with each other. Let's try to answer this with a more concrete example -- I'll use TLTE's last story post (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=29#post1067088) as it's one of the later, shorter posts to work with easily enough. (Hope you don't mind me picking this post apart like this, TLTE -- Al's posts are too long for my needs here.)

Operational actions that appear to have been taken by TLTE as a writer include: continuing conflict between TLTE [the character] and Krig, resolving the [temporary] conflict of Master Thand standing in the ways of the protagonists, adding a potential conflict for the protagonists involving future traps.

What are the resultant actions?
Resultant actions can be thought of as the more passive, indirect actions that arise from the operational actions. Again, let's use the story post used in the previous question as an example:

Resultant actions that appear to arise from what TLTE the writer wrote: a potential increase in future animosity between TLTE and Krig, Thand [within the post] steps away as an active antagonist, adding a potential conflict for the protagonists involving future traps, and giving the writers an option for direction .

[b]What resultant actions would I like to see? How can I change the NeS in order to make those possible?
Again, let's use the example story post.

Resultant actions I would like to see are any that encourage further potential conflict and engagement with the readers and writers. In TLTE's post, having Thand shift back to a less-active antagonist is a lot like using the passive voice: it makes resultant actions fewer and weaker. Admittedly, in this case, the previous elements set up made doing otherwise very difficult ( (1)Thand had previously seemed to manipulate the situation into an no-win situation in his favor (he "actively" withdrew from being an antagonist altogether, literally killing the conflict and the NeS as a result, and the hint that Thand's manipulation 'failed' with Krig creating conflict with TLTE was lost on most of us and (2) Thand by his character is generally aloof and prefers not to play such active roles). The post also ended with providing boats for the protagonist, requiring the other writers to add conflict of their own instead of working off a continued string of operational-resultant conflict.

I don't think there's anything in the NeS that should be changed for a couple reasons. One, what resultant actions I think should be in NeS might not necessarily be what other writers feel should be in the NeS, or even what's best for it (if not synonymous). Two, trying to place any sort of "rules" to stimulate certain resultant actions could be tricky at the least, and I'm not just talking about written "laws" but even encouraging 'unwritten' kind or the like, as I believe they could easily be taken in a bad direction.

Am I happy with the ratio of resultant to operational actions?
It depends from post to post. On the whole, though, I would say that the NeS encourages the opportunities for a good ratio (that is, many resultant actions for each operational action), and I think there have been a lot of story posts that manage to capture this. Still, happy is not the same as content; I am happy that the ratio is good, but I am not content enough to think it can't still be significantly improved. I'm hoping this exercise in each analysis I perform can help with that, with myself as well as others.

What actions do players wish they could do in the NeS that they cannot? Can I somehow enable these, either as operational or resultant actions?
Good question -- I'm not sure. I think, as with the previous lens, that our problem may be too much freedom (and thus less from being overwhelmed) in our actions, or perhaps just focus on which actions work better for the NeS in general than others -- strategies, if you will.

Think I'm going off the deep end with my confusing rambling? I wouldn't blame you if you did! So please question, comment, and criticize anything I've said, as well as make your own attempt at analyzing with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #25: The Lens of Goals

To ensure the goals of your game are appropriate and well-balanced, ask yourself these questions:
What is the ultimate goal in my game?
Is that goal clear to players?
If there is a series of goals, do the players understand that?
Are the different goals related to each other in a meaningful way?
Are my goals concrete, achievable, and rewarding?
Do I have a good balance of short-term and long-term goals?
Do players have a chance to decide their own goals?
This lens is likely to overlap heavily with the previous lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1079561#post1079561) and the the lens of the problem statement (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1079561#post1077567), and I'm sure I could do more to better analyze with each lens more distinctively. With that disclaimer out of the way...

What is the ultimate goal in the NeS?
For the readers, their goal is simply to discover how the NeS unfolds, how the characters solve conflicts they find themselves in, and to think about the implications that can be found.

For the writers, their goal is also to help design the experience (second-hand, mind you -- we don't design the experiences themselves) for the readers (and, like a tour guide, can either guide them through the familiar, like in genre work, or through things more unfamiliar, like in 'straight' fiction). Unlike most traditional writers, the ultimate goal must also be accomplished in collaboration with other writers as well, and in a manner familiar mostly only to improvisational actors.

Is that goal clear to players?
For the readers, I would hope so. For the writers, I'm not so sure. In the past, I've told them the goal was "to have fun" which, while still very important, I'm not sure I would say is the ultimate goal. Having fun should be caused by well-designed goals, actions, and the like, not ultimately be the goals, actions, and the like themselves. Hopefully, these lenses will make the goal clearer to others -- which isn't to say that it's even clear enough now. These sort of things are really the parts I'm hoping other writers will chime in on and work collaboratively with me on defining.

If there is a series of goals, do the players understand that?
For the writers, I think they understand that there is a series of goals, if only because of the structure of "posts on a thread." There is the following:

Ultimate Goal: craft the story as a whole in a collaborative, engaging manner for both readers and writers.
Goal Per Thread: Perhaps least thought of, but crafting on a scale per thread (ex. just NeSquared (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372) as a story of its own instead of in a larger continuation with the original NeS thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360)).
Goal Per Story-Arc: Similar, but on a smaller scale.
Goal Per Post: Similar again, but on a post-by-previous-post basis.
Goal Per Moment: Similar once again, but on a moment-by-moment basis, where each line a character says or action they take has an immediate goal in mind.

There are also actions that serves as goals: make the story more comedic, make the story more dramatic, create more conflicts, and resolve existing conflicts.

Are the different goals related to each other in a meaningful way?
Yes, I would hope so. I think the nature of the NeS being a story helps with that, no matter how much absurdity there is, how many plotholes crop up, or how often actions are not taken to their best potential.

Are my goals concrete, achievable, and rewarding?
Concrete: Probably could stand to be moreso, even after using this lens. The best (or at least simplest) way would be to use the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373) (or perhaps a wiki-type site) as a place to post our analysis of each post as well as define concrete goals on the two smallest scales and possibilities on how to solve them. This runs the problem of 1) the NeS being 'too much work' though, 2) slowing down the NeS too much (though honestly, I don't think it could get much slower right now) and 3) facing the stigma of 'too many posts in the workshop thread'.

Achievable: They are very much achievable on the smaller scales, and also provide more challenge on the higher scales (through sheer amount of material) as well as the whole 'easy to learn, hard to master' nature of the NeS.

Rewarding: Yes, so long as feedback is given (through future story posts and out-of-story conversation), which admittedly I've not done as much as I should. Again, the workshop could be a place for out-of-story feedback more, and trying to advertise the story more in general (though such success would depend a great deal on writers focusing more on the readers and not just to themselves or even each other).

Do I have a good balance of short-term and long-term goals?
I think so. I think short-term could always be encouraged more, as well as being able to step back and 'look at the big picture' on a foundational level from time to time. Analyzing with these lenses is helping me in part to do the latter, as has re-reading the whole of the NeS from time to time (which I am overdue for doing).

Do players have a chance to decide their own goals?
Most certainly on the smaller scales, which in turn, shape the goals on the larger scales. Admittedly, though I've hampered these chances in the past with story-arcs such as Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968), which, while I don't regret having done, reminds me of the importance of the democratic collaboration needed to successfully craft for the NeS and not to have a "game master" or "lead writer" or "tyrant with an iron fist"...

Help me out, people! Post your comments, questions, criticisms, and your own analysis with this lens, please!

[Gebohq]

Lens #26: The Lens of Rules

To use this lens, look deep into your game, until you can make out its most basic structure. [While rules are a critical component of a game, a designer should avoid starting with a creation of rules to make a game, but instead make a game and build the rules to support it.] Ask yourself these questions:
What are the foundational rules of my game? How do these differ from the operational rules?
Are there “laws” or “house rules” that are forming as the game develops? Should these be incorporated into my game directly?
Are there different modes in my game? Do these modes make things simpler, or more complex? Would the game be better with fewer modes? More modes?
Who enforces these rules?
Are the rules easy to understand, or is there confusion about them? If there is confusion, should I fix it by changing the rules or by explaining them more clearly?
As some of you might imagine, analyzing with this lens will be a bit tricky.

The foundational rules are the "implicit, theoretical basis of the game" or the "underlying formal structure of the game" -- something like a mathematical model. If such a model for the NeS could be made, I'm pretty sure the person who made it should be trying to cure cancer instead. Still, one foundational rule for the NeS might be something like "the current writer's engagement with another writer raises the more material the current writer includes from the other writer's material." Operational rules -- which are simply "what do the players do to play the game?" -- differ in the NeS from its foundational rules in that the NeS is shaped far more by its behavioral rules (which develop into "laws" and "house rules") than its foundational ones, if any at all.

Behavioral rules are the equivalent of "good sportsmanship." In the NeS, things like writing in a similar style to previous posts, not ignoring other people's material, and the like are the closest the NeS has had to 'rules' as I see it. While there are no "laws" (sportsmanship explicitly made into written rules), there are certainly 'house rules' (or rather, rules not as unanimous among all the writers). Such 'house rules' might include not posting multiple times in a row, not writing with copyrighted material, ignoring plot points that might make it less fun to write, and so on. While some behavioral rules may benefit from being more incorporated into the NeS, I'd be hesitant to implement even too much of those as "rules of NeS" much less ones not embraced by a majority.

Modes are essentially different rule sets and sub-sets within a game, such as a free-shot throw in basketball or taking up target practice in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In the NeS, there can be different "modes" on a smaller scale of post-by-post basis depending on what the story calls for at the time -- the "meanwhile" moments may capture in part the idea of different modes in the NeS (though I would urge everyone not to think of modes in NeS as solely parallel storyarcs). On the whole, I feel any modes the NeS uses probably make it simpler (to write for at least), though I would probably err for it to have less modes over more, since I feel the usual problem with the NeS is having too much and not too little.

Any rules that are in the NeS are, unfortunately, probably enforced mostly by me. I say unfortunately because, if any rules are to be enforced, I feel it should be as democratic as possible, and I'm not even a fan of "democratically deciding I should be supreme judge" -- at least in the current state of the NeS.

I think if there's confusion about the "rules" of the NeS, it's that there are "no rules" (or more accurately, few rules, and not the ones people usually expect, and certainly not ones to keep people from "messing up the story"). Still, such "rules" could be better explained, especially for potential new writers, to give them as much guidance as possible.

[Tracer]

For me the only rules are to go with the flow of what's been written and try to keep my posts consistent with the spirit of the story. For example one time I killed off the character blujay which Geb promptly undid in the next post, but he did it in a way that was kind of funny so it wasn't a problem at all - it was great. edit - This is actually one of the things that I enjoy about NeS, because although good ideas can come from me better ideas can come from other people. The other posts often give me new ideas for the story which is why I love it when the other writers get directly involved with the same characters I'm writing for.

I think the key to both of those rules is just keeping up with the research, making sure that I know what other writers have written so I don't directly contradict and invalidate what they wrote. Although sometimes these plotholes can actually help the story along - I remember Krig had a hilarious continuity post when the TACC side-story got pasted in to the main thread.

One of my worst moments for following my own rules was during the dreamstate arc. I had been taking a break from posting then decided one day to drop back in and make a game-changing post. It was a dumb move.

[Gebohq]

Lens #27: The Lens of Skill

To use this lens, stop looking at your game, and start looking at the skills you are asking of your players. [This works well with the Lens of Essential Experience.] Ask yourself these questions:
What skills does my game require from the player?
Are there categories of skill that this game is missing?
Which skills are dominant?
Are these skills creating the experience I want?
Are some players much better at these skills than others? Does this make the game feel unfair?
Can players improve their skills with practice?
Does this game demand the right level of skill?
Skills that the NeS requires include: basic competency in English reading and writing, enough computer skills to type and posting on a message board, ability to work with others, ability to improvise -- all of which are either mental or social skills, requiring few physical skills of any sort. Of these skills, the dominant ones (or at least the ones that define a "good NeS writer" tend to be the ability to collaborate and improvise. I don't feel any of these skills are directly helping to evoke the experiences I listed from Lens #1 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1079926#post1075684), but I do think they are crucial to make the experience of a "living story" possible.

There are certainly some writers who are more skilled in these regards than others, but I don't feel their skill make participation for the less skilled feel "unfair." At most, less skilled writers (or almost always rathered perceived less skilled writers) feel that they will somehow ruin things if they participate. They most certainly can improve their skills with practice, and the NeS I feel demands the right level of skill for the few skills it does demand.

[Voodoosnowflake]

Still working on catching up on your posts Geb.

Influence: I know now that the posts that I did make had tons of influence from personal real life stuff. I did intend to base some things off of stuff in my life into what I wrote but more of me came out in the writing than I thought I was putting out there. An example of something from the real life me that I didn't realize I put in was how I just really really don't like to be abandoned.

other influences of course from Movies and such. and from the interactivity, influence came from other writers

[Gebohq]

Lens #28: The Lens of Expected Value

To use this lens, think about the chance of different events occurring in your game, and what those mean to your player. [Attempting to assign value to even the unquantifiable.] Ask yourself these questions:
What is the actual chance of a certain event occurring?
What is the perceived chance?
What value does the outcome of that event have? Can the value be quantified? Are there intangible aspects of value that I am not considering?
Each action a player can take has a different expected value when I add up all the possible outcomes. Am I happy with these values? Do they give the player interesting choices? Are they too rewarding, or too punishing?
I'm afraid attempting to analyze the NeS with this lens might not be very useful, but I'll tinker with it all the same.

Within the story, the actual chance of any event happening is pretty high, for better and for worse, though it may not be quite as high as the perceived chance. Despite the possibilities present -- certainly ones more likely than in many other forms of entertainment -- the probability that the story will have a post next involving a copy-and-paste job from CNN.com is lower than having the characters press forth on their current quest. Of course, now that I said that, the probability of the former now skyrocketed like some cruel observation effect. As for outside the story, I'm sure there could be some very interesting patterns to discover if I were to break down the rate of posts over time by each writer and compare them to the content in the posts, but that's a text-study I'm not going to indulge in anytime soon. Besides, I'm fairly certain it would point to things like "people write less over time," "people write less towards the end of a story-arc," and "people write less when their material isn't being collaborated on."

As for assigning values to the actions that can be taken in the NeS, I don't think I could even begin to take a stab at that with even small example slices. I would say though that, on a whole, actions taken only have value when they are engaging, whether that be between characters and their behaviors, with the reader and their attention, or with other writers and collaboration. I think that there are too many actions to take, and not enough incentive to engage on any of these levels (not to underestimate the joy of simply writing, but participating in the NeS on even the smallest amount takes significant time and effort, which should also not be underestimated). I still don't know how best to solve these issues yet, but perhaps simply presenting the issues will have others help to solve the problem.

Thanks Tracer and Voodoo for continuing to post your thoughts, and as I said before, I'll try to respond more in full after I'm done all these. Don't let that from stopping the rest of you from posting your own comments, questions, criticisms and stabs at these lenses yourself!

[Ping_Me]

I find myself reading the Lens entries and wishing more video game companies applied them to their games.

[Gebohq]

Well, giving companies the benefit of the doubt, I do have a lot of advantages going for me: no timetable imposed by someone else, no dependency on money and resources, and not yet trying (nevermind with success) to apply each analysis in improving the NeS (though I hope to do so!), just to name a few. But yes, I do believe strongly that game design -- the design of game play and the experiences it evokes -- might be overlooked by some as they emulate movies, or previous game genres, or questionable commercial campaigns, all of which I wish I was better able to explore more in the story-arcs The Campaign: Without Credit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939188) and Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968). These trends are certainly nothing new, but as games are rising from ancient traditions and into a more recognized medium, how the future of the medium's impact unfolds will be dependent on the games being made of our generation.

I'm also so insane as to think that the NeS as a whole could be the Holy Grail of storytelling and gaming traditions compounded. Pardon me now as I run off to attack a windmill... (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DonQuixote)

[Gebohq]

Lens #29: The Lens of Chance

To use this lens, focus on the parts of your game that involve randomness and risk, keeping in mind that those two things are not the same. [Be sure to use randomness and risk enough to keep the game from being bland but not so much as to overwhelm everything else.] Ask yourself these questions:
What in my game is truly random? What parts just feel random?
Does the randomness give the players positive feelings of excitement and challenge, or does it give them negative feelings of hopelessness and lack of control?
Would changing my probability distribution curves improve my game?
Do players have the opportunity to take interesting risks in the game?
What is the relationship between chance and skill in my game? Are there ways I can make random elements feel more like the exercise of a skill? Are there ways I can make exercising skills feel more like risk-taking?
There is nothing truly random in the NeS, because everything in the NeS is created by purpose from at least one writer at any given time. Even if said writer creates something spontaneously, they're aware of what's in the text field before they click the "submit reply" button and have the choice to alter it if they wish. On the other hand, lots of the NeS feels random, especially when a writer other than yourself comes out of left field in their content. It's part of that perception that helps with Lens #2: The Lens of Surprise (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075874).

I would say the [perceived] randomness gives others both the sense of excitement (though not necessarily challenge, even though it could) and lack of control (but not necessarily hopelessness, though again, it could), so it dances the line in this case, leaning towards the positive for those familiar with the NeS and probably negative for those not familiar with the NeS. I don't have the slightest idea how the probability distribution curves could be graphed for the NeS or if any changes to it would improve the NeS.

I'm not sure about the readers, but I'm fairly certain the writers are given plenty of opportunities to take interesting risks with the NeS -- I sometimes tell potential writers that there is a (good) challenge and risk-factor to be had in the collaborative nature of writing for the NeS.

As for chance in NeS as it relates to the skills (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1080051) needed, I would say that the skills are all about adapting to the [perceived] chance in the NeS (collaboration and improvisation). The skills needed inherently require a level of risk-taking, though there's probably not much that can be done to make random elements feel more like the exercise of a skill.

Take a chance and post your own comments, questions, criticisms, and attempts at analyzing the NeS yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #30: The Lens of Fairness

To use the Lens of Fairness, think carefully about the game from each player’s point of view. Taking into account each player’s skill level, find a way to give each player a chance of winning that each will consider to be fair. Ask yourself these questions:
Should my game be symmetrical? Should it be asymmetrical? Why?
Which is more important: that my game is a reliable measure of who has the most skill, or that it provide an interesting challenge to all players?
If I want players of different skill levels to play together, what means will I use to make the game interesting and challenging for everyone?
Among the writers, the NeS is symmetrical in what "advantage" it gives for them -- a less-skilled or less-knowledgeable writer has it no worse off than anyone else, at least in comparison to most traditional storytelling and gaming contexts. It should remain this way so as to foster collaboration as much as possible. If we're to compare writers versus the readers, then it's asymmetrical, and again, it should remain this way, as readers expect to "surrender" into the world crafted by the writers. With the line between reader and writer blurred, it's somewhat of a moot point.

It is definitely far more important that the NeS provides a challenge to all players rather than act as a measure of who has the most skill because, once again, collaboration depends on it. Besides the inherent nature of collaboration (hopefully) being a means in itself to bring people of varying skills together, I also hope to have a wiki-type resource up to diminish the bridge in knowledge that often separates "good" NeS writers from the "bad" ones (the quotes are to emphasis the perception, as I believe that such lack of knowledge is only a hindrance in their confidence, not their actual ability to write good posts).

Think I'm being unfair? Comment, question, criticize, and post your own thoughts on fairness in the NeS!

[Gebohq]

Lens #31: The Lens of Challenge

Challenge is at the core of almost all gameplay. You could even say that a game is defined by its goals and its challenges. When examining the challenges in your game, ask yourself these questions:
What are the challenges in my game?
Are they too easy, too hard, or just right?
Can my challenges accommodate a wide variety of skill levels?
How does the level of a challenge increase as the player succeeds?
Is there enough variety in the challenges?
What is the maximum level of challenge in my game?
Since I believe challenges (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551#post921370) are a core component of the NeS, we'll keep an eye out with this lens.

Challenges in the NeS include: engaging the readers and writers, as well as attempting to incorporate "challenges" set by the other writers (whether intentionally or not). I'd like to think they're "just right" but, honestly, they're far more likely on the too hard side. Despite this, I think challenges mostly accommodate for a wide variety of skill levels, though that also mostly depends on the writer setting their own drives. The challenge rises in the same way that most any art form does; the more skilled and knowledgeable you become, the more you find you can still master. I think variety in challenges are present well enough in the changing story as well as the numerous writers to present said challenges.

As for what the ultimate challenge in the NeS is... I'm not sure even I know that. Persistence, perhaps?

Are you asking for a challenge?! Then comment, question, criticize, and find challenges in the NeS yourself...unless you're too chicken!

[Gebohq]

Lens #32: The Lens of Meaningful Choices

When we make meaningful choices, it lets us feel like the things we do matter. To use this lens, ask yourself these questions:
What choices am I asking the player to make?
Are there meaningful? How?
Am I giving the player the right number of choices? Would more make them feel more powerful? Would less make the game clearer?
Are there any dominant strategies in my game?
Meaningful choices are similar enough to meaningful play, which I talked about back on Lens #24 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079561), and some of the problems I'll mention here I've already brought up in previous parts, such as back on Lens #23 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079561). Once again, choices as they apply to the reader are more about empathizing with choices made by the characters than anything else. They're important too, but I'll be focusing more on the writers in this case.

Out of story, the choices I'm asking the writers to make can pretty much boil down to "can I write something [engaging/at all], perhaps in response to a/the previous post?" If they feel they can't, they hold off, and if they feel they can, they'll post something. All the other choices are pretty much sub-sets of that one: can I work with the last post, can I work with something that came before that, can I think of something entirely new, do I want to make it more comedic, do I want to make it more dramatic, do I want to resolve the current conflict, do I want to complicate the current conflict, and so on. The choices of the characters are far and wide and are tailored on a case-by-case basis. I would hope that any choices made, by writers or characters, are meaningful, but as "designers" as well as "players" in the NeS, those choices are highly dependent on themselves to create and confront. With little restrictions, choices are admittedly difficult to be made meaningful.

The balance between choices and desires is a similar one to that between challenge and skill mentioned in Lens #18 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078564) -- if there's more choices than desires, it becomes overwhelming, and if there's more desires than choices, it becomes frustrating. Whether the writers (and characters) have the right number of choices depends a lot on the number of their desires, and I'm honestly not sure what the desires of the writers are. For me, discovering a story (as sculptors sometimes claim to discover their sculpture), achieving a higher skill of writing, and socializing with other readers and writers (hopefully capturing their interest as well) are all primary desires. Going by this, perhaps there are not enough 'choices' for socializing, but I think there is otherwise a fairly good balance. As for the characters, I always feels that the choices presented to them can stand to be trimmed heavily, so as to be made clearer, though the NeS is a fairly unruly beast, and previous attempts to do so have only been met with mild success at best.

For the writers, the closest I can think of to possible "dominant strategies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_strategy)" are when a story-arc begins (where they have the most freedom to set up a conflict) and when a story-arc draws to a close (where their story content can have the most impact in the climax). Both assume that they have something in mind, though, and posts in the "middle" tend not to seem to have the same weight. This could possibly be reduced by focusing the meaningful choices, challenges, and the like, in a more fractal structure, so that even the smallest, most immediate moment can stand on its own as well as reflect and strengthen the bigger picture. Motifs (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Motifs) may help, though I'm sure there are other methods to help as well.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze yourself with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #33: The Lens of Triangularity

Giving a player the choice to play it safe for a low reward, or take a risk for a big reward is a great way to make your game interesting and exciting. To use the Lens of Triangularity, ask yourself these questions:
Do I have triangularity now? If not, how can I get it?
Is my attempt at triangularity balanced? That is, are the rewards commensurate with the risks?
I'm not sure if there's anything like this present for the writers, unless the "risks" of more unusual/dramatic/etc. story content, which might be proportional to the "rewards" of seeing how said story content unfolds, counts. If that's the case, I'm not sure how well it's structured or if it could really be improved.

However, as for the readers, triangularity can certainly be replicated through the conflicts confronted by the characters. Unfortunately, I can't recall any moments in the story that have presented a situation with this structure, but it would be simple enough to do, and it'd probably be rather effective to boot. For instance, in the current storyarc In Search of Opportunity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639), Gebohq and the others could come across a fork, with one leading towards a treasure chest full of gold guarded by a rabid squirrel and the other leading towards the Holy Grail guarded by a dragon. Granted, the risks and rewards would also be tailored to the NeS style, so the rabid squirrel may in fact be far riskier to confront, for example. Whether future attempts at this choice structure will be balanced will be dependent on a case-by-case basis.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze yourself with this lens.

[Gebohq]

Lens #34: The Lens of Skill vs. Chance

To help determine how to balance skill and chance in your game, ask yourself these questions:
Are my players here to be judged (skill), or to take risks (chance)?
Skill tends to be more serious than chance: Is my game serious or casual?
Are parts of my game tedious? If so, will adding elements of chance enliven them?
Do parts of my game feel too random? If so, will replacing elements of chance with elements of skill or strategy make the players feel more in control?
This is probably best used with Lens #29: The Lens of Chance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1081109#post1080427) and Lens #27: The Lens of Skill (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1080051). Go figure, huh?

I would certainly hope that the NeS is more about taking risks (though risk-taking is a skill too) than to be judged, though it would be foolish to say that being judged by one's skill isn't a factor at all. This is certainly the case because the NeS is more casual than serious.

Even at its height of participation, the NeS is generally slower-paced, and can feel a bit tedious when stuck in the mire of the middle of a story-arc, but trying to add even more elements of chance to the NeS would not make it less so as there is already a lot of chance emphasized in the NeS and more would likely just add more confusion and lack of control. If anything, there are likely times where it feels too random, and emphasizing the skills of collaboration and improvisation would likely be a very strong step in the right direction to make it feel less random. Mentioning the skills of traditional writing could help too, but I'd be very careful to emphasis the importance of improvement and using them in conjunction with collaboration and improvisation over just being a good traditional writer above all else.

[Gebohq]

Lens #35: The Lens of Head and Hands

To make sure your game has a good balance of mental and physical elements, use this lens [especially in conjunction with Lens #16: Lens of the Player (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1075314#post1078260)] and ask yourself these questions:
Are my players looking for mindless action, or an intellectual challenge?
Would adding more places that involve puzzle-solving in my game make it more interesting?
Are there places where the player can relax their brain, and just play the game without thinking?
Can I give the player a choice – either succeed by exercising a high level of dexterity, or by finding a clever strategy that works with a minimum of physical skill?
If “1” means all physical, and “10” means all mental, what number would my game get?
Note that this lens assumes more of an application towards action rather than content, but I will be analyzing with this lens aimed more towards the latter.

Whether the readers and writers are looking for mindless action or intellectual challenge is up in the air as I see it. For the readers, I couldn't tell you with much certainty, though I doubt it is at either extreme, and it likely leans more towards the former than the latter. For the writers, I've found it varies, as people like Semievil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=1209) would go into the negative on the mindless extreme (a trend I'm sure appears often in those burdened with a lot of work and stress on the mind) and people like The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=2977) (correct me if I'm wrong) find it more difficult to craft anything other than something intellectually challenging. It's funny, because the two of them certainly have a strong potential to craft on the opposite ends, and I just think it goes to show that the NeS is the place to do the impossible and be on both ends at the same time. All things considered, though, intellectual challenge in the NeS should not come at the cost of mindless action, and I think both readers and writers would at least agree to that much.

Adding puzzle-solving elements would almost certainly be detrimental to the NeS, as (which will be mentioned in a future lens) puzzles are about finding the dominant strategy to use -- there is almost always only one or few methods to solving a problem, which would stifle the NeS. Adding intellectual challenge in NeS would have to go the route of subtext, food for thought, and more passive, layered approaches (all of which would be geared more towards the reader than the writer, as the writer has enough mental challenges to deal with in writing).

There are certainly places for both readers and writers to relax their brain and participate in the NeS without thinking. Some might even criticize the NeS for having any places where they CAN'T do that, though I would argue that, at the very least, contrast is needed to keep the NeS engaging. Still, writers must be mindful to not discourage its more mindless side, least it turn for the worse into poor melodrama and unbearable weight. I know I can be guilty of this at times.

I'd like to think the choice is always there, for readers and writers, between opting for mindless or mindful--er--mind-more? Historically, this has usually been the case with parallel story-lines in a story-arc: one will be more mindless while the other more of an intellectual challenge. While parallel stories have been favored in the past, I think the NeS could probably do better to try and merge the two together, so that a story-arc could be read as BOTH mindless and intellectually challenging. Managing to pull that off, admittedly, is more difficult, but would be better for the readers.

Even on its most mindless of times, I wouldn't mark the NeS as anything lower than a 3, if for no other reason than because there's a lot that goes on (despite our best efforts to trim the story) and it still demands even the most non-committal of writers to exercise their skills of cooperation and improvisation. On the other hand, even on its most intellectually-challenging of times (when done successfully), I would not mark it any higher than a 9, since there is such a strong emphasis placed on the NeS being "fun" (implying, among other things, that it is not too mentally taxing) and provide a number of core characteristics to encourage this, such as downplaying traditional writing skills in plot-crafting (though I would argue that it is very easy to make participating in the NeS a highly intellectually challenging task even when attempting to be 'mindless'). On average, though, I would say that the NeS as a whole is about a 6, and that most readers and writers would probably prefer it be a 5 or 4.

Want to get your head into this and your hands dirty? Then please question, comment, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #36: The Lens of Competition

Determining who is most skilled at something is a basic human urge. Games of competition can satisfy that urge. Use this lens to be sure your competitive game makes people want to win it. Ask yourself these questions:
Does my game give a fair measurement of player skill?
Do people want to win my game? Why?
Is winning this game something people can be proud of? Why?
Can novices meaningfully compete at my game? Can experts?
Can experts generally be sure they will defeat novices?
I'm not really sure the NeS has much in the way of competition, which is probably for the best, but we'll take a stab at this anyway.

I don't think the NeS gives any "assessment" of the skills of the reader or writer, but if we're to consider the feedback from others and integration into future story posts, I'd say it does a fairly good job of assessment considering how dependent such assessments are by a sort of unspoken honor code. I don't think the NeS has any sort of "win" condition either (this is a condition that even role-playing games are said to be missing, and those games are the closest NeS comes to a game), but if we're to assume "winning" means reading and writing a post that is engaging, I would think they'd want to "win" then for any number of reasons (though judgment is the first that springs to mind) and gives them a sense of pride in the way crafting anything (especially entertainment) does.

I think novices and experts can certainly "compete" meaningfully in the NeS in that there is far less advantage to being a "veteran" yet having the experience can certainly add to the experiences that readers and writers tend to appreciate. I hope the gulf in knowledge can be bridged with a wiki resource, though. Experts can usually be assured that they can "beat" novices when it comes to weaving previous material and being engaging in general, though there is always a very good chance a novice can bring sparks of originality or the like.

Want to compete with me on being the biggest NeS nerd? Then take a stab at commenting, questioning, criticizing and analyzing the NeS!

[Gebohq]

Lens #37: The Lens of Cooperation

Collaborating and succeeding as a team is a special pleasure that can create lasting social bonds. Use this lens to study the cooperative aspects of your game. Ask these questions:
Cooperation requires communication. Do my players have enough opportunity to communicate? How could communication be enhanced?
Are my players friends already, or are they strangers? If they are strangers, can I help them break the ice?
Is there synergy (2 + 2 = 5) or anti-synergy (2 + 2 = 3) when players work together? Why?
Do all the players have the same role, or do they have special jobs?
Cooperation is greatly enhanced when there is no way an individual can do a task alone. Does my game have tasks like that?
Tasks that force communication inspire cooperation. Do any of my tasks force communication?
Aha, now here's something more applicable!

Despite my efforts, I'm not sure the NeS does offer enough opportunity for communication. There's the workshop thread, and there's the private messaging system built into the forums, but otherwise, it requires outside connections like IM or Facebook or e-mail or what-have-you. I wouldn't say the NeS is sorely lacking in this regards, but it does seem to be a bit minimum. Encouraging more use of the (un)official IRC channel might be a good start, but beyond that, I'm not sure what else could be done.

A lot of the people who read and write for the NeS got involved because of me, so they're almost always friends with me. However, we have had strangers in the past join, and even if they're friends with me, they may not be friends with each other. I would hope the workshop thread could be used to get to talking with each other, but it's far from a good icebreaking device, and such methods could only be integrated into the story itself infrequently. I don't know of too many socializing techniques myself -- at least those that could easily transfer to an online environment -- so this is likely something I'll need to look into and get help on working something out. A casual game based on the NeS might be a good start...?

In regards to whether there is synergy or anti-synergy among the writers, I say it varies, and is likely proportional to how well the writers attempt to collaborate with each other. Not really rocket science there, I realize, but I can't think of other significant factors in the matter either. Since all the writers have the same role (which I think is desirable), synergy shouldn't find itself dropping as if one person can't pull their weight or collaborate as well or whatnot.

The nature of the NeS itself as a round-robin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin_story) style story strongly encourages to collaborate on the 'task' of writing, but it's not necessarily sufficient for what level of cooperation the NeS should have. Again, though, I run into similar problems that I have with providing venues (or forcing) communication and making strangers into friends: what can be naturally implemented into the NeS as a whole to encourage cooperation in the form of tasks that need more than one person? Perhaps a character or other element (such as Tsolo?) could be added into the story that remains a constant and which somehow requires collaboration between multiple writers... if so, it'll take some thought to implement such a thing well. I'd rather have multiple methods to approach these problems too, instead of just one.

Be cooperative, and please help me by posting comments, questions, criticisms, and your own analysis with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #38: The Lens of Competition vs. Cooperation

Balancing competition and cooperation can be done in many interesting ways. Use this lens to decide whether they are balanced properly in your game. Ask these questions:
If “1” is competition and “10” is cooperation, what number should my game get?
Can I give players a choice whether to play cooperatively or competitively?
Does my audience prefer competition, cooperation, or a mix?
Is team competition something that makes sense for my game? Is my game more fun with team competition or with solo competition?
Looking at the past two lenses (here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081517) and here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081647)) should give you some idea how this one will look.

On the whole, the NeS should (and is) pretty much on the cooperation/10 end of things. I'd be hesitant to encourage writers with an option of competition, as it could easily counter the crucial elements of collaboration. An option for competition isn't out of the question, but it would have to be crafted carefully to work well and not ruin what makes the NeS good. Fortunately, I'm fairly certain that most all the writers prefer cooperation in this context and agree with me sentiments. Competition, against each other or in teams, doesn't really make sense in the context of the NeS, though it'd probably be possible to incorporate part of a story-arc, if not all of one, with goals of competition in mind. Again, though, great care would have to be taken to make sure the competition element works well.

Going off some tangents, when I designed Story Arcade: Without Credit (http://storyarcade.nesnotes.net/) (yes, it was used loosely as a focus for The Campaign: Without Credit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939188) and Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968) story-arcs), I was thinking of these issues. I wanted to emulate writing for the NeS (which is cooperative), but I also felt it needed a level of competition as well, so I made it so that the two worked off each other. One day, I hope to work on another version of that game with these lenses to help. I also happen to think a good source of games that play with cooperation and competition (moreso the former) is The New Games Book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Games_Book), which could be a source of inspiration for consideration here.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #39: The Lens of Time

It is said that “timing is everything.” Our goal as designers is to create experiences, and experiences are easily spoiled when they are too short or too long [opting to err on leaving them ‘wanting more’ is usually ideal]. Ask these questions to make yours just the right length:
What is it that determines the length of my gameplay activities?
Are my players frustrated because the game ends too early? How can I change that?
Are my players bored because the game goes on for too long? How can I change that?
Setting a time limit can make gameplay more exciting. Is it a good idea for my game?
Would a hierarchy of time structures help my game? That is, several short rounds that together compromise a larger round?
While there is no "time limit" in regards to reading or writing for the NeS, there are a number of time-related issues to still consider, such as the length of posts and story-arcs, how long they take to write, and general pacing within the story.

For the readers, posts and pages are the equivalent of chapters in a book and often serve to divide the time spent reading. On average, I've personally found it takes about a full day to read a page comfortably (of course, some pages are shorter or longer, and depending on other outside factors, can vary). For the writers, writing a post determines the time invested at any one point, which can vary from a few minutes to a few days depending on how much is put into the post (for me, the average is about a couple hours, but I'm a bit slow too). A story-arc has taken anywhere from about a month to a year to complete, ranging from 1 page of material to 6 pages of material (information was estimated using the table of contents (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373#post251150)). The general trend has been that posts have become longer in content and in time uploaded (many factors come into play, such as the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373) keeping non-story posts off the story thread at the start of NeSquared, prolific writers such as Highemperor (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=8030)/Al Ciao (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=12240) having leave of absences, and general material written. See the notes below for more.

I don't recall there ever being complaints of a story-arc or the like in NeS running too short (and it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to leave them "wanting more" in at least some small amount). More often, there has been a general feeling that story-arcs that go on for longer than 3-6 months (length of posts and pages never seem to be an issue) run too long, growing bored when past the setup and sometimes not even hooked back in towards the climax. I don't think setting any sort of hard "time limit" would be a good idea, though seeing these trends may help us focus on when a story-arc should wrap up. Besides changes and the like already mentioned in this thread (and perhaps in future lenses), I'm not sure what else I can do to change that on a permanent level. It may be possible to have a scene or even a story-arc with such a time-limit in mind, but great care would have to be taken not to penalize too harshly in regards to that. I think the general structure of scenes, posts, pages, and story-arcs already helps to structure the NeS experience into a hierarchy of sorts, or at least as much of one as I feel it should have.

Do you know what time it is? That's right! Time to get posting with those questions, comments, criticisms, and analyses with this lens yourself! Writing for the current story-arc (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639) wouldn't hurt either!

NOTES (approximate estimations)
Original NeS
The Fight of the Century of the Week (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=1&pp=40#post248526)
6 pages, 10 months

TotallyEvil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=6&pp=40#post248750)
3 pages, 1 month

The Fight of the Century of the Week, Take 2 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=9&pp=40#post248876)
4 pages, 1 month

NeS: As seen on TV! (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=12&pp=40#post248977)
3 pages, 5 months

Videogames, Anime and Capture the Flag -- Oh My! (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=15&pp=40#post249120)
3 pages, 4 months

The Forbidden Fortress of Forbiddeness (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=18&pp=40#post249224)
4 pages, 2 months

The Last True Evil: Of Soviet Spies and Jobs (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=22&pp=40#post249393)
6 pages, 6 months

TACC, TMTGB, and Other Troubles (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=29&pp=40#post249645) (parallel arc here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=34&pp=40#post249847))
6 pages (the TACC story-arc may have originally been about 2 or 3), 6 months

NeS: The Point-and-Click Adventure! (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=34&pp=40#post249871)
5-6 pages, 7 months

The College Years (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=40&pp=40#post250096)
2 pages, 3 months

Kirby Brawl (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=43&pp=40#post250205)
4 pages, 3 months

If You Can't Beat 'em, Join'em (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=46&pp=40#post250339)
4 pages, 3 months

Endgame - The End of NeS (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=50&pp=40#post250524)
1 page (1-2 really long posts), 8 months

NeShattered
'AGE ONE - THE SUNDERING (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18342&page=1&pp=40) (paralleled with NeSquared's Family Feud)
1 page (originally probably 2-3 pages), 4 months

'AGE 2 - THE SUBPLOT (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18342&page=2&pp=40) (paralleled with NeSquared's The Plot)
1-2 pages (originally probably 5), 11 months (or 13 if counting the last post)

NeSquared
Family Feud (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372#post250915) (paralleled with NeShattered's The Sundering)
2 pages, 4 months

The 8th Dimension (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=2&pp=40#post250990)
3 pages, 5 months

The Dreams and Nightmares of the NeS (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=5&pp=40#post251114)
3 pages, 4 months

The Forgotten, The Damned and the Dust (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=8&pp=40#post345227)
4 pages, 9 months

Death of the Potentials (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=12&pp=40#post530424)
4 pages, 8 months

The Plot (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=16&pp=40#post667619) (paralleled with NeShattered's Subplot)
2 pages, 10 months

Death and Taxes (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=18#post792309)
2 pages, 10-11 months

Love Conquers All (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=20#post885309)
3 pages, 8 months

The Campaign: Without Credit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=939806#post939188) and Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968)
4 pages, 9 months/6-7 months respectively

The Most Awesome Threat to Existence Yet! (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=25#post1008937)
3 pages, 5-6 months

In Search of Opportunity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639)
currently 1-2 pages and 6 months. Minimum time if it doesn't wrap up before I return, 12 months.

[Gebohq]

Lens #40: The Lens of Reward

Everyone likes to be told they are doing a good job. Ask these questions to determine if your game Is giving out the right rewards in the right amounts at the right times:
What rewards is my game giving out now? Can it give out others as well?
Are players excited when they get rewards in my game, or are they bored by them? Why?
Getting a reward you don’t understand is like getting no reward at all. Do my players understand the rewards they are getting?
Are the rewards my game gives out too regular? Can they be given out in a more variable way?
How are my rewards related to one another? Is there a way that they could be better connected?
How are my rewards building? Too fast, too slow, or just right?
I know I'm guilty of not providing enough praise and reward to other writers (which makes this lens similar in scope to Lens #5 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076340) and Lens #20 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078967)), so what follows should hopefully be enlightening.

As far as rewards given out now, the NeS doesn't provide many (if any) concrete ones. Rewards tend to involve praise outside of the story thread, significantly including their story material in a good way (the more it does this, the more of a "reward" it is), accomplishment of writing in general (which isn't easily displayed), discovering something new in the story and its characters (for both readers and writers), and building friendships. It could very well give out any number of other rewards, though the most applicable I can see working for the NeS would be a visibly adoring/critical audience (from readers and writers) and a more visible "stats" of their writing achievements (how much they wrote, a rating system of their posts maybe, etc.)

Since the current rewards are not plentiful and yet mostly valuable, I think most writers are excited when they receive them. I'm not entirely sure most writers recognize them as rewards at all (as they are admittedly intangible and not something necessarily made clear as the result of "successful" writing), but I wouldn't say the rewards are nonsensical or too regular (if anything, what rewards are given are done too slowly). The current rewards in the NeS aren't particularly connected to each other either, as far as I can tell, and I don't know how they could be better connected.

It should be said that writing, especially in a collaborative and improvisational way, is an art form, and thus subjective, so it's difficult to present rewards for successes as one can in a game or even in solving scientific and mathematical problems. It's also made more difficult (or easier?) that the reward can't (and likely shouldn't) be in the form of money and fortune. Still, rewards could be improved by simply encouraging more feedback on posts on the workshop thread that includes praise and constructive criticism, instituting some form of relevant data tracking on a wiki resource, and getting more active/vocal readers and writers alike to join.

If you comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens now, I'll give you the biggest reward of all -- my undying gratitude! :ninja:

[Gebohq]

Lens #41: The Lens of Punishment

Punishment must be used delicately, since after all, players are in a game of their own free will. Balanced appropriately, it will give everything in your game more meaning, and players will have a real sense of pride when they succeed at your game. To examine the punishment in your game, ask yourself these questions:
What are the punishments in my game?
Why am I punishing the players? What do I hope to achieve by it?
Do my punishments seem fair to the players? Why or why not?
Is there a way to turn these punishments into rewards and get the same or better results?
Are my strong punishments balanced against commensurately strong rewards?
I should start by saying that I don't think punishments will help add value to the challenges taken in NeS as they do for many games, and rewards (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1082081#post1082081) should always be the preferred option over punishment. Still, I think a means of discouraging anti-collaborative efforts and flaking out should be in place, so let's press on with this lens.

The punishments that can be found writing for the NeS include shame (when someone doesn't like your post), but more often a strong sense of lack of rewards or feedback in general: no praise, little "spectacle" for future posts, lack of collaboration and completion from others. It's sort of like when you are interested in someone, but instead of just saying 'I like you" or "I hate your guts" (allowing progression or closure), they avoid you and never respond (allowing neither progression or closure). Feeling like what you write doesn't matter, or dealing with story elements set up by a writer who then drops off from all communication, is probably the worst punishments found in the NeS, especially since they're not consistently understandable and preventable.

When I purposely "punish" other writers, it is almost always for not writing, because of the importance of collaboration in NeS and attempting to prevent punishments that shouldn't arise from rearing their ugly heads. The only other times I purposely "shame" is when I feel they are not writing collaboratively or when I feel they could improve their traditional storytelling skills, though I try to emphasis the latter more as a means of improvement in hopes of not discouraging their confidence (as it really is secondary to the other two points).

For something like the NeS, which takes considerable effort and time to write even the smallest and simplest of posts, writing can unfortunately feel like a punishment ("work") in itself, so it probably feels quite unfair to be dealt further punishment when they feel their efforts have been for virtually nothing. Again, though, I imagine the biggest punishments are the unintentional ones that come up from poor writing frequency and collaboration.

As for turning the punishments into rewards, gaining a stronger reader and writer base who give kind and constructive feedback would probably do wonders, though I'm not sure how to better reward collaborative writing (other than the byproduct of a well-collaborated story that emerges). The punishments of shame and lack of feedback probably outweigh the rewards given at this point, but I'm at somewhat of a loss as how best to strengthen the rewards and downplay all the punishments (minus ones for anti-collaborative efforts and flaking).

Don't make me punish you for not posting comments, questions, criticisms, and analyses of your own!

[Gebohq]

Lens #42: The Lens of Simplicity/Complexity

Striking the right balance between simplicity and complexity is difficult and must be done for the right reasons. Use this lens to help your game become one in which meaningful complexity arises out of a simple system. Ask yourself these questions:
What elements of innate complexity do I have in my game?
Is there a way this innate complexity could be turned into emergent complexity?
Do elements of emergent complexity arise from my game? If not, why not?
Are there elements of my game that are too simple?

Mostly, the innate complexity arises from there being multiple authors. From there, there arises a great complexity in the story itself through its number of characters and events. The elements of emergent complexity certainly rise out of the rather simple factor of having even two writers collaborating. I'm fairly certain that the NeS is not too simple, but if nothing else, there's the danger of it being perceived as not simple enough. If anything, we need engaging ways to keep the NeS trimmer, at least in appearance.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #43: The Lens of Elegance

Most “classic games” are considered to be masterpieces of elegance. Use this lens to make your game as elegant as possible. Ask yourself these questions:
What are the elements of my game?
What are the purposes of each element? Count these up to give the element an “elegance rating.”
For elements with only one or two purposes, can some of these be combined into each other, or removed altogether?
For elements with several purposes, is it possible for them to take on even more?
As presented in The Art of Game Design, "elegance" is characterized significantly by simple elements that serve multiple, complex purposes. This lens is better understood when used in conjunction with lenses like emergence (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079342) and simplicity/complexity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1082386#post1082386).

All the specific elements that make up the NeS are far too numerous for me to list down, but groups of elements would include the following: posts, pages and threads; grammar, vocabulary, and typography; writers; readers; characters; settings; essential experiences (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684); the elemental tetrad (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076586) (and seeing it holographically (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076775)); themes (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076970); actions (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079561) (taken by both writers and characters); chance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080427) events unrelated to character actions; and conflicts and challenges (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080769) that arise from things such as conflicting goals (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850). There's certainly more I'm forgetting, but the gist is elements within the story (who/what/where/when/why/how) and elements 'outside' of it (every word a writer writes and how they write it to engage readers and other writers).

Since even the groups of elements are too many, I'm going to take one very specific and simple example -- the character Gebohq (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post375230). In the current story-arc, his (simple) purposes are as follows: to act as the hero (both literally as a freelance professional and metaphorically); to allow an "average" reader to identify with his failings in romance (contrasted with love -- such as with Rachel), fearlessness (contrasted with bravery), intelligence (contrasted with wisdom -- such his relation with Thand and searching for his crown of mental protection), relative ability (contrasted with relative chance), and self-confidence (contrasted with faith and hope); to provide comic relief; to provide drama; to be juxtaposed against The Last True Evil; and to magnetize the other characters together. Presumably, that gives him at least an "elegance rating" of 10, though again, there are certainly a lot of things I'm forgetting to count.

The point is that every element should serve as many purposes as possible, and as arguably the "main protagonist" of the NeS, it's good that Gebohq be as apparently elegant as he is for being a relatively "simple" element with "simple" purposes. However, as I've stated before, the NeS suffers from being too complex, and this is in part because there are a lot of elements (characters and conflicts) that only serve one or two purposes, or sometimes no apparent purpose at all (or at least one that provide meaningful choices (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080948) to the characters themselves and writers). Take the crown that is in Thand's treasury, said to protect its user from mental manipulation. It's primary purpose right now is to act as motivation for Gebohq to find the treasury (to protect himself from Thand to be a stronger hero). What purpose does it serve Thand now? What purpose does someone like Howard have in enlightening Gebohq about it -- is it the same as Gebohq's? Could it serve as a source of conflict when Krig sees it as an especially pretty shiny? Or for The Last True Evil, who thinks it might be put to better use for someone like Amal? Perhaps it also acts as a key to an especially important vault, or provides comedy when it looks like a Burger King paper crown with pink wings on the side, or foreshadows Gebohq ascension to king of Switzerland. The point is that each and every character, conflict, action, object, etc. in each and every word, sentence, scene, post, story-arc and thread should ideally have as many clear, simple, and engaging purposes for the readers and writers as possible.

This, of course, is far easier said than done. The short and simple method to using this lens is simply to ask "does this serve a purpose?" and "can it serve more purposes?" when writing, to provide layers for the readers and other writers alike. This lens is partly why I feel it's important for the NeS to be as trim as possible, so that what's left can take on more significant complexity.

Want to point out just how likely inelegant I was in this post? Then please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #44: The Lens of Character

Elegance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082612) and character are opposites. They are like miniature versions of simplicity and complexity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082386), and must be kept in balance. To make sure your game has lovable, defining quirks, ask yourself these questions:
Is there anything strange in my game that players talk about excitedly?
Does my game have funny qualities that make it unique?
Does my game have flaws that players like?
Yes, the NeS has no shortage of character. There's plenty strange, funny, and flawed about the NeS, and it's usually how people talk about it: acceptance of plot-holes as literal objects as well as with story conventions in general, heroes who are cowards and janitors who fight gods on Pay-Per-View, even just writing for a collaborative story that last for more than 10 minutes/hours/days, much less 10 YEARS.

For this lens, I would like to encourage everybody to post at least one strange, funny, or 'flawed' characteristic of the NeS that you think is good for the NeS, as I think it'll help focus on getting more readers and writers interested with this focus in mind. As usual, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #45: The Lens of Imagination

All games have some element of imagination and some element of connection to reality. Use this lens to help find the balance between detail and imagination. Ask yourself these questions:
What must the player understand to play my game?
Can some element of imagination help them understand it better?
What high-quality, realistic details can we provide in this game?
What details would be low quality if we provided them? Can imagination fill the gap instead?
Can I give details that the imagination will be able to reuse again and again?
What details do I provide that inspire imagination?
What details do I provide that stifle imagination?
This lens, obviously, will be applied mostly to the story content itself. The Art of Game Design suggests the following ways to capitalize on having the player (reader in this case) use their imagination versus being provided detail: only detail what you (as the writer) can provide well, give details the imagination can use (this applies mostly to helping the reader understand the story's world and its characters as well as serve the plot - similar to elegance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1082855#post1082612)), not providing detail to what is already familiar to the reader, providing detail mostly just at the beginning (the author calls it the "binocular effect" in comparison to the use of binoculars at sporting events) and giving details that inspire the imagination (similar to character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1082855#post1082855)). In short, use details wisely to encourage the imagination to do most of the work.

What must the reader understand to engage with the NeS?
The reader must understand that the world of NeS, while highly familiar (perhaps arguably even more so than the real world), is a world of fiction -- a world run by laws of story convention over physics that many of its inhabitants are aware of to varying degrees (sometimes as certain sciences or faiths). This means that conflicts often arise on a more meta-fictional level than anything else. Since many of our modern "myths" rise from comic books, movies, video games, and the like, the NeS in turn is also filled with heroes and villains of that nature (it may not be a coincidence that romances and speculative fictions remain strong in print media as well).

The reader must also understand that the story's character (full of "flaws" in plot-holes and moments of comic absurdity) is what largely matters. The story's strength doesn't lie in presenting mysteries to be solved, scenes of action to marvel, romances to unfold, horrors to fear, information to educate, philosophies to ponder, fantasies and futures to speculate, or even perhaps primarily scenes of comedy or drama to laugh or cry -- the story's strength lies in simply "living" out any of those possible scenes as true to its character as it can be. It is not the letter of its plot that should grab the reader, but the spirit of its character... and its spirit tends to be a bit funny in more ways than one.

Can some element of imagination help them understand it better?
To understand the meta-fictional story-world of NeS, having the story in print form helps immensely with this. Specifically, though, besides the traditional methods used for any story, showing the 'physical laws' of NeS as story convention that depend on being perceived (or not) to increase their probable strength may help as well; if perception (not 'facts') are made critical to understanding how the world of the NeS operates, it will encourage them to depend on imagination as well.

To understand the 'character' of the NeS, I think the best venues of imagination would be to villainize "plot" and facts. This is NOT to say that plot would be unimportant -- on the contrary, villains are often the driving force of any story, and the NeS should be no different (the "big bad" of the original NeS thread was wisely made into the Ever-ending Plot). It's simply to tell the reader "stop trying to make sense of the details, because that's bad, and instead free your imagination to perceive its spirit, which is good."

What high-quality, realistic details can we provide in the NeS?
In theory, anything that any of the writers feel knowledgeable enough in writing can be provided with high-quality, realistic details. However, high-definition details should probably be best left to agents of conflict and antagonism (see the point above to villainize plot) as well as left to traditional moments that call for details (such as the suggestions made at the beginning of this post).

What details would be low quality if we provided them? Can imagination fill the gap instead?
In practice, most of us writers are amateurs, not terribly learned in many varied practices, worldly affairs, or other experiences to draw from. This is fine, though, as we should probably be opting to be as frugal with details as possible anyway, since imagination is good. Since the NeS is heavily dialogue-driven in any case, and subtext is the rule of dialogue, imagination is fundamental in writing for the NeS. This can require a high mastery of when to use detail, though -- as I've said before, writing for the NeS is easy to learn but hard to master.

Can I give details that the imagination will be able to reuse again and again?
I hope so! In some cases, a single word is enough (Krig the Viking, Janitor Bob, The Ever-ending Plot, the NeSword, wielding the story). Details that would be the most helpful for reuse include details for character appearance, behavior and speech.

What details do I provide that inspire imagination?
Admittedly, even with the goal of being economical with detail, probably not much (with the possible exception of dialogue to provide subtext). I think the first post (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639) of the In Search of Opportunity story-arc does a competent job of knowing when to use detail in some cases (though it admittedly "cheats" in part by using the strength of its Internet medium via hyperlinks).

What details do I provide that stifle imagination?
I don't think details have ever stifled the imagination of a reader for the NeS. If anything, what details have been provided probably just don't have as much impact as they should. The possible exception, again, may be dialogue, in that there may often be times where it does not foster subtext or even the character of the NeS.

Please get imaginative with your comments, questions, criticisms, and analyses of your own!

[Gebohq]

Lens #46: The Lens of Economy

Giving a game an economy can give it surprising depth and a life all its own. But like all living things, it can be difficult to control. Use this lens to keep your economy in balance and ask yourself these questions:
How can my players earn resources? Should there be other ways?
What can my players buy? Why?
Are resources too easy to get? Too hard? How can I change this?
Are choices about earning and spending meaningful ones?
Is a universal currency a good idea in my game, or should there be specialized currencies?
I'm fairly certain that not only does the NeS not have an economy (even in-story, it's not touched upon much at all), it probably shouldn't. Still, let's take a stab with this lens as a hypothetical. If it were to have an economy, I imagine it would probably be similar to the one I implemented for Story Arcade: Without Credit (http://storyarcade.nesnotes.net/), where the player-authors earned "credit" from the entertained player-audience, and which could maybe be used in the NeS as a means of reward (be able to introduce a character, for instance). I'd be very careful though if attempting to create an economy for the NeS, but perhaps this lens could apply more to the in-story economy for the characters.

As I suggested already, writers could potentially earn resources from other readers and writers for writing 'consistent' and 'engaging' story posts, but I can't think of any other good economies that could be placed for the writers. The readers could only have an economy, as I see it, if there were some form of trivia game or the like to reward them for reading and being fans. As for the characters, ones like Gebohq presumably get money from performing acts of heroism, though how and when the "clients" pay is uncertain (though it is implied that he's pretty bored, even though he and the others manage to obtain some comfortable level of living), while it's even less clear for non-professional heroes, and villains presumably steal or the like. As for the fictional writers within the story, they possibly get paid by their administrator superiors at the Massassi Temple (though it's been suggested that they don't get paid and may or may not live in their offices).

If the actual writers of the NeS earned resources of some sort, as already suggested, they might be able to buy the 'right' to create a new character (which may help limit the overflow of characters in NeS), though I'm not sure what else could be useful to buy (an economy of this sort would probably only be useful if the NeS actually saw an overflow of willing readers and writers, and the economy would be a way to encourage writing that is best for the NeS). As for the readers, perhaps some sort of 'commission' from the writers or perhaps the ability to become a writer themselves (again, going on the "NeS becomes too popular" theory here, and even then, having any sort of barrier to become a writer may be a bad idea). As for the characters, it's more difficult as they don't seem terribly limited to what they could buy (especially if their character is independently wealthy or powerful). As for the fictional writers, it's something of a moot point as it should only be a reflection of the actual writers.

Right now, any resources that anyone can get (mostly characters) are probably too easy to get. This isn't to say that hard numbers should be tracked for them like in a game, but it may help from a world-building standpoint to have a general idea how they're making a livelihood, and it's not like this concept is foreign to the stories in NeS as a few have focused on "needing to get a job to live." In any of the hypotheticals mentioned, I would wish to err on them being too easy to get (unless we're using the economy as a means of discouragement, such as not putting thought and energy into additional characters).

If there were to be an economy for the writers, making sure it's meaningful would be critical, as I feel an economy should only be added if it's deemed necessary. As for an economy for the characters, again, being certain that its use is meaningful is critical to keeping conflict well-crafted and not just clutter. A universal "credit" system in either case is probably best (and technically, while the NeS is full of real-world currencies, it's already been hinted that "credit" can also be earned on a more universal basis).

In any case, any inclusion of such hypothetical economies would need to be analyzed with the lenses of fairness (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1080629), challenge (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1080769), meaningful choices (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1080948), chance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1080427), cooperation and competition (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1081793), time (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1081933), rewards (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1082081), and punishments (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1083112#post1082219), just to name a few.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #47: The Lens of Balance

There are many types of game balance, and each is important. However, it is easy to get lost in the details and forget the big picture. Use this simple lens to get your out of the mire, and ask yourself this important question:
Does my game feel right[ly balanced as a whole]? Why or why not?
There is definitely an unbalance in favor of the writer and not necessarily in favor of the reader. That is, the writer is motivated to entertain themselves and each other, but not necessarily to someone solely reading. Granted, we may not have any who solely read, but that's seriously beside the point. More should be done to encourage readership while compromising as little (if at all) with what makes writing for the NeS fun.

There is some unbalance between consistent active protagonists and consistent active antagonists. This tends to result in having what conflicts arise to more easily be quelled quicker, and since conflict is what drives both stories and games, a balance between the two should be struck better.

The only other balance that comes to mind, and one which probably raises the most debate, is that of story content and its tone. While I don't think anybody would argue that the NeS shouldn't be significantly comedic, light, escapist, and the like, there's question as to how much there should be (if any) that is dramatic, heavy, confrontational with thought, and the like. Mostly, I'm aware of these options:

1) There should be absolutely nothing dramatic, heavy, confrontational, etc. in the NeS. Reasons include that these things makes writing too difficult, that the writers write such poorly (which is more easily dismissed in theory with comedic/etc. material), and that these things make the NeS 'not fun' in general.

2) There should be an "equal" amount of material that is comedic/etc. as well as dramatic/etc. in the NeS. "Equal" in this case means either a general feel for both kinds of material (since objectively there may in fact be a lot of one type) and equal opportunity to write either kinds of material as the writer feels the story calls for at any given time. Reasons include giving potentially more freedom and strength to what the writer writes, to contrast each other (comedic material tends to be more comedic when juxtaposed by dramatic material and visa-versa), and allows for more meaningful actions for both what the writer writes and what the reader reads.

3) There should be be some dramatic, heavy, confrontational, etc. material in the NeS, but should be minimal relative to comedic, light, escapist stuff. Reasons include a mix of both #1 and #2, that it can be difficult to strictly stick to either #1 or #2 well for any consistent time, and possibly because they are subject to the Golden Mean Fallacy (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoldenMeanFallacy).

I'm personally an advocate of #2, though I realize that #3 may be a more realistic balance if I judge with the Lens of the Player (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078260). I'll especially advocate #2 so long as #1 is pushed, though, since I feel that the reasons for #1 are either false or not solved by advocating the wholly asymmetrical balance in #1.

Think I should give up the balancing act between trying to achieve two mutually exclusive impossibilities at the same time? Then please comment, question, criticize, and balance your own analysis out!

[Gebohq]

Lens #48: The Lens of Accessibility

When you present a puzzle (or a game of any kind) to players, they should be able to clearly visualize what their first few steps would be. Ask yourself these questions:
How will players know how to begin solving my puzzle, or playing my game? Do I need to explain it, or is it self-evident?
Does my puzzle or game act like something they have seen before? If it does, how can I draw attention to that similarity? If it does not, how can I make them understand how it does behave?
Does my puzzle or game draw people in and make them want to touch it and manipulate it? If not, how can I change it so that it does?
Here's definitely one I think is important for the NeS, so I hope to get some good insights with this lens.

It is not self-evident for even those familiar with those who are familiar with free-form role-playing on forums and the like to feel they know how to begin getting involved in the NeS, and has to be explained as clearly and concisely as possible to alleviate their fears of "not doing it right." Currently, they know "how" from such explanations and from reading previous story posts and possibly the workshop thread. I'm not really sure there's much that can be done to avoid this, though, only to capture as much curiosity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076141) as possible and then explain well.

Fortunately, the NeS acts very similar to a round-robin style story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-robin_story) and improvisational theater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvisational_theatre) in general, so comparing the NeS to those things should be a solid start. As discovered when analyzing the NeS through the Lens of the Toy (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078103), however, the NeS does not generally draw people in to "mess around" with it like one would with a toy, and I'm not sure what the best way to change it so that it does. Perhaps encourage a parallel "story-arc" at all times that is nothing but a playground? Though I've tried this in the past with a pseudo-story (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&pp=40&page=20#post873729) that didn't seem to catch on. Perhaps it was just a boring playground though.../shrug/.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #49: The Lens of Visible Progress

Players need to see that they are making progress when solving a difficult problem. To make sure they are getting this feedback, ask yourself these questions:
What does it mean to make progress in my game or puzzle?
Is there enough progress in my game? Is there a way I can add more interim steps of progressive success?
What progress is visible, and what progress is hidden? Can I find a way to reveal what is hidden?
Making progress in the NeS generally means completing a conflict in a scene or a story-arc, usually with the impression that at least one character has confronted a problem and (in the strict sense of progress) changes the problem (such as change towards a solution) and/or is changed themselves (physically, spiritually, etc.) Progress can be difficult with the NeS as planning is discouraged (to relate to its improvisational nature), and adding more short-term goals (with minimal progress needed) would likely be the best way to both add a sense of progression in general as well as provide potential interim steps of progression for larger problems encountered. Short term (presently made) progress tends to be fairly visible, though longer term progress tends to be hidden (as either only God knows or a writer is keeping it to themselves). I prefer to lay out all the story ideas I have in the workshop thread partly for this reason, but otherwise, I'm not sure what else can (or should) be done.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #50: The Lens of Parallelism

Parallelism in your puzzle brings parallel benefits to the player’s experience. To use this lens, ask yourself these questions:
Are there bottlenecks in my design where players are unable to proceed if they cannot solve a particular challenge? If so, can I add parallel challenges for a player to work on when this challenge stumps them?
If parallel challenges are too similar, the parallelism offers little benefit. Are my parallel challenges different enough from each other to give players the benefit of variety?
Can my parallel challenges be connected somehow? Is there a way that making progress on one can make it easier to solve the others?
Technically, there are no "bottlenecks" in the NeS -- a post is a post and anything goes. However, just because anything can go doesn't mean that writers are discouraged from trying to post something of quality (in one form or another), and remaining collaborative makes "anything goes" harder to do at times (this is a statement rather than a judgment). It's not uncommon for a story-arc to get "stuck" with a particular conflict, especially towards the end at the climax. Fortunately, it's common for there to be multiple "groups" within the story-arc and even parallel story-arcs, so even in this case, the writer usually has options. Usually, there has been a main, sometimes more "plot-centric" story-arc and a secondary, more aimless story-arc. In this case, the parallel "challenge" is often different enough, though that isn't to say that there isn't possibly a more fundamentally different parallel "challenge" that could be implemented, though what that might be I'm not sure.

While it's certainly possible for any parallel story-arcs to tie into each other, I don't think they've usually been made with that in mind. Having something like that may be very helpful for those "stuck" moments, but it'd be very difficult to implement without 'railroading' the writers. Goals (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850) would have to be the focus of trying to integrate parallel challenges together for any possible success in this matter.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #51: The Lens of the Pyramid

Pyramids fascinate us because they have a singular highest point. To give your puzzle the allure of the ancient pyramids, ask yourself these questions:
Is there a way all the pieces of my puzzle can feed into a singular challenge at the end?
Big pyramids are often made of little pyramids – can I have a hierarchy of ever more challenging puzzle elements, gradually leading to a final challenge?
Is the challenge at the top of my pyramid interesting, compelling, and clear? Does it make people want to work in order to get to it?
If you haven't noticed already, there's some similarities with this lens to the previous two lenses, so the analysis with this lens is likely to be similar as well.

With the story itself, the narrative pieces could certainly feed into a singular "challenge" or conflict in a scene, story-arc or thread in theory, with "little pyramids" becoming more challenging as they do so. In practice, this has happened on its own, though purposely designing such would be difficult without railroading the experience. As far as the challenges of writing collaboratively and improvising, I have a feeling it could... designing such in this context is something I'll have to try and give some thought to for the future of the NeS.

Whether there is an apparent "overall challenge" within the context of the story is a bit trickier, much less if it's interesting, compelling and clear for readers and writers to want to reach it. The NeS is generally episodic in structure and tends to break down in a fractal manner even within story-arcs and scenes (which is likely part of the reason that plot is figuratively and literally the bad guy), and I'm not even sure if an "pyramid" hierarchy structure should be enforced. Parallelism seems more natural for the NeS, though as I said before, it's fractal nature has produced 'pyramid' structured narrative in the past. I think this does bring up the point though that, should an "overall conflict" be found in the NeS (such as the Ever-ending Plot, or with Master Thand), that the writers should do their best to keep this lens handy.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and build your own pyramid schemes -- I mean -- analyze with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #52: The Lens of the Puzzle

Puzzles make the player stop and think. To ensure your puzzles are doing everything you want to shape the player experience, ask yourself these questions:
What are the puzzles in my game?
Should I have more puzzles, or less? Why?
Which of the ten puzzle principles apply to each of my puzzles?
Do I have any incongruous puzzles? How can I better integrate them into the game? (Use Lens #43: The Lens of Elegance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1080220#post1082612) to help do this.)
Some explanations before I proceed regarding the ten puzzle principles as laid out in The Art of Game Design, which are as follows:
Make the goal easily understood.
Make it easy to get started.
Give a sense of progress.
Give a sense of solvability.
Increase difficulty gradually.
Parallelism lets the player rest.
Pyramid structure extends interest.
Hints extend interest.
Give the answer!
Perceptual shifts are a double-edged sword.
#1 and #2 are examined with Lens #48 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1080220#post1083868), #3 is examined with Lens #49 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1080220#post1083877), #6 is examined with Lens #50 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1080220#post1084095), and #7 is examined with Lens #51 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1080220#post1084259). #4 and #5 are fairly self-explanatory, relating to Lens #6 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076479), Lens #18 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078564), and Lens #31 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080769). #8 has similarities with #4 in what they attempt to solve, though Lens #4 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076141) can help here as well. #9 is like #4 and #8, though I won't be giving much credit to this one, even with the argument made in the book. #10 simply points out the problems that #3 and #5 try to solve.

As for puzzles -- or more accurately "stop and think" moments -- in the NeS, there aren't really much of any. This is most likely because the act of collaboration, improvisation, and general story-crafting are hefty "puzzles" in themselves, though there are more specific ones on occasion. In the current story-arc, it's something of a puzzle to try and write Master Thand as an active antagonist while doing his character justice. The NeS shouldn't have any MORE puzzles than that, and might benefit from less every now and then so as to keep the NeS moving and paced well.

As for the 10 principles, even though I went through the trouble of explaining them, they're either already been touched on or don't really apply. However, I will say that the "giving hints" and "giving the answer" might actually apply well for collaboration in the workshop thread, and that "perceptual shift" as the NeS is concerned isn't as big of an obstacle since it's more narrative-based and allows (at least for the reader) more of the "aha!" pleasure without necessarily the stopping frustration.

Concerning incongruous puzzles, I'm not sure I can actually think of any at this point. Some might say traditional story-crafting is incongruous with collaboration, improvisation and the like, and sometimes it's put to the wayside, but I think that's a whole other (possible) puzzle that can (and has) been solved, in part by crafting the world of the NeS as a comedic rough-copy meta-fictional story-world where plot-holes are essential to its character.

Puzzling over my analysis? Please comment, question, criticize, and puzzle with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #53: The Lens of Control

This lens has uses beyond just examining your interface, since meaningful control is essential for immersive interactivity. To use this lens, ask yourself these questions:
When players use the interface, does it do what is expected? If not, why not?
Intuitive interfaces give a feeling of control. Is your interface easy to master, or hard to master?
Do your players feel they have a strong influence over the outcome of the game? If not, how can you change that?
Feeling powerful [often] equals feeling in control. Do your players feel powerful? Can you make them feel more powerful somehow?
I'm opting to use this lens in a broader sense of control, as applying it to the interface wouldn't reveal much (a message board is pretty basic after all and isn't likely to change).

I'm actually not sure if most of the readers or writers think the NeS does what they expect it to. On one hand, the NeS can be fairly unpredictable, but on the other hand, I think most people come to not only expect that, but desire it. As I've said before, I think the NeS makes it fairly easy to learn how to read and write for it, but I also think it's definitely hard to master, at least when it comes to writing. And as for having the writers feel powerful and have a strong influence in the NeS, I hope so! Any lack of influence and power though can be amended with a stronger focus on collaboration; if a writer feels that the others will collaborate with their material well, they'll feel their actions have a greater influence and power. In short, I think if there any issues with control regarding the NeS, it relates mostly to skill (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1080051).

Want to take control with these lenses? Then stop thinking and actually comment, question, criticize and take control!

[The Last True Evil]

Whether the readers and writers are looking for mindless action or intellectual challenge is up in the air as I see it. For the readers, I couldn't tell you with much certainty, though I doubt it is at either extreme, and it likely leans more towards the former than the latter. For the writers, I've found it varies, as people like Semievil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=1209) would go into the negative on the mindless extreme (a trend I'm sure appears often in those burdened with a lot of work and stress on the mind) and people like The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/member.php?u=2977) (correct me if I'm wrong) find it more difficult to craft anything other than something intellectually challenging. It's funny, because the two of them certainly have a strong potential to craft on the opposite ends, and I just think it goes to show that the NeS is the place to do the impossible and be on both ends at the same time. All things considered, though, intellectual challenge in the NeS should not come at the cost of mindless action, and I think both readers and writers would at least agree to that much.

Want to get your head into this and your hands dirty? Then please question, comment, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

Gebohq, you're doing a great job with these. Please continue; I'm watching with interest.

I wanted to talk about this for a moment, because it's my main source of difficulty with the NeS. I know in my heart of hearts the foundation of the NeS is/was distraction. It was a web serial, something people could quickly add their funny pop culture spin/fantasy idea to and then return to the business of posting on the main Discussion forums. I believe it has also moved on quite a bit since then. Why? Because the inevitable literary progression has happened - our characters have evolved.

I introduced little more than a riff on a stock Eastern European Big Bad to the NeS cast. Now, as has been mentioned before, he's more or less the most three-dimensional character in the mix. Others have undergone less profound transitions as well, always making them more interesting, more suitable for more sophisticated narratives and discussions.

And then I remember it's the NeS, and quickly throw a joke in.

See, that's my problem - the founding intent of the NeS is, to me, a sideline, window dressing to the more interesting stuff. I really want to see what happens to TLTE, Gebohq, Amal, Losien, Thand, Tracer, MacFarlane, Al Ciao, Krig et al. It is not a riff anymore; even by the broadest stretch of the term, it's not a riff.

That's why I think I envy Tracer's writing style most of all - he comes back to the NeS, seemingly out of nowhere, and effortlessly transitions back into the comedy. With me, I always feel like I'm juggling - plot strands, character motivations, etc - and the zany comedy distraction motif is just another ball to catch.

[Gebohq]

Lens #54: The Lens of Physical Interface

Somehow, the player has a physical interaction with your game. Copying existing physical interfaces is an easy trap to fall into. Use this lens to be sure that your physical interface is well-suited to your game by asking these questions:
What does the player pick up and touch? Can this be made more pleasing?
How does this map to the actions of the game world? Can the mapping be more direct?
If you can’t create a custom physical interface, what metaphor are you using when you map the inputs to the game world?
How does the physical interface look under the Lens of the Toy (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078103)?
How does the player see, hear, and touch the world of the game? Is there a way to include a physical output device that will make the world become more real in the player’s imagination?
Again, I delve into the realm of the hypothetical here, and if you've been reading, this should all sound familiar.

Currently, the reader and writer both pick up a computer of some sort (desktop, laptop, other portable devices) with internet connection and some sort of keyboard device or simulation of a keyboard. Realistically, there's not much at this point that can be done to make it more pleasing, though ideally, since print is still preferable to read (either because of portability and/or super-simple "interface"), a (likely hardcover) book made with e-paper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-paper) of some sort with a built-in keyboard and/or stylus or the like specifically designed for use for the NeS would certainly be more pleasing for the reader while allowing writers the same freedoms they do now.

A keyboard and screen is about the most direct physical interface I can think of for the NeS, though our hypothetical e-book would allow the potential for more intuitive reading (though a virtual interface would still be needed as it can't possibly allow someone to "flip" from the start to its current end, much less material written later, since it's, you know, never-ending). The 'metaphor' currently used for the NeS is a general office tool, which strangely matches up with the depiction of the writers in the NeS but probably not so much for the 'story' itself. It's certainly not very "fun" like a toy; office tools are the opposite of that, and it's only through a campaign of computer games and a growing attempt to expand computer technologies into our overall lives do we seem to be able to ignore that. Consoles like the Nintendo Wii have taken steps forward to combat that.

While there's some attempt to expand the NeS into other mediums such as the NeS webcomic (http://nes.sorrowind.net), the NeS is mostly dependent on the imagination (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1084693#post1083112) to empower the senses. It's not to say that the NeS couldn't be adapted into mediums to do otherwise, but in this case, our current physical interface doesn't actually fall too short in our needs for this, and the hypothetical ideal would be more an aesthetic than anything (a cool aesthetic, to be sure, but not one that cripples the NeS without it). Unlike a lot of other fictional worlds, this one benefits from its dependence on the imagination, and adaptations that engaged with the sense more would have to be handled with care to be executed well.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

P.S. Thanks, TLTE, for chiming in on the thread, and I hear you loud and clear! I certainly empathize, and while the points I made are true, I still try to work in the complexities with what subtlety I can (though I'm certainly not always successful).

[Gebohq]

Lens #55: The Lens of Virtual Interface

Designing virtual interfaces can be very tricky. Done poorly, they become a wall between the player and the game world. Done well, they amplify the power and control a player has in the game world. Ask these questions to make sure that your virtual interface is enhancing player experience as much as possible:
What information does a player need to receive that isn’t obvious just by looking at the game world?
When does the player need this information? All the time? Only occasionally? Only at the end of a level?
How can this information be delivered to the player in a way that won’t interfere with the player’s interactions with the game world?
Are there elements of the game world that are easier to interact with using a virtual interface (like a pop-up menu, for instance) than they are to interact with directly?
What kin d of virtual interface is best suited to my physical interface?
I should be delving into the hypothetical here, but I'm afraid my imagination is lacking in this case.

In actuality, neither readers or writers should need anything beyond what's been recently written. For writers, though, I realize that having the "update screen" with the currently active characters, with links to their profiles and blurbs on where they are, are very helpful for them. I'm not sure if they feel they could really use something else or not. The writers usually want that information as they're starting to write a post, so they know what to work with in their material. While this information used to be on page 29 of the original NeS thread, I think it's best that it was moved to the first post of the workshop thread so as to not clutter up the story with non-story stuff.

Considering the nature of the NeS, I don't think there's really much to be said about "menus" versus "direct relation"... it's a bit hard to think of how that would apply here, except perhaps said "menu" type pop-ups or whatnot could be used for out-of-story material (hyperlinks to profiles when mentioning a character, for instance). Any virtual interface would probably need to best emulate the print medium, though, since the character of the NeS is very book-oriented, or theatrical script-oriented to be more accurate, so much of anything else would likely distract from its character.

Help me out, please! Post your questions, comments, criticisms, and analyses of your own!

[Gebohq]

Lens #56: The Lens of Transparency

The ideal interface becomes invisible to the player, letting the player’s imagination be completely immersed in the game world. To ensure invisibility, ask yourself these questions:
What are the player’s desires? Does the interface let the players do what they want?
Is the interface simple enough that with practice, players will be able to use it without thinking?
Do new players find the interface intuitive? If not, can it be made more intuitive somehow? Would allowing players to customize the controls help or hurt?
Does the interface work well in all situations, or are there cares (near a corner, going very fast, etc.) when it behaves in ways that will confuse the player?
Can players continue to use the interface well in stressful situations, or do they start fumbling with the controls or miss crucial information? If so, how can this be improved?
Does something confuse players about the interface? On which of the six interface arrows is it happening?
First, a couple notes. While the questions presented are still valid for use in analysis, there is a danger here to fall into what Rules of Play calls the "immersive fallacy" -- essentially that suspension of disbelief is paramount to everything else in the experience of the game, story, what-have-you. This is particularly common in the realm of visual digital mediums, and you can read an excerpt about it all from Rules of Play here (http://www.nyls.edu/user_files/1/2/23/144/216/217/218/zimmerman.pdf). As for the six interface arrows listed in The Art of Game Design, they are as follows:
Physical input -> Fictional world (ex. pressing a button to make a character jump)
Fictional world -> Physical output (ex. seeing and feeling the fictional environment)
Physical input -> Virtual interface (ex. clicking for pop-up information)
Virtual interface -> Fictional world (ex. using pop-up information to help have a character jump)
Fictional world -> Virtual interface (ex. pop-up information updating when a character dies)
Virtual interface -> Physical output (ex. seeing and feeling non-diegetic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diegetic#Diegesis_in_film) material)
In mediums other than video games, these arrows can overlap with each other more. With that said, I'll take a stab at analyzing with this lens now!

The desires of the readers and writers (which can be examined with Lens of the Player (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078260)) are to read and write an engaging story, and to (hopefully) do so in a collaborative spirit. The computer, internet connection, and message board, are all designed for written communication between people, so yes, the interface lets them do what they want. Even for the less computer-literate people (a number which grows smaller as the years pass), the interface is fairly straight-forward, requiring a level of nit-picking to find issues (the registration process, navigation in general, where to start if you're new, etc.) and certainly simple enough to use after practice without thinking. I'm fairly certain that the message board system is fairly intuitive for readers and writers, and if not, I'm unaware of how to make it more intuitive without an overhaul of the physical and virtual interface into the ideal hypothetical. Since "reading" and "typing" are essentially the only controls, there's nothing much that can be done for customization that isn't already present in the forum software or hardware of the user.

The only interface issues I've noticed that confuse the writers are 1) when they try to use indents and discover they have to use hard breaks with spaces and 2) sometimes when using the font color tags, there will be issues that seem to require the writer to change every line to "white" color to make it readable on standard forum theme. I'm sure there are some other glaring issues I'm forgetting as well. The NeS isn't really a time-sensitive project, even when aiming to post often, so it's unlikely place stress on the writer that would have them fumble with the interface (and again, something not that could be fixed even if there was an issue).

As for parts of the interface that might cause confusion, a poorly-written post could always confuse a reader (and writer) on the fictional world to physical output level, and if the update screen on the workshop or a character profile or the like isn't updated, or as with the interface issues mentioned before, any of the virtual interface elements could cause confusion.

The short of this lens, as it applies best to the NeS, is the traditional "help the reader [and writer] sense and believe they can interact with the fictional world." As I talked about at the start of this post, though, this does NOT mean the ultimate objective is to trick them into thinking the fictional world is real. They can usually do a good enough job of suspending their own disbelief when called for, provided the appropriate props and cues. "Realism" is not always the answer.

Was I not transparent enough in my analysis? Then please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #57: The Lens of Feedback

The feedback a player gets from the game is many things: judgment (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078967), reward (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082081), instruction (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079922), encouragement, and challenge (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080769). Use this lens to be sure your feedback loop is creating the experience you want by asking these questions at every moment in your game:
What do players need and want to know at this moment?
What do you want players to feel at this moment? How can you give feedback that creates that feeling?
What do the players want to feel at this moment? Is there an opportunity for them to create a situation where they will feel that?
What is the player’s goal (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850) at the moment? What feedback will help them toward that goal?
This is a lens that's supposed to be used moment-by-moment, and while doing so can be a lot of work, the effort can pay off. Since some of these require the "designer" (in this case, the writer) to answer, I'll use one of my own posts -- this one (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=29#post1057715) -- as an example for this lens. The short of the story post is a conversation between The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882) and Al Ciao (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1022639#post1022639) over temptations of powerplaying (i.e. to develop into a Mary Sue (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue)) versus the need to not be incompetently useless (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiotBall).

The readers and writers in this case need to know two major things in context of the narrative situation:
What happens next? Specifically here, how will stopping Rachel in the previous conflict affect the present characters?
What conflicts will grow for future posts to ripen and harvest? Specifically here, how might issues of powerplaying and idiocy affect characters like The Last True Evil, Al Ciao, and Gebohq?

When I wrote this post, I wanted the readers to feel that the apparent success of the heroes could prove to trigger problems later on (a common theme in NeSquared as a whole). For the writers, I wanted to both have them feel their contributions mattered by referencing previous material (namely the Death of the Potentials (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=12&pp=40#post530424) climax) and discourage them from what I felt was previous uncooperative posting (by associating it with powerplaying) while pointing out poor writing of my own (having Gebohq, the main character, be too ineffectual on multiple levels).

As for the readers, I'm not exactly sure what they would have wanted to feel at that moment, but as the medium is not active (not without becoming a writer or heavy discussion with another reader), they're limited to how they can create situations to feel what they want. As for the writers, they can always alter the story to how they feel it should go, since the NeS is fairly free-form in that manner. However, since the writers of NeS aren't strictly traditional writers or traditional game players, they might not feel rewarded enough as writers or feel too punished as players for 'playing' (and in fact, has happened).

The goal of the reader is, as always, to find out what happens next and to think of why things have happened. The goal of the writers is, as always, to engage readers and writers alike in an interesting, collaborative manner, and specifically at this point in the story, to develop the conflict of the heroes taking Thand's treasury. In short, I tried to do that by adding more conflict. In hindsight, I failed to do two very important things in context: to add levity (jokes, successes, etc.), and to point out that Rachel's lacking presence meant that the heroes would be (far more) at the mercy of Thand (a huge potential conflict, but also an issue of potentially discrediting Thand as a conflict-driving antagonist neither too ineffectual or too effectual).

As for the purpose of this lens as a whole, there's some things we can take away. For the reader and writer, it's important that details of character actions and the like remain meaningful. The reader (in theory) says what they like and don't like (or what engages and doesn't engage them) to judge and reward the efforts of the writer, and writers provide back with material the reader (hopefully) enjoys while retaining integrity to the character of the story to reward the reader for reading (and other writers for working collaboratively). Without feedback, the collaborative effort required for the NeS becomes an exercise in blind wandering at best and neglectfully abused otherwise. I'm doing my best now to, at the very least, give one piece of specific praise to each story post that is made on the workshop.

Speaking of feedback... *ahem*

POST YOUR FEEDBACK ON THESE LENSES!

You know the drill, people. Comments, questions, criticisms, an analysis of your own... show me that you're alive! (And of course, thank you all who have made the replies you have!)

[Gebohq]

Lens #58: The Lens of Juiciness

To call an interface “juicy” might seem kind of silly – although it is very common to hear an interface with very little feedback described as “dry.” Juicy interfaces are fun the moment you pick them up. To maximize juiciness, ask yourself these questions:
Is my interface giving the player continuous feedback for their actions? If not, why not?
Is second-order motion created by the actions of the player? Is this motion powerful and interesting?
Juicy systems reward the player many ways at once. When I give the player a reward, how many ways am I simultaneously rewarding them? Can I find more ways?
Juiciness... honestly, the author of The Art of Game Design can get a little wacky with some of these names sometimes. Still, I'm sure I've been accused of worse (Anatomic Scrabble as the name of one of Geb's Meta-Story qualities comes to mind).

The interface gives readers and writers plenty of potential for continuous feedback, but it does not. In part, this is because of the very medium the NeS exists in -- print, even in a message board system on the Internet, can only provide so many opportunities for feedback. Mostly, though, feedback is dependent on the readers and writers themselves, whether it be comments and the like outside the story or responding to previous story material in the current material being written. I imagine this is the case for several reasons: we don't always have anything we feel we can respond back significantly with, we're afraid of "cluttering" with comments and the like (even on the workshop) instead of writing more posts, we're afraid of giving criticism, we're lazy bums, and so on.

Second-order motion (the example used in The Art of Game Design being the movement of the head of a Swiffer mop (http://secretwave101.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/swif.jpg) made by twisting, etc. primarily with one's wrist) can certainly be created by a writer anytime they manage to include layers of subtext, double meanings, and otherwise conjuring elements of resonance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077322) and elegance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082612), though this is largely dependent on the skills (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1080051) of the writer. Writers are dependent on each other to create opportunities of second order motion as well.

As examined before with The Lens of Reward (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082081), the NeS (and its writers) could stand to be better at providing rewards, much less multiple ones per 'successful' action of the writer. The only real good way I can see this being improved is to have a solid, vocal reader base giving feedback often on posts. Lacking that, other writers can serve the same role (and really should do so anyway for more "knowledgeable" feedback). Having readily-available statistics for writers and their posts could help here again too.

Despite its apparent need for improvement, I'm fairly sure the interface (or NeS) would be considered "dry" in this context. This might be because even the best of print stories would probably be considered "dry" under this lens, and the ability for readers and writers to have any interactivity with the story and its writers makes it "juicy" in comparison.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #59: The Lens of Channels and Dimensions

Choosing how to map game information to channels and dimensions is the heart of designing your game interface. Use this lens to make sure you do it thoughtfully and well. As yourself these questions:
What data needs to travel to and from the player?
Which data is most important?
What channels do I have available to transmit this data?
Which channels are most appropriate for which data? Why?
Which dimensions are available on the different channels?
How should I use those dimensions?
I'm sure some wise professor would tell me how seemingly non-applicable lenses like this one could actually show some great insight, but I'm afraid I'm not that wise. Still, I'll go through with it for kicks. For those of you uncertain, "channels" of information in this case is simply the means to convey the various parts ("data") of the interface, particularly the "fictional world -> virtual interface" and "virtual interface -> physical output" flows mentioned in this lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1085643#post1085152): showing the number of a type of item you might have, the current environment, current physical status, currently equipped items, stuff like that. Dimensions, in this case, simply means how a channel of information is shown: font size, font color, font type, things that tend to reinforce information presented in the channels -- the Narrator in the NeS is typically designated in all italics, for example.

The data for the NeS tends to be the who, what, where, when, why and how of the story.

The data that needs to travel from the reader is only comments and the like outside the story on the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373), if anything at all. The data that needs to travel to the reader is as follows per post:
CONTEXT: Where (and when, if applicable) is the scene taking place? Concrete details can help here.
CHARACTERS: Who is present in the scene, and who is saying and doing what? What choices are they making?
CONFLICT: What is at stake? What's left to chance and challenges in point-of-views? If applicable, how is it resolved?
From that, the reader should be able to know why they care to read the story, the conventions and styles to expect, etc. The writer needs to know the above as well as possibly the following:
CONTEXT: What else could be important for future scenes?
CHARACTERS: What explicitly is the motivation of the current (or upcoming) character? In short, what we have the character profiles (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370) for in large part.
CONFLICT: What ideas do the writers currently have for how present conflicts could be resolved?
In short, this is what we have the workshop thread (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18373) for in part. As for information that needs to travel FROM the writer, basically anything the writer uses to tell a story, which in this case, is usually the ability to type words.

Data that's most important for the reader is likely relating to CONFLICT, as characters and context and the like are mostly means to highlight that. More accurately, though, so long as it's engaging, conflict would come secondary to CHARACTERS... something of a plot vs. story thing as known in the NeS. For the writers, again, information about CHARACTERS not explicit but critical to the story need to be shown.

Channels available for the NeS is typically text on posts in threads (the story thread and the out-of-story thread), with data pertinent to the reader on the story thread and data pertinent to the writer on the out-of-story thread. Dimensions available include bold, italics, underline, text alignment, lists, links, images, quotes, strike-through, "spoiler" tags, font types, font sizes, font colors, emoticons, and while discouraged here, attachments. They're used mostly to highlight and stylize various story elements or information (bold something emphasized by a character, link to a character profile, make text smaller for someone talking quieter, etc.).

Don't flip the channel! Stay in this dimension and post your comments, questions, criticisms, and analyses of your own, please!

[Gebohq]

Lens #60: The Lens of Modes

An interface for any complexity is going to require modes. To make sure your modes make the player feel powerful and in control and do not confuse or overwhelm, ask yourself these questions:
What modes do I need in my game? Why?
Can any modes be collapsed or combined?
Are any of the modes overlapping? If so, can I put them on different input channels?
When the game changes modes, how does the player know that? Can the game communicate the mode change in more than one way?
Modes, in the context of game design, simply means different rule sets and sub-sets within your game. Anytime in a video game where your controls change because you're driving instead of walking, for example, is a type of mode change.

For the NeS, only 2 "modes" are really needed (reading and writing a post), though it could be further divided into 4 (in the story and out of the story). The in-story and out-of-story used to be combined before, but a separate thread seemed better (though perhaps being mindful of the out-of-story material via "the realm of the writers" might still be useful), so no, they can't really be collapsed or combined. Fortunately, there isn't an overlap in these "modes" either, and it's pretty self-evident when the modes change ("hey, there's a text field! I can write!"). It really doesn't need to do anything different here.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #61: The Lens of the Interest Curve

Exactly what captivates the human mind often seems different for every person, but the most pleasurable patterns of that captivation are remarkably similar for everyone [using this in conjunction with Lens #16: The Lens of the Player can help]. To see how a player’s interest in your experience changes over time, ask yourself these questions:
If I draw an interest curve of my experience, how is it generally shaped?
Does it have a hook?
Does it have gradually rising interest, punctuated by periods of rest?
Is there a grand finale, more interesting than everything else?
What changes would give me a better interest curve?
Is there a fractal structure to my interest curve? Should there be?
Do my intuitions about the interest curve match the observed interest of the players? If I ask playtesters to draw an interest curve, what does it look like?
Now we're getting back more to lenses that apply more obviously here! I know which curves interest me...erm, narrative ones, of course!

For the reader, I imagine the interest curve for a story-arc (the most natural experience to pick) would probably be something like the attached picture below. Perhaps more accurately, though, if they're reading a current story-arc, it's more likely to be "WHEE!" followed by disinterest in waiting for even a day for an update, much less weeks, and that's assuming the particular post interests them. I think the interest curve for NeS as a whole generally fits a good interest curve though. For the writer, I'm not sure an interest curve could be as easily drawn, but I imagine it's similar to that of a reader.

The NeS is not really short on character, so the usual "interesting hook" angle isn't too hard (assuming the type of story is their thing at all) -- familiarity and making it feel less of an inside joke are bigger concerns in this case.

For any given story-arc, I'm not sure it really follows a gradual rising interest with periods of rest. It seems more often that there's an interest spike at the beginning, and definitely one towards the end, but more often squiggles of random "eh" in the middle. Fortunately, most story-arcs DO end in a rather good "grand finale" as far as I'm aware. Changes that would probably help make a better interest curve pretty much involve a more "structured" goal for the narrative, so that progression and the like is visible in the narrative, as opposed to just flopping around from the initial conflict to the climax.

A fractal interest curve is DEFINITELY good for the whole of NeS (to see the pattern of interest curves in the whole thread, in a story arc, per post, etc.) and should definitely be something to keep in mind. As for whether there IS one, I'd say it can definitely be seen, if not perfect. I don't think it's a mistake that the NeS has been referred to as a "plotfractal" (which is odd, since references to 'plot' are almost always meant to be bad).

As for whether my intuitions on the interest curves match the observations of the "players" (readers and writers), that is something I don't know. So you know what that means...

That's right! Flaunt your interest curves! Comment, question, criticize, and analyze until the cows come home. And then wonder why there are cows at your home, because you probably don't live on a farm. Probably.

[Gebohq]

Lens #62: The Lens of Inherent Interest

Some things are just interesting. Use this lens to be sure your game has inherently interesting qualities by asking these questions:
What aspects of my game will capture the interest of a player immediately?
Does my game let the player see or do something they have never seen or done before?
What base instincts does my game appeal to? Can it appeal to more of them?
What higher instincts does my game appeal to? Can it appeal to more of those?
Does dramatic change and anticipation of dramatic change happen in my game? How can it be more dramatic?
So is the NeS inherently interesting? Hmm...

Well, what does immediately capture interest? For the readers, I'm really not sure, but I'd hope it's the story's absurd-comedic style, its mix of epic and mundane, and its general embrace of character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1086359&styleid=15#post1082855). For the writers, it's the ability to co-write a story without the fear of "not being good enough" or "messing it up" (once they accept that premise, that is). Perhaps the sheer persistence of the story interests both new readers and writers as well, if likely also intimidating. The idea of a continuous online, collaborative story that's continued for more than 10 days, much less 10 years, is certainly something most have never seen before, and what characterizes the NeS and its story I don't believe is common either.

As hinted at in the analysis with the Lens of Needs (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078729), the baser instincts the NeS appeals to are mostly those of belonging in a community, and the higher instincts that of self-esteem, creativity and self-actualization. Other baser and higher instincts the NeS in general might appeal to include the illusion of control and power (for the writers in writing a world) and knowing (ranging from something like gossip to truth when reading). More specifically, baser instincts within the story are the usual staples (sex, violence, juvenile humor) and higher instincts the usual as well (love, problems with evil, irony). As for dramatic change and anticipation, the NeS is primarily a story, so I'm rather sure it does this on some level, though I have noticed that it's more common for anticipation to be lacking at times (resolving conflicts too quickly). I'm sure there can always be something more done to appeal to both, but I can't really think of any particulars that wouldn't violate the character of the NeS.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself.

[Cool Matty]

Speaking on Lens #61: You can draw a lot of parallels to Left 4 Dead 1/2 and how the Director works in the game. Valve did a lot of research and learned a lot of things about how people want pacing in their games. The Director actually strives to achieve a player experience similar to the graph you drew, with highs and lows to allow players to breathe after a hard fight, but build anticipation for the next. All with the promise of a big ending. The large fights in the game are aptly named "Crescendo Events" for that reason.

What's really interesting with what Valve did in the games, is they actually created an AI to make its own "story" so to speak, every playthrough. Every time it will be slightly different, and even better, it will be tweaked toward each team's individual play style and skill level.

[Gebohq]

Lens #63: The Lens of Beauty

We love to experience things of great beauty. Use this lens to make your game a joy forever by asking yourself these questions:
What elements make up my game? How can each one be more beautiful?
Some things are not beautiful by themselves, but are beautiful in combination. How can the elements of my game be composed in a way that is poetic and beautiful?
What does beauty mean within the context of my game?
While elements of the NeS that could be evaluated by its beauty could include any number of things previously mentioned, such as its experience (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684), the holographic design (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076775) of the elemental tetrad (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076586), the themes that unify (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076970) it, whatever generally provides pleasure (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078389), its flow (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078564), its functional space (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079022), its emergent qualities (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079342), the actions (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079561) taken, its elegence (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082612), its character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082855), what it inspires us to imagine (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083112), and how it provides control (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084611) (in the context of interfaces), I'm uncertain which of these best benefit from this particular analysis. To default with a rather simplistic take, the elements that make up the NeS are primarily those of describing characters, their words and actions (which often drive conflict) and the context of any given scene. These can be made more beautiful with the staples of good writing: concrete descriptions, strong verbs, and metaphors and other such poetic language that help show the story in a (literally) attractive light.

Beauty in combination... sounds like something that should hit the mark with the NeS. As I've hammered home again and again, collaboration among writers will help make the story more beautiful, all working to solve the narrative problems together. Themes help unify, of course, as does proper functional space. Otherwise, I think the NeS seems to do a fairly decent job of seemingly combining elements together in a beautiful way as it is.

But what does beauty mean in the context of the NeS? Perhaps it involves elegance, or truth to its character. Perhaps, if beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, beauty is the experience of the NeS, or its flow, or the imagination it inspires. Perhaps beauty is more concretely found in its elements of aesthetics, mechanics, narrative and technology. Perhaps beauty is the freedom allowed in the actions and control. Perhaps beauty is the love the writers pour forth into their effort and the brotherhood among each other. Perhaps beauty is nothing more than the pleasures it elicits. I think involves all these things, but personally, what I find uniquely beautiful about the NeS is the time I've spent with it, and how that time with it has gifted my life as I've given in my own.

Do you find the NeS beautiful? Do you feel judging by its beauty is even right? Comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

P.S. CoolMatty, you're absolutely right. That's one of the reasons why Valve rocks.

[Gebohq]

Lens #64: The Lens of Projection

One key indicator that someone is enjoying an experience is that they have projected their imaginations into it. When they do this, their enjoyment of the experience increases significantly in a sort of vicious cycle. To examine whether your game is well-suited to induce projection from your players, ask yourself these questions:
What is there in my game that players can relate to? What else can I add?
What is there in my game that will capture a player’s imagination? What else can I add?
Are there places in the game that players have always wanted to visit?
Does the player get to be a character they could imagine themselves to be?
Are there other characters in the game that the players would be interested to meet (or to spy on)?
Do the players get to do things that they would like to do in real life, but can’t?
Is there an activity in the game that once a player starts doing, it is hard to stop?
For readers and writers, I would hope that they can relate to the characters (for the writers, at least their own). This could include characters like Gebohq and Cris B. as well as the "writer" characters too. The only thing that can really be "added" is just to be mindful as a writer that you would like to have the readers (and fellow writers) be able to project themselves in the characters they write. As for what captures their imaginations, I'd like to think it's things like story conventions made literal laws of physics, plot-holes, crazy characters and locations. Speaking of, I'm sure it's no mistake that The Arena became a prominent setting -- there was something about it that made it easy for people to imagine sitting in the bleachers. Places like the Hall of Heroes and the Haunted House of Heroes are places I think readers would like to visit, though settings has usually been neglected in the story-telling of the NeS.

For those who don't write (and don't have their own characters), I'd like to think that the "main protagonist" Gebohq is someone they could imagine being, and characters like Thand, Otter, Rachel, Losien, TLTE, Al, Krig, and the like are characters they would like to visit (perhaps from a safe distance). Any of these characters, at the very least, get to live in a world that's generally far more exciting (even if it's played to be mundane) and dictated not by laws of reality but of comic and dramatic conventions. The characters are not (as) unique as most main characters in a story, though, which may leave the reader feeling the characters only do things they "could do" (even if that's not really the case).

As for an activity that is engaging, for the readers, they are solely dependent on their ability to project with the characters, so their engagement is highly dependent on if they feel the characters can't stop doing something (they MUST go on a quest, not just FEEL LIKE going on a quest, for example). For writers, I would hope it's writing! I think that is the case when other writers write regularly and collaboratively with their material.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #65: The Lens of the Story Machine

A good game is a machine that generates stories when people play it. To make sure your story machine is as productive as possible, ask yourself these questions:
When players have different choices about how the achieve goals, new and different stories can arise. How can I add more of these choices?
Different conflicts lead to different stories. How can I allow more types of conflict to arise from my game?
When players can personalize the characters and setting, they will care more about story outcomes, and similar stories can start to feel very different. How can I let players personalize the story?
Good stories have good interest curves. Do my rules lead to stories with good interest curves?
A story is only good if you can tell it. Who can your players tell the story to that will actually care?
In attempting to apply narratives to games, especially video games, two general models are used. One is called "string of peals" which is essentially a traditional narrative that pulls the player into a linear ride with "pearls" (spaces) of freedom. In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocarina_of_time), for instance, the story requires you to collect various gems and medallions in a specific order before defeating the evil Ganondorf. The other narrative model used is called the story machine, where the game essentially provides a narrative space with potential conflicts and the like that the player can more or less create themselves. The Sims (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sims) is a typical example of a game that is driven by such a story machine, as it has no traditional "plot" but does have many moments of potential conflicts (building a home, building a relationship with family and loved ones, etc.) in a narrative space. Some games can offer varying degrees of both these models too, such as Fallout 3.

At least one major engine that drives the NeS is certainly the story machine. It offers any number of potential choices, conflicts, and personal characters and settings for the writers, and unlike writing a traditional story of one's own, the NeS certainly gives the illusion of a self-automated story machine, not only because of what the other writers write, but because at this point, there is definitely a rich mythology both in concrete story posts of past and in the narrative space of the NeS that can be rather intuitive (if initially hard to accept). I would actually be hesitant to push for MORE choices, conflicts and personalization, as it would likely become too overwhelming (I would argue a lot of "sandbox" games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_game) can have this problem) as well as deter from the spirit of collaboration. Still, these questions should not be forgotten too, as it is the freedom in choices, conflicts and personalization that often draw people into the NeS in the first place. And, as observed with Lens #61 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1086143), the interest curves in the NeS could prove to at least be better focused in its rising action, but otherwise, most of the story-arcs in NeS have a fairly good interest curve (with at least an interesting initial conflict and climax of some sort).

Now, as for having readers and writers being able to tell these stories to anyone who cares, this is the kick in the butt as far as issues seen in the NeS with this lens. If the rest of you are like me, I find it very difficult to tell any one story-arc to someone not involved in the NeS in large part because I'm fairly certain they won't care. All other potential factors aside (not being a very good oral storyteller, my audience wouldn't be interest in anything resembling my stories regardless of how good they are, etc.), I'm just not sure if the story-arcs in the NeS necessarily tell engaging stories to those not involved. Perhaps it really is just my inability to give a good "backcover summary" of just about any story (NeS or not), or perhaps better interest curves could easily fix the issue if it is in fact a problem. In any case, though, I think the writers need to do their best to not only be good "players" (or even a good audience) but good "designers" as well, not unlike traditional writers and game designers, to best avoid this issue.

Care to kick the story machine into gear? The get to writing story posts! Otherwise, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #66: The Lens of the Obstacle

A goal (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850) with no obstacles is not worth pursuing. Use this lens to make sure your obstacles are ones that your players will want to overcome. Ask yourself these questions:
What is the relationship between the main character and the goal? Why does the character care about it?
What are the obstacles between the character and the goal?
Is there an antagonist who is behind the obstacles? What is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist?
Do the obstacles gradually increase in difficulty?
Some say “The bigger the obstacle, the better the story.” Are your obstacles big enough? Can they be bigger?
Great stories often involve the protagonist transforming in order to overcome the obstacle. How does your protagonist transform?
Ah, the obstacle, a cornerstone of conflict. I will be using this lens in relation to the characters in the NeS, though, not in relation to the readers or writers (though they hopefully empathize as players would to their character-avatar). Therefore, goals will be re-examined here as well as needed. I will be using the primary storyline in the current story-arc, In Search of Opportunity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639), as my example source for this analysis.

The main character in the current story-arc, as with most all the story-arcs in the NeS, is arguably Gebohq (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post375230), though The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882) is at least a close second. For Gebohq, his own goals are as follows:
To be the best hero/person he can be (overall)
To find and loot a legendary treasury, specifically a crown which is said to protect its wearer from mental manipulation and possibly folly
Gebohq cares about that particular treasure because he has proven to be seemingly susceptible to manipulation, and if he is to be the best hero and person he can be, he feels he needs this to do so. This goal was placed forth mostly by his accompanying party, as he would otherwise feel uneasy about looting the treasury. There are other, supplementary goals he has as well, such as loving Rachel (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post891128) (without destroying existence), attempting to help his friend Al Ciao (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1022639#post1022639) overcome his addiction to powerplaying, and likely deep in his unconscious mind, dealing with his destiny to destroy his friend and sister Losien (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572324)'s lover, The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882).

The obstacles between Gebohq and his goals are as follows:
The driving antagonist, Master Thand (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572894), who owns the treasury.
Rachel, as she is a Protector of the Plotfractal, charged with keeping conflict high in the NeS, as well as bears anger towards Gebohq for spurning her love despite mutual feelings.
The others in his party, who would likely loot the treasury in ways that would have him betray his heroic principles (such as TLTE or the NeScholars) or unintentionally make the goal more difficult (through idiocy of Krig the Viking (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250879), for example) or even intentionally (such as Antestarr (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572324) wishing to supplant Gebohq with Losien).
His missing potential (literally), which has lead, among other things, for a need to medicate his depression.
The general nature and laws of the world of NeS, which necessitate that Gebohq's goal attract any number of seemingly random obstacles.
His own strengths (moral principles, wisdom, love) and weaknesses (cowardice, idiocy, relative lack of power).
The relationship between the primary antagonist (Thand) and Gebohq is actually somewhat unique, in that there isn't the hostility that is present in most of the others in his party. This is in part because of several reasons: he tends to love his enemies regardless of the relationship between him and them, he has had no clear and personal understanding of Thand acting hostile (since Gebohq was suffering from the worst of his depression at the one time Thand has acted hostile), and he knows that Thand was instrumental in allowing Gebohq to discover his love for Rachel. Still, in this story-arc, he also now believes (correctly to some dangerous degree) that Thand can manipulate him, possibly against his goals as a hero, and stands in his way for the one treasure -- the crown -- that could rectify that issue.

So far, the obstacles have not gradually increased in difficulty, but instead have followed the typical pattern that have cropped up in the interest curves (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1086143) of past story-arcs: the initial conflict starts out strong -- perhaps too strong -- and the conflicts up to that point have fluctuated in varying lower degrees. This is primarily due to the difficulty of writing for Thand, who can make practically any claim as irrefutable with his ancient wisdom and perform virtually any action (even artificially controlling the conventions that govern the NeS itself) with his infinite knowledge. My initial idea, where Thand confronts Gebohq and the others to draw out Rachel and use her as a check against them, didn't pan out as I'd hoped and only served to set the initial obstacle too high. The goal intended for the writers (to make Thand an active antagonist) however, meant for me that consideration for obstacle order had to be placed aside so as to not discourage writers from formulating potential conflicts at all.

The obstacles in this story-arc, particularly Thand, are certainly big enough. While Thand himself certainly needs to be no bigger (he's a mountain of an obstacle as he is), the other obstacles could certainly be played up to act in "bigger" roles, and could help to keep Thand as an active antagonist that could be more easily written for.

As for the protagonist transforming, I don't know, and that's the beauty of the NeS. The possibilities are all there: Gebohq may claim the crown and be better protected or more dependent on its use, he may claim the crown which grants him clearer wisdom, he may decide that claiming the crown is against his heroic principles and strengthen them in the process of rejecting the crown, and attempting any number of the side-goals may transform him as well. As the title of the story-arc implies, the opportunities of all kinds are present.

Don't let me be an obstacle in your way! Post those comments, questions, criticisms, and observations with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #67: The Lens of Simplicity and Transcendence

To make sure you have the right mix of simplicity and transcendence, ask yourself these questions:
How is my world simpler than the real world? Can it be simpler in other ways?
What kind of transcendent power do I give to the player? How can I give even more without removing challenge from the game?
Is my combination of simplicity and transcendence contrived, or does it provide my players with a special kind of wish fulfillment?
Simplicity, in relation to the complexity of the real world, should not be confused with elegance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082612) and looks for almost the opposite things from Lens #42 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082386), while transcendence, in relation to what power most of us have in the real world, should not be confused with resonance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077322).

The world of NeS is simpler than the real world because it is a story world -- a world governed by story conventions, tropes, and other elements (in part possibly propagated by the assumption that the readers are idiots (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons)) that are generally more intuitive to people than the real world. The simplicity could potentially be made more simple by curbing its absurdity and dislike of plot, but this runs the risk of also curbing its character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082855), so simplicity is likely to be best encouraged through emphasis on the world of NeS ruled by its meta-fictional laws.

One other aspect that also leads into part of how the reader is given transcendent power is that, (theoretically) in stories, one of those powerful story conventions includes the law of conservation of detail (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLawOfConservationOfDetail) -- that is, everything in the world of NeS has some sort of significance, which does not necessarily feel like the case in the real world. The reader also transcends through its characters when said characters often take on comic book/cartoon-esque qualities as well as generally benefiting from the story conventions that drive the NeS world. I would again be hesitant to think that the NeS would benefit from more potential for transcendence, since that would potentially inhibit the mundane quality that juxtapositions the transcendentally epic quality of the NeS experience (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684).

In any case, I don't think the balance of simplicity and transcendence is contrived, since they are the natural results of the meta-fictional story world of the NeS. It certainly provides wish fulfillment in that the heroes we identify with often do not seem to suffer the same consequences that one would in real life (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroInsurance), as well as rest assured that good seems to always win (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JusticeWillPrevail), though these fantasies (and the fantasy/escapist element as a whole) are challenged, and continue to be challenged, in the current NeS thread. At the very least, though, it will always give the wish fulfillment for the writers of having control over a world (though even this is somewhat challenged with characters like Young (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post350704)) and, for the readers, of living in a world (theoretically) reigned by the number one narrative rule -- to always remain engaging and not dull (though I hope to somewhat challenge even this with my idea mentioned in the last paragraph of Lens #11 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077386)).

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself.

[Gebohq]

Lens #68: The Lens of the Hero’s Journey

Many heroic stories have similar structure. Use this lens to make sure you haven’t missed out on any elements that might improve your story. Ask yourself these questions:
Does my story have elements that qualify it as a heroic story?
If so, how does it match up with the structure of the Hero’s Journey?
Would my story be improved by including more archetypal elements?
Does my story match this form so closely that it feels hackneyed?
The Hero's Journey (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitleh1ltpj3ph282?from=Main.TolkiensCycle), for those who don't know, is a typical plot structure found in a number of stories. The structure is as follows (as The Art of Game Design lists them, though the link provides better details):
Begins with establishing the hero's home/world as ordinary.
The hero is presented with the call to adventure.
The hero initially refuses and/or jumps at the call.
The hero meets with the mentor.
The hero crosses the threshold into the world of adventure.
The hero faces tests, meets allies and confronts enemies in adjusting to the adventure world.
The hero encounters setbacks and needs to try something new.
The hero faces a peak life or death crisis.
The hero is rewarded for success.
The hero returns to their ordinary world with problems still to resolve.
The hero faces a greater crisis that involves everything previously learned.
The hero's journey is truly complete and has made better the ordinary world.
It's a structure that can be easily seen in Star Wars: A New Hope, The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings, and can be useful to examine in comparison to the story at hand.

There are certainly elements of the NeS that qualify it as a heroic story: its main protagonist, Gebohq, is a professional freelance hero, and his heroic principles (altruism in particular) are often tested. However, no story-arc (or even the story as a whole) match up much with the Hero's Journey structure. There is often a call to adventure, and there are certainly trials, but there isn't usually a sense of an "ordinary world" that the characters initially live in or return to, or any sort of mentor figure (though Thand has somewhat played this role at times) -- the story-arcs that have followed it more are the TACC story-arc (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18360&page=34&pp=40#post249847) which parodied Lord of the Rings, 'AGE 2 - The Subplot - of NeShattered (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18342&page=2&pp=40), and Story Arcade (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=24#post955968).

Having this structure may help future story-arcs remain accessible to new and more casual readers, as its structure allows for both more focus on "learning the new world of adventure" (with a mentor even) as well as less dependency on previous story-arcs (not making the reader feel they're required to read it all), and in the distant future, it may work as a general basis for a whole thread. Otherwise, though, I would be hesitant to try and place such archetypal elements in the NeS unless it emerged naturally from the story-writing process. The NeS structure (surprisingly) isn't so close to this story structure as to feel hackneyed by it, though this is actually one of my concerns for the novel in progress.

Answer the call to adventure yourself by commenting, questioning, criticizing, and analyzing with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #69: The Lens of the Weirdest Thing

Having weird things in your story can help give meaning to unusual game mechanics – it can capture the interest of the player, and it can make your world seem special. Too many things that are too weird, though, will render your story puzzling and inaccessible. To make sure your story is the good kind of weird, ask yourself these questions:
What’s the weirdest thing in my story?
How can I make sure that the weirdest thing doesn’t confuse or alienate the player?
If there are multiple weird things, should I maybe get rid of, or coalesce, some of them?
If there is nothing weird in my story, is the story still interesting?
First, I must rant a while before I take a stab at these questions.

There's a school of thought that accessibility and appeal is king in entertainment. This is understandable, not just from a money-grubbing and shallow viewpoint, but for anyone wishing to communicate their ideas. No matter how well-crafted your story might be, no matter how informative or innovative or inspiring or the like your idea might be, your idea won't reach your audience if you don't help them want to grasp and engage with it. Just as your want your game play mechanics (and technology and aesthetics) to be accessible (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083868) and appealing, so too is it good to make your story accessible and appealing. People who know me are well aware that I prefer simplicity, readability, and attempts to reach as wide an audience as I feel possible.

However, people who know me are also well aware that I can be a very weird person. This isn't something I aim to be; I'm just a weird person and I some rather strange things as much as I like my painfully boring and vanilla things. I do not empathize well with people who are attached to the familiar, as you might guess from my passion with the improvised and weird-filled NeS. I make an effort at times to be "normal" but I also firmly believe that character (such as, but not limited to, what was mentioned in this lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082855)) should not be compromised. I am therefore uneasy whenever there someone speaks about not being "too weird" in some social/communicative context, because while I don't believe one should aim to be weird for the sake of being weird on an anti-social level, I do believe one should be truthful, wholly truthful and nothing but truthful when it comes to being who you are. There are, of course, many complications that arise from this (justifiable and not so justifiable), but the solution from those problems is not to deny who you are, possible flaws or misunderstandings included.

Now, to move onto examining the NeS with this lens.

To pick what the weirdest thing in the NeS would be difficult, to say the least, as it is packed with weird and absurd things, and I am likely the wrong person to ask for listing what is weird about the NeS, much less the weirdest of them all. If I was forced to guess, though, I would say the concept of a plot-hole as a "good" thing rather than as a "bad" thing. In a world like the NeS, where plot is a thing that controls lives and lives itself for the end of things (it's just a story without a structure that resolves), plot-holes allows for characters freedom to do the unexpected and impossible. On a more practical level with reality, plot-holes are essential in a collaborative writing effort on a large scale such as ours, and to try and deny them would destroy the experience.

Attempting not to alienate and confuse readers and writers with something like the plot-hole as a good thing is something I've struggled with again and again. To parallel with what I've said in my rant, I don't want this weird element of the NeS to alienate and confuse, but it undeniably does. I can tell writers that it is critical to accept this weirdness, and they often can, and (in theory) I can attempt to help readers find the concept accessible and appealing through analogies and metaphors of freedom and slavery, as well as through giving them a mix of objective distance and personal engagement through meta-ficiton and meta-narrative respectively. However, in the end, I think if the NeS wishes to remain true to its character (as I think it should), its community needs to accept that it will always have a weirdness to it that some people just won't be able to accept.

Is it possible to get rid of, or coalesce, some of the weirdness that is present in the NeS? Are there things that are weird that wouldn't rob the NeS of its character if removed or economized? I honestly don't know, and I wish I could be objective enough to analyze the NeS on this matter. I am not, though, and it would require at least the effort of the other writers, if not a impartial outsider, to sit down together with me, make a list of its weird things, and ask each other if they could be worked upon. I remain optimistic enough to believe that there are plenty of other methods to help improve its accessibility and appeal without resorting to making the NeS 'more normal'.

In any case, the NeS is by far NOT short on weird things -- it can make the mundane things exciting and the traditional epic things as arguably mundane through its sheer weirdness.

Weirded out yet? Comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself about just how weird the NeS is!

[Tracer]

You should watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTWvsGA77T4

It's Harvey Smith discussing the making of Deus Ex and Deus Ex 2 with Warren Spector in some kind of game design class. He talks about accessibility (one of the problems with Deus Ex 2 is that it was too dumbed down).

[Gebohq]

Lens #70: The Lens of Story

Ask yourself these questions:
Does my game really need a story? Why?
Why will players be interested in this story?
How does the story support the other parts of the tetrad (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076586) (aesthetics, technology, gameplay)? Can it do a better job?
How do the other parts of the tetrad (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076586) support the story? Can they do a better job?
How can my story be better?
Hmm... the NeS, the Never-ending Story, without a story? Well, let's go ahead and proceed with this lens on a hypothetical blank slate.

Does the experience (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684) of the NeS require a story? Why?
Yes, the NeS requires a story, because it is the critical means of drawing readers and writers through a unifying experience that lasts for even a few posts, nevermind a few years. However, the NeS does not require a plot in the same way it requires a story. "What distinction am I making between story and plot?" you might be asking. In this context, story is purely a narrative essence without structure and logic; story involves characters that aren't necessarily consistent, events that don't necessarily proceed from reasonable causes, and styles, points-of-views, conflicts, backdrops and themes that don't always mesh, yet still remain (theoretically) engaging. Plot, on the other hand, is the same reigned under control, potentially even at the cost of squashing the story to death so that it is no longer engaging. Without at least story, though, the act of improvised collaboration, nor the act of witnessing the efforts of said improvised collaborations, would prove to be engaging.

Why will players be interested in this story?
Readers will be interested in this story because it's often funny in its absurdity, and the story also provides a modern fantasy world not too often seen to my knowledge (a world heavily influenced by meta-fictional magic as well as the juxtapositions of epic and mundane, classical and popular culture, etc.). The story has a rich character to it, and they can simply enjoy the story in its present scene without being taxed with recalling details of plot.

Writers will be interested in this story because it allows them to write in an improvised, collaborative effort that works with its narrative. Plot, which can intimidate even skilled writers, is the enemy, so they can feel confident to write an engaging story without fear of plot punishing imperfections.

How does the story support the aesthetics, technology, and mechanics of the NeS and visa-versa? Can it do a better job?
The story supports all three of those as means of explaining their purposes: why there is mostly only text, why it's on a message board and why it has the format it does (loosely through the mentions of world of writers in the story). In turn, those elements help strengthen the meta-fictional style that characterizes the NeS so well. The story is by far the dominant element of the tetrad, though, and the other three would have to be more seriously considered in balance if the NeS experience were to ever prominently develop in other mediums (such as the webcomic (http://nes.sorrowind.net) for example).

How can my story be better?
Well, for one, I'm hoping these lenses will help, as will having a wiki-type resource to draw from for future writing and the like. But speaking from a purely narrative standpoint, I've always felt the paramount action that could be taken to improve the story is to put it on a diet and exercise program. Weed down as many characters and conflicts as we can, then focus more on the fewer characters and conflicts left to make them stronger. Attempts in the past have not been terribly successful though, as with most attempts to lose fat (http://www.cracked.com/funny-4180-diet-products/), though I believe it is the biggest step that can be taken to a better story for both readers and writers. Beyond that, I must of course push my usual emphasis that writers need to be able to improvise and collaborate as best as they can, which means communication with each other!

Besides that, however, some of the other tips from The Art of Game Design not already covered aren't bad either, such as narrative consistency (because while we shouldn't fear plot, we shouldn't also ignore it, for antagonists drive a story!), use cliches judiciously, and having a "map" of the world to help bring it to life.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself.

EDIT: Also, I watched the video linked, Tracer (I think it was just 2 parts, right?) Good stuff! I rather liked reading the postmortems in the Game Developer magazine I used to have a subscription to as well. It only goes to remind me that, ultimately, I'm afforded great luxuries of freedom and the like when it comes to working with the NeS, and I hope to be able to craft games and animated stories on par with those made by companies like Nintendo and Pixar (I just saw the previews for upcoming Nintendo products and watched Toy Story 3 recently too... :) ).

[Gebohq]

Lens #71: The Lens of Freedom

A feeling of freedom is one of the things that separate games from other forms of entertainment. To make sure your players feel as free as possible, ask yourself these questions:
When do my players have freedom of action? Do they feel free at these times?
When are they constrained? Do they feel constrained at these times?
Are there any places I can let them feel more free than they do now?
Are there any places where they are overwhelmed by too much freedom?
Hey, looks like the NeS has this in common too, moreso than even games, probably too much in some cases...

For the readers, actually, they don't have much freedom of action; the readers only have the freedoms that the characters appear to have. Fortunately, this is pretty desired from most readers, and should they want to get more involved, they have the freedom to become writers (or at least talk with them easier than with most books and the like). For the writers, they really have the freedom to do just about anything, though ideally, they should be constrained with attempts to be engaging and collaborative (with improvisation as well as traditional storytelling techniques such as consistency). The writers might not feel as free as they actually are because attempts to be engaging and collaborative can be challenging in itself, and they might be placing too much emphasis on traditional storytelling techniques of plot above being engaging and collaborative.

There isn't really much that can be done to provide more freedom (other than to emphasis that plot should not be as constraining as with most stories), though there's actually a fair amount of feeling of freedom as it is. There is likely a lot of times when writers might feel overwhelmed by too much freedom (especially if they treat plot as it should be treated), but fortunately, this too can be curbed with elements of indirect freedom, which will be covered in a future lens coming soon!

As always, please feel free to comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this thread yourself.

[Gebohq]

Lens #72: The Lens of Indirect Control

Every designer has a vision of what they would like the players to do to have an ideal play experience. To help ensure the players do these things of their own free will, ask yourself these questions:
Ideally, what would I like the players to do?
Can I set constraints to get players to do it?
Can I set goals to get players to do it?
Can I design my interface to get players to do it?
Can I use visual design to get players to do it?
Can I use in-game characters to get players to do it?
Can I use music or sound to get players to do it?
Is there some other method I can use to coerce players toward ideal behavior without impinging on their feeling of freedom?
CONTROL! LIMITED, INDIRECT CONTROL! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Erm... right. Moving on...

Ideally, what would I like the readers and writers to do?
I'd like the readers to read (duh), give feedback, build and maintain the wiki-type site I hope will be available in the not-too-distant future, hook in other readers, and do whatever may help hold a solid, peaceful reader community.

For the writers, I'd like them to post as frequently and regularly as possible (a post a day, though more than that may cause things to feel crowded), to write as collaboratively with the other writers as possible (as well as work together in general, such as getting involved in this thread), to improvise comfortably when needed, to give feedback and build a writing community similar (and tied together with) the reader one.

Can I set constraints to get readers and writers to do it?
Beyond throwing around "COLLABORATE AND IMPROVISE" a lot in perhaps something resembling rules (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079922) and discouraging those who don't, not really. Setting examples is probably the best I can think of to encourage the readers and writers to do so.

Can I set goals (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850) to get readers and writers to do it?
Well, I think what I want the readers and writers to do are the goals of the NeS, so...yes? I feel like I should be able to figure out goals more specific for this lens, but I'm drawing a blank.

Can I design my interface (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084611) to get readers and writers to do it?
Ideally, an interface system could be designed to help, but practically, there isn't much that can be done with the interface.

Can I use visual design to get readers and writers to do it?
No, but I might be able to focus the NeS so that the readers and writers themselves visualize in a similar framework to an improvisational theater experience. Much of it is already present in the story, so it wouldn't take much more to focus it.

Can I use in-game characters to get readers and writers to do it?
In theory, I'm sure there could, but in practice, it'd take a lot of trial and error to figure out what sort of characters could be adopted well. For instance, Tsolo (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post834947) was a character crafted in part to help weed out excess characters in the NeS, but thusfar, has only had a minimal effect.

Can I use music or sound to get readers and writers to do it?
Not really, no, though I've always been interested in getting our more musically-inclined writers to try their hands at an instrumental theme song or the like. So far, my attempts to frighten them to do better by subjecting them to my own horrible attempts have yet to produce anything.

Is there some other method I can use to coerce readers and writers toward ideal behavior without impinging on their feeling of freedom?
Unfortunately, there isn't anything else I can think of at this time to do so.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself.

[Gebohq]

Lens #73: The Lens of Collusion

Characters should fulfill their roles in the game world, but when possible, also serve as the many minions of the game designer, working toward the designer’s ultimate aim, which is to ensure an engaging experience for the player. To make sure your characters are living up to this responsibility [enacting a sort of collusion (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/collusion)], ask yourself these questions:
What do I want the player to experience (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684)?
How can the characters help fulfill the experience without compromising their goals in the game world?
Hopefully, the readers and writers are having the experiences that I would like them to as described in the first lens: a story-world filled simultaneously with the epic and mundane that feels like it has a will of its own. I'm still not sure if this is actually the experience I'm looking for (or that is present) in a nutshell, but I think it works well enough for our purposes here. This lens could be applied to the previous lens of indirect control (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088578) as well, though, in which case, we're also keeping an eye for what goals, actions and the like (mostly collaborative involvement) could benefit from this lens as well.

I think the characters in the NeS, for the most part, have already been doing this, as I've actually touched upon in some small degree in part of my thesis (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=50551#post921368): the mix of meta-fiction and meta-narrative allowing for characters and writers, to address issues of collaboration or such within the story as well as out, mixing mundane and epic characters together, and so on. Still, it is a good reminder to have that our characters can serve both in-story purposes and out-of-story purposes.

As usual, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens!

[Gebohq]

Lens #74: The Lens of the World

The world of your game is a thing that exists apart. Your game is a doorway to this magic place that exists only in the imagination of your players. To ensure your world has power and integrity, ask yourself these questions:
How is my world better than the real world?
Can there be multiple gateways to my world? How do they differ? How do they support each other?
Is my world centered on a single story, or could many stories happen here?
The world of the NeS is better than the real world mostly because it's everything exciting about the world of stories in general. Everything you do has purpose and nothing is dull... if you're a major character, at least. There's a classism that exists between major and minor characters, so minor characters (who are sometimes but not necessarily forgotten) don't have the same luxuries as the major characters do, but even the minor characters live in a more exciting world, which for us at a distance, is a good thing, even if the characters themselves are going through all sorts of conflict. The world of NeS is also better because I think most people understand how the "laws" of stories work better than the ones in real life, which can seem far more complicated, purposeless, and dull. Specifically for the NeS, though, its moments of comedy, its cartoon-like style at times, and its freedom (despite being enslaved to story and plot) are what make it better.

When the author of [i]The Art of Game Design mentions "gateways" here, he's talking essentially about the fictional world through different mediums (when a book has a movie, TV show, toys, games, etc.) for the audience. For the NeS, apart from the story thread, we only have the webcomic (http://nes.sorrowind.net), though there have also been some audio dramatizations, animations (I made one), and role-playing game loosely based off it (Story Arcade). Ideally, there would be stronger "gateways" into the NeS, but for now, the most realistic option is a regularly updated webcomic.

Even within the main NeS thread, there are often multiple stories unfolding at the same time. However, this is actually something I've debated with myself to some degree, because while the NeS is not purely a world of one story, its nature of being a "story-world" (even if it has hub-like qualities to other stories) means that it's best defined as "one" story. So, within the NeS, is the "NeS" the whole world, and have equal focuses on other characters besides the ones we see, or is the world of NeS hinged on characters like Gebohq, as hinted with story-arcs like the Endgame and Love Conquers All? I'm still not sure myself. Instinctively, I wish to say "both" yet this seems impossible. Isn't the NeS about the seemingly impossible juxtaposition of opposites though? If I had to chose just one, though, I would say that the NeS is a world of multiple stories, and its focus on "one story" around characters like Gebohq are simply a focus.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and explore this world!

[Gebohq]

Lens #75: The Lens of the Avatar

The avatar is a player’s gateway into the world of the game. To ensure the avatar brings out as much of the player’s identity as possible, ask yourself these questions:
Is my avatar an ideal form likely to appeal to my players?
Does my avatar have iconic qualities that let a player project themselves into the character?
There are a couple ways to approach this lens with the NeS. One is to assume that each writer has a "character" of their own, which would serve much of the traditional roles of an avatar. I don't like this approach, as it assumes each writer does have a character of their own (which they do not or even necessarily should) and analyzing from this perspective would be a moot point, since the writer has complete freedom to make whatever character they wish. The other approach is to assume from a reader's perspective, mostly through the main protagonist. Analyzing from that approach has its own problems too, since attempting to apply any problems with this lens may prove detrimental to the needs of the NeS. Still, I'll give it a shot with my "own" character, Gebohq (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post375230), who can serve any of these roles.

Gebohq is NOT an ideal form that would appeal to most readers and writers. This is in large part because he serves the role of an Everyman (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheEveryman), and also because he's a character designed specifically not meant to be "cool" -- to make him in an ideal form would be contradictory to his character. It isn't to say that Gebohq is without ideal qualities, but these qualities are secondary to his role and characteristic of the "average" protagonist syndrome he is afflicted with in the NeS.

In the sense of an Everyman, he may then be considered to have iconic qualities that readers and writers can project themselves into his character. He certainly has more iconic qualities than ideal ones, such as his cowardice. However, in The Art of Game Design, the author was aiming more for the concept of a "blank slate" character with no real characteristics of their own that make it easy for players to imagine as themselves. This is the theory that drives the use of silent protagonists (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicMime) in video games, for example. There's controversy over whether the "blank slate" approach is cheap and lacking or not, and I myself don't really mind either way. However, even Gebohq's Everyman quality is only taken so far, so it would be difficult to say that Gebohq is much of a blank slate either -- identifiable is certainly more accurate.

There is one character that fits the bill for both ideal and iconic in the NeS, though, and that is Young (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post350704), who literally started out as a Blank Character and is a character (theoretically) protected by the NeS from so many story conventions and the like used by writers that would otherwise impend on her freedom and well-being. While Young herself may no longer be a good avatar-like character, the concept of Blank Characters in general could serve well for an avatar-approach to the NeS.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #76: The Lens of Character Function

To make sure your characters are doing everything your game needs them to do, ask yourself these questions:
What are the roles I need the characters to fill?
What characters have I already imagined?
Which characters map well to which roles?
Can any characters fill more than one role?
Do I need to change the characters to better fit the roles?
Do I need any new characters?
Let's use the "main" story-line of the current storyarc, In Search of Opportunity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1042639#post1042639) as our example for this lens.

Roles that "need" to be filled in the NeS are always pretty minimal, but for the sake of this exercise, I'll make up some basic roles that would likely help for any story-arc:
Protagonist - the primary character the readers should identify with and is aiming to solve a problem
Antagonist - the primary character who is causing or instigating the problem to be solved.
Foil - a character to contrast with the protagonist and/or antagonist
Tutor - a character who acts indirectly as a mentor or assistant to the reader, helping them understand the fictional world and other critical elements
The New Guy - a character for new readers to identify with when exploring the fictional world and scenarios.
Supporting Cast - minions, tougher henchmen, hostages, and other characters (major or minor) who help fill in where needed.
A role can be filled by multiple characters, and a character can fulfill multiple roles. Here is the current cast of characters (in no particular order) for our specific storyline:
Al Ciao (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1022639#post1022639) - (m) once (and still occasionally) the powerplaying Highemperor, he is now a more-or-less average guy with the power of melodrama and changing his hair at will.
Gebohq (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post375230) - (m) leader/"main character", wielder of NeS. Has LOST HIS POTENTIAL
Krig the Viking (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250879) - (m) a short, not-so-smart stereotypical viking. Don't call him a gnome!
JMX01 - (m) a giant intelligent baboon with an equally giant Cleave-o-Matic "editing tool." He is not unlike JM (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1023286#post1023286) in many ways.
Howard and Matthias - (m/m) Two of the few surviving NeScholars, knowledgeable in the ways of the NeS. The former is old and known famously as a dragonslayer, the second is young and appears to have an aptitude for magic.
The Last True Evil (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250882) (m) - former Soviet spy, simultaneously a reformed NeS hero and ultimate NeS villain. Has LOST HIS POTENTIAL.
Amal - (m) found as a young boy by TLTE, he has since now become a young man. A storywielder, he looks to TLTE as close family.
Arkng Thand (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572894) - (m) much like a stereotypical old hermit, Thand is unmatched in intelligence and wisdom and seemingly wishes to keep Gebohq and the others from raiding his trap-ridden treasury on Morchazima.
Rachel Pi (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post891128) - (f) The personification of April Fool's and a former Random Audience Member, she is now an Protector of the Plotfractal often antagonistic towards Gebohq.
Antestarr (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post572324) - (m) NeS veteran, a general badass serving the roles of leader, pirate, scholar, inventor, etc. He is currently with Nyneye and Losien just entering Morchazima in an attempt to join with Gebohq and the others.
Losien (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post611354) (f) - Gebohq's hot, self-esteem-challenged sister and love interest of The Last True Evil. She is currently with Nyneye and Antestarr just entering Morchazima in an attempt to join with Gebohq and the others.
Nyneye (f) - one of the last remaining NeSferatu, a vampire that feeds on (the bloodink of) story often found in main characters instead of blood. She is currently with Antestarr and Losien just entering Morchazima in an attempt to join with Gebohq and the others.
The characters that map well to certain roles are as follows:
Gebohq = protagonist, (somewhat) new guy
Arkng Thand = antagonist, (somewhat) mentor
The Last True Evil = Foil (to Gebohq)
Al Ciao = Foil (to TLTE)
Howard and Matthias = Supporting cast, mentor (Howard), (somewhat) new guy (Matthias)
Krig the Viking = Foil (to Thand)
Rachel = (sometimes) antagonist (to Gebohq primarily)
JMX01 = supporting cast, foil (to Krig)
Amal = supporting cast, (sometimes) new guy
Antestarr = antagonist (to Gebohq primarily)
Nyneve = supporting cast (for Antestarr)
Losien = supporting cast (for Antestarr), foil (to Gebohq)
Any of these characters could take on other roles, such as the ones that say "somewhat" above, especially that of antagonist and protagonist. Changing characters with many of them is a bit tricky, since they have some history to them, but some might benefit from not acting in the story-arc, such as JMX01. I would be hesitant, though, to make up roles and then force characters into them, since it's not as necessary as it would be in something like a game. Still, it's useful to see how much a character is serving the story and how much they're just taking up space. We certainly don't need any new characters as they would likely just clutter the story more.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #77: The Lens of Character Traits

To ensure that the traits of a character show in what they say and do, ask yourself these questions:
What traits define my character?
How do these traits manifest themselves in the words, actions, and appearance of my character?
So, fortunately, this lens is usually already applied in the form of character profiles (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370) of which you can see linked with a number of characters mentioned above. I've found they've usually been fairly good at providing good traits for the major characters as well as usually being applied in the character's dialogue, actions and the like. Rather than use this lens to apply to an existing character, I will simply emphasis that defining traits for a character helps them be more engaging and real, and that traits need not be consistent with each other (since even real people have inconsistent character traits).

Are there any characters you feel are lacking well-defined traits? Any characters you feel are shining examples of well-defined and manifested characteristics? By all means, feel more than free to comment, question, criticize, and analyze characters with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #78: The Lens of the Interpersonal Circumplex

Understanding the relationships between your characters is crucial. One way to do this is to create a graph with one axis labeled hostile/friendly, and the other labeled submissive/dominant. Pick a character to analyze, and put them in the middle. Plot out where other characters lie relative to that character, and ask yourself these questions:
Are there any gaps in the chart? Why are they there? Would it be better if the gaps were filled?
Are there “extreme characters” on the graph? If not, would it be better if there were?
Are the character’s friends in the same quadrant, or different quadrants? What if that were different?
The names of some of these lenses, honestly... Anyway, let's use good ol' Gebohq once again for this exercise. See the picture at the bottom for the chart I made. I mostly only chose to place some of the characters closer to Gebohq in the current story-arc on the chart, as well as some that aren't in the story-arc at the moment.

Currently, there are a lot of gaps. Gebohq is a fairly friendly person, and rarely hostile even to his enemies. He's also not a terribly self-assertive person, which is often why he comes off as too trusting and subject to manipulation from the likes of those like Master Thand. While I don't think these gaps need to be filled symmetrically with the general friendly/submissive quadrant, I do think it's important to have at least one to three major characters that could fall in other quadrants, even the extremes, which is why I included Darkside and Evil Geb (who are some of the few that occupy his hostile/dominant side), and Losien (his friendly/dominant side).

Evil Geb is really the only character I can think of who is any sort of consistent extreme for Gebohq (hostile and dominant). As stated before, I don't think there necessarily needs to be a symmetrical number of extreme characters to the non-extremes (as he generally wishes to think and treat others as himself), but a few extremes would help for the sake of the story.

Most of his friends do tend to occupy the friendly/submissive quadrant, but it's not unheard of for them to be elsewhere. He tends to be more dominant with his sister, and with some like Krig, and there are moments of hostility with those like The Last True Evil (even when he's not a villain) and his love interests. While her default is fairly close to Gebohq himself, Rachel in particular can actually be just about anywhere on the board at any given time, which is why I feel she's a critical character to have around Gebohq. Again, as stated before, I don't think it's necessary for a symmetrical displacement across the chart, but a few more here and there might not hurt.

Disagree with the chart I made? Want to make one with another character? By all means, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #79: The Lens of the Character Web

To flesh out your characters’ relationships better, make a list of all your characters, and ask yourself these questions:
How, specifically, does each character feel about each of the others?
Are there any connections unaccounted for? How can I use those?
Are there too many similar connections? How can they be more different?

Once again, making a list of all the characters would be overwhelming, so I will stick with the cast of the primary story-line of the current story-arc. The characters are: Gebohq, The Last True Evil, Al Ciao, Master Thand, Rachel, Amal, Howard, Matthias, JMX01, Krig the Viking, Antestarr, Nyneve and Losien. You can see the character webs below.

Out of these characters, the ones generally unaccounted for the most are Amal, Howard, Matthias, JMX01, and Nyneve, which is not surprising as all the other characters have a lot of history to work with in their relations. Fortunately, most of them have some pretty obvious potential conflicts they can bring to the table (Amal fueling TLTE's and Thand's, Howard and Matthias again mostly in relation to TLTE and Thand, and Nyneve in relation to Gebohq). However, JMX01 I feel mostly needs to be written out of the scene -- something I've asked of the creator of that character (JM), and to which JM may write him out within a month. Still, these are all relatively minor characters with relatively little history, and thus have a great amount of freedom in deciding to add conflicts between other characters and the like.

As for if there are any places with too many similar connections... I'm sure there are, but I'm not able to piece them together at the moment. Again, though, the more relatively minor characters have leeway to change, as do the nature of some characters in general, such as Rachel, for the sake of the story.

Disagree with any of the assessments I've made? Want to try your own? By all means, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself!

CHARACTER WEBS

Gebohq
The Last True Evil: He sees TLTE as pretty close friend, but feels some pretty deep-seated conflicts of interest as well (which he doesn't quite consciously realize) in regards to TLTE's villainy and TLTE's relationship with his sister, Losien.
Al Ciao: He sees Al as a pretty close friend as well, though how much of his friendship (and submissiveness) is true and how much has been influenced by Al's alter-ego's powerplaying ways is unknown.
Thand: Gebohq has personally only ever really experienced Thand's wise, altruistic side, particularly in making Rachel's existence possible. He is wary of Thand's role in the story, though, and acts with that in mind.
Rachel: Complicated at best. He feels Rachel is his true love (more so even than Maybechild) and yet he knows there are (likely inconsolable) differences between them as well. Depending on how Rachel is acting, he can be friendly or frustrated, submissive or confident, himself or his currently-dead potential.
Amal: Despite Amal appearing as a young man now, Gebohq sees him as a young boy and at least partially responsible for his care (especially when The Last True Evil asked him once to take care of Amal). Otherwise, it's unknown at this point if Gebohq would feel affinity or animosity towards someone who seems made to take his place, again, especially if Amal is taking after The Last True Evil.
Howard: Feels respect for someone who is apparently a wizened hero of old, guilted in part because he mistook him for just an old man.
Matthias: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: He feels both a sense of dominant empathy and fear, as one might feel towards a powerful animal friend, but likely no real "human" connection with him.
Antestarr: A good friend, but similarly conflicted as with The Last True Evil, except more consciously, especially since Antestarr has killed him once not too long ago.
Nyneve: Has yet to meet Nyneve, but would likely be rather susceptible to her charm.
Losien: Gebohq loves his sister, Losien, more than anyone else he's yet to care about. He's naturally more dominant with her due to her self-loathing, and it is surprising that he is not over-protective with her.

The Last True Evil
Gebohq: Close friend or tovarish (which I learned means "bro"), there is some deep-seated conflict of interest (perhaps consciously), namely that Gebohq may be "in the way" of his calling to True Evil and love for Losien.
Al Ciao: Strangely closely bonded in friendship, despite Al's alter-ego and his own pseudo-alter-ego from NeShattered. Perhaps it is Al's attempt to shed himself from his alter-ego that has drawn TLTE close.
Master Thand: Adversarial, especially since Thand has claimed him in particular to be the downfall of the NeS and threatens to take Amal away from him.
Rachel: Has a natural antagonism with her (due to her magic-like trickster abilities, her own antagonism towards him and to Gebohq), but seems otherwise indifferent.
Amal: Loves him like he were his own son for some unknown reason. Whether his love will bear good or bad fruit is questionable, as it is with TLTE's attempt to do good and love as a whole.
Howard: Respects him out of seniority (both in age and likely skill/experience). His spy intuition might make him wary of Howard, but it's an intuition that would likely take him by surprise if he found it to be right.
Matthias: Has developed a stirring hatred for Matthias, being the most blatantly traditional magic-user in the group.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: He feels both a sense of dominant empathy and fear (mostly the former), as one might feel towards a powerful animal friend, but likely no real "human" connection with him.
Antestarr: He may be able to connect with Antestarr's anti-heroic outlook, but might rub him the wrong way too, perhaps in the way that similar magnetic poles repel from each other.
Nyneve: Has yet to meet her, but might think nothing of her, or as a familiar enemy spy if he picks up on her true nature.
Losien: Loves her romantically, and has in large part turned him away from villainy, following even her wish for distance. As with seemingly all his attempts at love in any form, though, it seems to only stir larger issues of his true evil...


Al Ciao
Gebohq: Close friend, though how much of his friendship is found in truth and how much has been formed by his alter-ego's wish to seek power in main characters is unknown. He has had a close history with Gebohq's ancestor, Erro, though, and there is likely some truth in their bond, even if it can't be explained.
The Last True Evil: As with Gebohq, the reasons behind his inexplicable bond with TLTE are unknown, though it is likely influenced in great part from TLTE's pseudo-alter-ego helping him separate himself from his alter-ego.
Master Thand: Knows Thand as more wizard than ancient scholar, having known him as Theos from the days of Atlantis back when Al's alter-ego was there. Surprisingly less insightful on Thand than many, perhaps because his alter-ego took so little notice of a man with no apparent power (especially since Thand's claim to fame as all-wise was likely less cemented than currently). Currently still apparently underestimates Thand's dangerous potential, having recently turned to Thand in secret for aid.
Rachel: Sees her mostly in relation to Gebohq as Geb's source of potential eternal happiness. May be even more wary of turning to his alter-ego around her, since her nature seems to be something of an Achilles' heel to him.
Amal: May see him mostly in relation to TLTE as TLTE's source of potential eternal happiness, and/or may see himself (or rather the best of his alter-ego) in Amal. Otherwise, no apparent thoughts for him.
Howard: Perhaps some frustration that Howard seems to know about Thand more than he does. Otherwise, no apparent thoughts for Howard.
Matthias: No apparent thoughts for him.
JMX01: No apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: He feels both a sense of dominant empathy and fear (mostly the former), as one might feel towards a powerful animal friend, but likely no real "human" connection with him.
Antestarr: He's likely to empathize with Antestarr's outlook on being trapped within a story-world controlled by writers, but probably wouldn't agree with his methods. He may also have some VERY unconscious realization that Antestarr was the one to kill his Potential (and trigger his ability to disconnect from his alter-ego).
Nyneve: Likely may remember her back from when he was King Emp in the late 1800's, and would likely be vigilant if he notices her around Gebohq in particular.
Losien: recognizes her mostly in relation to Gebohq as Gebohq's sister that he cares for greatly as well as in relation to TLTE as TLTE's love interest. He's unlikely to think of her first before either Gebohq or TLTE.


Master Thand
Gebohq: Oddly more caring of Gebohq than of most others(as much as Thand appears to connect with anyone at least). He may see Gebohq as a rarer man of honest goodness, or as an easy pawn with a great connection to the NeS for his schemes, or perhaps both and more.
The Last True Evil: Sees TLTE as the keystone character to the downfall of the NeS, and doesn’t care for TLTE’s “abduction” of Amal from him. There may be more than his apparently understandable dislike, though, as he has kept others from plans to kill TLTE (this isn’t to imply that Thand actually likes him though, more likely that he feels TLTE must play some role alive).
Al Ciao: Knew him as Al’s alter-ego back in the days of Atlantis. Likely thinks little of Al or his hopes of redemption from his alter-ego, and would likely think little of using Al for his own purposes
Rachel: Likely thinks of her in relation to Gebohq, having helped her become a main character from a fusion of her persona as April Fool’s and a random audience member so that they might know their love for each other. She is likely little more than a pawn for his own purposes, whether they be in relation to Gebohq or as an unwitting bodyguard.
Amal: Apparently once had “greater plans” for him, having considered him something of a nephew and kept him alone in an underground room full of books for at least the child’s first ten years. It is uncertain if he’s abandoned this plans or not since TLTE has “adopted” Amal.
Howard: A fellow former NeScholar that Thand likely used to help him acquire knowledge about the NeS. The fact that he is still alive means that Thand feels he has some use yet…
Matthias: A fellow former NeScholar that Thand likely used to help him acquire knowledge about the NeS. The fact that he is still alive means that Thand feels he has some use yet…
JMX01: No apparent thoughts for him, other than maybe in some small relation to JM, who Thand knew back in the days of Atlantis.
Krig the Viking: May actually be somewhat wary of Krig since Krig has already seemingly foiled one of his plans to keep the others away from his treasury and is likely “too dumb” to be influenced.
Antestarr: A fellow former NeScholar that Thand likely used to help him acquire knowledge about the NeS. Since Antestarr separated himself from the other NeScholars after Thand left the group, the fact that Antestarr is alive is incidental. Still, there seems to be a significant teacher-pupil relationship between the two (since Antestarr had been one of the youngest of the NeScholars), one that Thand might care about to some small degree.
Nyneve: Knows of her, that she is the last of the Nesferatu, and her general goals, if not her specific ones. Likely thinks little of her.
Losien: Understands her connection to Gebohq and her significance with his in relation to the NeS, as well as her connection to TLTE. May see her as a pawn for them, or visa-versa, depending on how he feels the big picture develops.


Rachel
Gebohq: Is in a love-hate relationship with him. On one hand, Gebohq is her true love and can even become meek and servile to him, certainly defensive if she feels his life is in danger from someone else. On the other hand, she hates him for having apparently rejected her love, wishing often to see him in suffering, especially if it’ll remind him of his choice to reject her. She is also a trickster by nature, so she may trick him with some form of love to hurt him and hurt him to show that she cares for him. She became a Protector of the Plotfractal so that she could do both of these things.
The Last True Evil: Likes to play tricks on him due to his serious nature, is adversarial towards him because of his own villainous nature, though is never really hostile on her part unless he were to hurt Gebohq.
Al Ciao: Has no real thoughts on Al, other than perhaps grateful for having helped her save Gebohq. She hates his powerplaying alter-ego though.
Master Thand: Is eternally grateful for having given her a life as a major character that could make it possible for her to love Gebohq, even if she currently has a love-hate relationship with him – something she feels is no fault of Thand’s. She also realizes as a Protector of the Plotfractal, though, that he is an apparently unchecked power, and so will step in against him with her own to keep him from too easily over-powering the others.
Amal: Has no apparent feelings for him.
Howard: Has no apparent feelings for him.
Matthias: Has no apparent feelings for him.
JMX01: Has no apparent feelings for him.
Krig the Viking: Has no apparent feelings for him.
Antestarr: Has yet to meet him, her thoughts about him are unknown.
Nyneve: Has yet to meet her, Rachel’s thoughts about her are unknown.
Losien: Has yet to meet her, Rachel’s thoughts though may lend to jealousy that Gebohq cares more for his sister than her.


Amal
Gebohq:Thinks he’s a cool guy, likely respects him out of proxy for TLTE’s relationship with him. He may feel a bond with a fellow story-wielder.
The Last True Evil: Sees him as something of a father figure, having brought him out into the world from his imprisonment. Sees only the best in TLTE.
Al Ciao: Likely respects him out of proxy for TLTE’s relationship with him.
Master Thand: Knew him as an “uncle” that he seems to have shed his care for in favor of TLTE. Having been kept imprisoned probably doesn’t help much.
Rachel: Has no apparent feelings for her. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Howard: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Matthias: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
JMX01: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Krig the Viking: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Antestarr: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Nyneve: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.
Losien: Has no apparent feelings for him. May imitate TLTE’s own.


Howard
Gebohq: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, though sees all too well Gebohq’s younger, inexperienced and apparently naïve side. While he may feel he is not “worthy” to be among such NeS icons, he is not shy in sharing his wisdom and experience as an elder hero either, nor stop him from any ulterior motives he may have…
The Last True Evil: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, though likely sees TLTE’s experience (age, discipline, etc.) and realizes TLTE’s role as a NeS villain (though seems to keep it to himself), whom the NeScholars wanted dead. While he may feel he is not “worthy” to be among such NeS icons, he is not shy in sharing his wisdom and experience as an elder hero either, nor stop him from any ulterior motives he may have…
Al Ciao: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, though likely realizes the nature of Al’s alter-ego as well an remains objectively cautious. While he may feel he is not “worthy” to be among such NeS icons, he is not shy in sharing his wisdom and experience as an elder hero either, nor stop him from any ulterior motives he may have…
Master Thand: Once considered his highly-venerated senior and leader of the NeScholars, he now sees Thand as possibly the greatest adversary one could have. The fact that the two have recently encountered after Howard should be likely dead may mean something more is afoot…
Rachel: Likely sees her in relation to Gebohq and Thand, as well as her current role as Protector of the Plotfractal from an objective, scholarly distance.
Amal: Seems to have taken some interest in Amal, perhaps out of mere scholarly interest in his ability to story-wield, or perhaps something more…
Matthias: A fellow, perhaps subordinate NeScholar, he likely confides closest to Matthias out of the rest.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, but otherwise, no apparent thoughts about him.
Antestarr: Interestingly likely sees him as both an important icon in his NeS studies AND “the kid” of their NeScholars group. While they have yet to meet recently, they are likely to hit it off very strong once they do.
Nyneve: May recognize her as the last of the NeSferatu, otherwise has yet to meet her and may have no thoughts about her.
Losien: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studie, but has otherwise yet to meet her and such other thoughts are unknown as of now.


Matthias
Gebohq: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, but likely sees him as more a royal figure to humbly give advice than how Howard sees him. Any further thoughts are complicated by his relationship to Howard.
The Last True Evil: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, but likely sees him as more a royal figure to humbly give advice than how Howard sees him, likely to avoid TLTE altogether due to the goal of the NeScholars to kill him. Any further thoughts are complicated by his relationship to Howard.
Al Ciao: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, but likely sees him as more a royal figure to humbly give advice than how Howard sees him. Any further thoughts are complicated by his relationship to Howard.
Master Thand: Once considered his highly-venerated senior and leader of the NeScholars, he now sees Thand as possibly the greatest adversary one could have. While Howard may feel able to stand up against Thand, Matthias is likely only able to feel the same with others protecting him. The fact that the two have recently encountered after Howard should be likely dead may mean something more is afoot…
Rachel: Likely sees her in relation to Gebohq and Thand, as well as her current role as Protector of the Plotfractal from an objective, scholarly distance.
Amal: Seems to have taken some interest in Amal, perhaps out of mere scholarly interest in his ability to story-wield, or perhaps something more…
Howard: A fellow, likely superior NeScholar, he likely confides closest to Howard out of the rest.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studies, but otherwise, no apparent thoughts about him.
Antestarr: Interestingly likely sees him as both an important icon in his NeS studies AND “the kid” of their NeScholars group, which Matthias may actually empathize with depending on how young Matthias is. While they have yet to meet recently, they are likely to hit it off very strong once they do.
Nyneve: May recognize her as the last of the NeSferatu, otherwise has yet to meet her and may have no thoughts about her.
Losien: Likely sees him as an important icon in his NeS studie, but has otherwise yet to meet her and such other thoughts are unknown as of now.


JMX01
Gebohq: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
The Last True Evil: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Al Ciao: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Master Thand: May see him as a source of answers, otherwise, has no apparent thoughts about him.
Rachel: Has no apparent thoughts about her.
Amal: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Howard: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Matthias: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Krig the Viking: May be able to empathize with Krig’s treatment as “less than human” and has had a special adventure in present-day ruins of Atlantis with him, but otherwise has no apparent thoughts about him.
Antestarr: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
Nyneve: Has no apparent thoughts about her.
Losien: Has no apparent thoughts about her.


Krig the Viking
Gebohq: Funny man who runs away a lot. Friend!
The Last True Evil: “Frenemy” (friend and enemy), likes talk about combat.
Al Ciao: Man who has demon hair. Perhaps enemy-king lives in hair?
Master Thand: Strange old man, confused why others want to fight him.
Rachel: Loki-like lady. Suspicious when not distracting.
Amal: Good kid.
Howard: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Matthias: Has no apparent thoughts about him.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts about him, though may have some small connection from their adventure in the present-day ruins of Atlantis.
Antestarr: Funny friend? Why friend be all hidey in himself?
Nyneve: Has yet to meet her, might think she smells funny like dead person.
Losien: Pretty lady friend. Krig flex muscles for her, yeah?


Antestarr
Gebohq: Once a close friend (perhaps still in some sense), he now sees Gebohq as an unfortunate pawn of the writers, and has killed him once to try and dethrone his role in the NeS without success when Gebohq was alive again. He therefore continues to plot how to knock Gebohq off as the “main protagonist” of NeS.
The Last True Evil: Sees him as a strong, mostly-independent character, though may be concerned that TLTE too could be too involved in the web that he feels the writers have spun. Aware of TLTE’s previous times as a villain, he may treat TLTE as a potential hostile if he feels he cannot win him over – “if you are not with me, you are against me” mentality.
Al Ciao: May realize that he has had a hand in killing Al’s Potential and allowing him some freedom from his alter-ego. However, Al’s connection with Gebohq may have Antestarr treat him as a potential hostile, similar to TLTE.
Master Thand: Once thought of a highly-respected teacher he addresses personally as “Master” in submissiveness of his youth, he likely feels more betrayed than most when Thand first departed from the NeScholars, and then found the plot to send Potentials to murder him and the others. He claims that Thand mistakenly distances himself too much from his plans, whereas Antestarr would claim he himself makes sure to be more personal and involved with his affairs (a line of thought which may simply show Antestarr’s refusal to abandon as he feels Thand did with him).
Rachel: Has had little interaction with Rachel, but likely would treat her as hostile since, unlike TLTE and Highemp, he’d be quicker to realize that Rachel would act more hostile herself to defend Gebohq.
Amal: If Antestarr had not decided to choose Losien, Amal would have been his choice to use Amal to replace Gebohq as the “main character” of NeS. What Antestarr thinks of Amal beyond this is unknown, though.
Howard: Has yet to meet Howard recently, though almost certainly knows him well from the days they studied together as NeScholars. Howard is likely one of the many elder scholars that Antestarr learned much from, and would likely have a lot to say when they meet up.
Matthias: Has yet to meet Matthias recently, though almost certainly knows him well from the days they studied together as NeScholars. Matthias may be like one of the many elder scholars that Antestarr learned much from or he may be closer to an equal, and would likely have a lot to say when they meet up.
JMX01: Has no apparent thoughts for him.
Krig the Viking: He feels both a sense of dominant empathy and fear (mostly the former), as one might feel towards a powerful animal friend, but likely no real "human" connection with him. He may feel he’ll be able to use Krig for his own purposes.
Nyneve: There is a hint that they once had an old flame of romance between the two, but now Antestarr is mostly using her (very carefully) to help take Gebohq out of the big picture.
Losien: recognized her previously mostly in relation to Gebohq as Gebohq's sister that he cares for greatly as well as in relation to TLTE as TLTE's love interest. Recently sees her as a means of replacing Gebohq from his role as the main protagonist of NeS.


Nyneve
Gebohq: Sees him as her ultimate goal in feeding off his bloodink. Everyone else is just a means to reach that goal.
The Last True Evil: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Al Ciao: May remember him briefly as King Emp from the late 1880’s, and may therefore be wary of him. Has yet to meet him recently though, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Master Thand: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Rachel: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Amal: Realizes that, after Losien, Amal is her best bet for Antestarr’s plan to help her feed on Gebohq.
Howard: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Matthias: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
JMX01: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Krig the Viking: Has yet to meet him, but otherwise has no thoughts about him.
Antestarr: There is a hint that they once had an old flame of romance, but now she’s mostly using Antestarr to be able to feed on Gebohq.
Losien: Sees her mostly as a means to an end in obtaining her goal.


Losien
Gebohq: Her “big brother” who does no wrong and whom she looks up to very much. She cares about him a great deal, and feels that by doing what Antestarr says, she may help Gebohq take some of his burden.
The Last True Evil: Is in love with him, but perhaps because of that love, is often strangely uncharacteristically dominant and somewhat hostile around him at times. She makes it difficult for him, in any case, despite her obvious love for him when he’s not around.
Al Ciao: Has no apparent thoughts about him or his alter-ego other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality, may not know about his alter-ego whom she is familiar and would consider in context of Geb’s friend.
Master Thand: Has no apparent thoughts about him other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality – may not have met him.
Rachel: Has no apparent thoughts about her other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality – may not have met her.
Amal: Has no apparent thoughts about him other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality – may not have met him.
Howard: Has yet to meet him, though likely has no apparent thoughts about him other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality.
Matthias: Has yet to meet him, though likely has no apparent thoughts about him other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality.
JMX01: Has yet to meet him, though likely has no apparent thoughts about him other than her standard “everybody is awesome except me” mentality.
Krig the Viking: Cute funny lil’ Viking man!
Antestarr: Considers a friend if only through proxy of Gebohq, feels Antestarr is helping her and Gebohq in some altruistic manner.
Nyneve: Has no apparent thoughts for her, though she may think she’s Antestarr’s friend who could use more sun and food.

[Gebohq]

Lens #80: The Lens of Status

When people interact, they take on different behaviors depending on their status levels. To make your characters more aware of each other, ask yourself these questions:
What are the relative status levels of the characters in my game?
How can they show appropriate status behaviors?
Conflicts of status are interesting – how are my characters vying for status?
Changes of status are interesting – where do they happen in my game?
How am I giving the player a chance to express their status?
The "status" as defined in this lens is not that of socio-economic class or other quantifiable levels, but in how characters carries themselves and exert control in any given situation with other characters. This status is not always set in stone, nor do they necessarily have the same default status among all others. The author of The Art of Game Design lists these behaviors typical among people across cultures:
Typical low status behaviors include: fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, touching one's own face, and generally being tense.
Typical high status behaviors include: being relaxed and in control, making strong eye contact, and, weirdly, not moving your head while you speak.
With that, I'll take a stab at the same current group of characters in the primary story-arc, who are as follows: Gebohq, The Last True Evil, Al Ciao, Master Thand, Rachel, Amal, Howard, Matthias, JMX01, Krig the Viking, Antestarr, Nyneve and Losien. As for the last question, I'll try to answer more so for each character, as the illusion is how best the reader is able to feel they can empathize expression and the writer can express however they please.

Disagree with any of the assessments I make in this post? Regardless, please comment, question, criticize and evaluate the statuses of characters yourself!

CHARACTER STATUSES

Gebohq
Relative Status: Despite playing the role of the "main protagonist" in this story-arc of the NeS, he is of generally lower status than most of the others, only exerting a normally higher status above Losien, Amal, and possibly Krig, Matthias, JMX01 and depending on the situation, Rachel.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: He can certainly show any low status behaviors when displaying his cowardly side and high status behaviors when displaying his heroic side, and these behaviors can of course be used ironically against the usual traits of each other (being relaxed when running away, for example).
Conflicts of Status: Gebohq will naturally conflict in status with TLTE and Rachel, likely failing to raise his status above theirs in the process. In general, though, his conflicts will usually arise in a reactionary manner.
Changes of Status: There is usually little change in his status, though there have been, and certainly will be, situations where he is called to live up as more the "heroic protagonist" (higher status against someone like Thand) and may succeed, or be challenged (as with Losien) and may fail to defend his status.
Opportunities to Express Status: Besides the heroic/cowardly moments in general and others already mentioned, I feel writers should feel encouraged to express his status (high and low) through his "uncool" characteristics (can you have a high status and still be "uncool" without being hated? I think so!)


The Last True Evil
Relative Status: Having had intensive training as a Soviet spy, among other worldly experiences, gives TLTE a relatively high status among the other present characters, only defering/conflicting with Thand, Howard, and perhaps Antestarr and Rachel.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Anytime he is in physical combat, he can be shown to have high status behaviors, though suppressed low status behaviors just peeking out would likely show whenever he's in a non-physical conflict (spy-related conflicts excluded). The more seriously challenging the context of his conflict is, the more he's likely to show high-status behaviors as well and visa-versa.
Conflicts of Status: Thand presents himself as a target for TLTE to actively fight for status (and likely fail), and may challenge Antestarr's status as well depending on the situation.
Changes of Status: Not likely to change status much except perhaps around Thand, Antestarr and Rachel, though he may defer status around Howard out of respect.
Opportunities to Express Status: Besides what has already been mentioned, TLTE's inner conflict between hero and villain can express various status characteristics when the situation calls for it, both in the traditional hero = high status/villain = low status and in the Christian hero = low status (meek)/villain = high status (pride).


Al Ciao
Relative Status: Despite behaviors that would be shown, as Al Ciao, his status is likely no lower than average (though often close to average often), whereas when he is his alter-ego, Highemperor, his status is likely no higher than average (though close to average by sheer power-playing).
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: As the "normal guy" Al Ciao, lower-status behaviors are generally appropriate, especially when he wishes to call upon his alter-ego (fidgeting, tense, etc.) though this may be exempt when he is using his "power of melodrama" at times. As his alter-ego, Highemperor, higher-status behaviors are more appropriate (when played up to shamefully-self-indulgent extremes, though lack of these extremes may have their place as well).
Conflicts of Status: Anytime he wishes to help his friends and feels he can't, or feels the need to asset his ambitions, such that he succumbs to his alter-ego. As Al, he would likely not actively engage conflict of status with anybody, and if he did, would simply succumb to his alter-ego, who would engage conflict of status with everybody even when secure in higher status simply to assert his position.
Changes of Status: His change of status is heavily tied between himself and his alter-ego rather than in any particular context.
Opportunities to Express Status: While there are no other opportunities other than what has already been stated, it should be noted that the line between Al and his alter-ego aren't necessarily clean-cut: characteristics of his alter-ego may seep into Al and visa-versa (especially if the story calls for it), and his status should be expressed with that in mind.


Master Thand
Relative Status: Easily holds the highest status among the characters present, perhaps even among all characters.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Any high status behaviors pretty much at any point. Low status behaviors are only appropriate when he is 1) faking it or 2) genuinely showing his human side. The latter is difficult to pull off well as will be explained later.
Conflicts of Status: Usually only engages in conflict of status in a reactionary manner, though in this story-arc, acts to challenge those with the highest statuses to knock down (such as with TLTE) and the lower statuses to build up (as with Gebohq). More will be explained later.
Changes of Status: The only time Thand's status has appeared to change has been in regards to the following: Tsolo (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370&page=2#post834947) (more literary device than character who can strip the past that Thand draws much of his power in knowledge from as hinted here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=17#post758801)), Evil Geb (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250886) (who holds influence over the NeS similar to Geb but with a far higher status and control of power as hinted at here (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&pp=40&page=10#post434785)), Young (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post350704) (as born a Blank Character with some of the best of other characters in her, has poked through Thand's status once (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=26#post1019723)), and Krig the Viking (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18370#post250879) (who unwittingly foiled Thand's plan at this end of this post (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=29#post1063094)) -- TLTE may have challenged this status in this post (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&pp=40&page=29#post1084956) as well. He is otherwise almost always in a superior position of status.
Opportunities to Express Status: It can be very difficult to express status for Thand as anything other than unquestioning superiority, which is problematic for a character who should be the primary antagonist, even if the protagonists are meant to ultimately lose to him. To do his character justice, though, seems to mean never allowing him to falter, status or otherwise. Showing snippets of his past, where his status was not so cemented, may be a solution, but this even would have to be done very carefully and would only act as a partial solution. I would personally suggest using this lens, and perhaps others, specifically on Thand in the future.


Rachel
Relative Status: Holds a generally average-to-high status among the current cast, fluctuating higher when she is more active as a trickster or Protector of the Plotfractal and lower in any other context.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Any high-status behaviors are appropriate when she is active ( particularly when antagonistic either as a trickster and/or Protector of the Plotfractal, though she may fake lower-status behaviors if need be) and no particular-to-lower status behaviors when inactive. She may also genuinely exhibit lower-status behaviors in certain situations around Gebohq dealing with her love for him.
Conflicts of Status: Anytime she exhibits higher-status behaviors, she's likely intending to cause conflict of status, in that she defines herself by her roles in large part.
Changes of Status: Whenever she switches between active and inactive in her roles, whenever she's particularly smitten with Gebohq, and whenever the situation switches between heavy and light-hearted.
Opportunities to Express Status: Anytime conflict is dropping, and anytime it suits the story in relation to Gebohq. Serving the roles of both the Fool/trickster and a Protector of the Plotfractal allows for some great freedom to express any range of status.


Amal
Relative Status: Despite having great power over the elements of story, Amal has relatively low status among just about anyone, as he is still at heart a child.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Mostly only appropriate to show lower-status behaviors, especially around TLTE and those TLTE respects, though Amal may imitate TLTE with higher status behaviors towards those TLTE behaves similarly around, such as conflict with Thand.
Conflicts of Status: Has yet to really seek conflict of status with anyone at this point.
Changes of Status: Has yet to have much of a change of status either, except perhaps paradoxically around TLTE.
Opportunities to Express Status: Besides what has already been mentioned, I can think of no others.


Howard
Relative Status: Relatively high status among the current cast, only showing a lower status if he feels "out of line" among the NeS iconic characters and around Thand.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Any high status behaviors when dispensing scholarly wisdom (and the occasional bad-ass moment of fighting) to most, perhaps lower-status behaviors when in a decidedly "personal" NeS situation best left to the NeS iconic cast, and certainly lower-status behavior around Thand, despite what attempts he may take at conflict.
Conflicts of Status: He's currently only one to challenge his status with Thand's, but it is more out of principle since he is well-aware of the apparently irrevocable gulf in status. There may come a time where his scholarly and age-experienced wisdom may be challenged by the likes of Antestarr or someone else.
Changes of Status: Likely no change of status, unless in the situation mentioned previously with someone like Antestarr.
Opportunities to Express Status: Anything that could express typical old scholar-type, whether it be of high or low status.


Matthias
Relative Status: Relatively low status, especially with Howard by his side or around Thand. He is likely to see the current NeS cast of characters as icons more worthy, seeing himself with his scholarly NeS knowledge more as a tool than an adviser.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Any low-status behaviors would likely be appropriate when he is with Howard, and again, likely especially with Thand.
Conflicts of Status: He could very well have a conflict of status with TLTE, though whether Matthias has any interest in challenging that status is unknown.
Changes of Status: If such a situation arose where a conflict with TLTE left him the "winner" or such, his status might change. Otherwise, no foreseeable changes.
Opportunities to Express Status: Not much room to express high-status behaviors with Matthias unless perhaps it has to do with magic.


JMX01
Relative Status: Unknown - neutral?
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Unknown - neutral?
Conflicts of Status: Unknown - none?
Changes of Status: Unknown - none?
Opportunities to Express Status: Unknown - none?


Krig the Viking
Relative Status: Neutral to high status. He's too oblivious to be self-conscious or anything other than confident.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: If he's making strong eye contact, it's likely to weird any other character out. Otherwise, any behaviors that are more animalistic than human might be appropriate, whether high or low status.
Conflicts of Status: Again, too oblivious to engage in conflicts of status of his own for the most part, which may irritate some.
Changes of Status: He may be regarded with a higher status when in combat, but otherwise, no real change in status.
Opportunities to Express Status: Anytime a character (or reader) should feel empathetic with him is a good opportunity for lower-status behaviors, and anytime a character (or reader) should feel fear (or the like) towards him is a good opportunity for higher-status behaviors.


Antestarr
Relative Status: Generally higher status among the current cast, though often struggling not to plummet to a very low status when with Thand.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Unknown, with the exception of Thand (and perhaps Howard and Matthias).
Conflicts of Status: Just about anyone Antestarr feels is ruining his plans to free the NeS from the control of the writers and his schemes in general, the challenging of statuses of which he can be rather subtle about. There are specifically conflicts with Nyneve at times and Thand.
Changes of Status: His status could be all over the board.
Opportunities to Express Status: Unknown - Antestarr is a tricky son of a biscuit to pin down.


Nyneve
Relative Status: Fluctuates depending on how secure she feels her position is, usually higher with Antestarr.
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Simply put, higher-status behaviors when in a secure situation, lower-status behaviors when not (traditional villain behaviors).
Conflicts of Status: Unknown, though there may be some with Al Ciao if any connection is made with her 1888-era history.
Changes of Status: Unknown.
Opportunities to Express Status: Unknown other than what has already been mentioned.


Losien
Relative Status: Lower than most, though uncharacteristically high oftentimes around The Last True Evil, and characteristically high around children (of which Amal would likely be included).
Appropriate Status Behaviors to Show: Her character is built around exploiting lower-status behaviors at nearly any time, though higher status behaviors are likely appropriate around TLTE and Amal.
Conflicts of Status: Unlikely to engage in a conflict of status, though per Antestarr's encouragement, may soon do just that with Gebohq.
Changes of Status: She may build to a higher status if she succeeds in supplanting Gebohq.
Opportunities to Express Status: Besides that which has already been mentioned, none that I can think of right now.

[Gebohq]

Lens #81: The Lens of Character Transformation

Powerful stories are able to change their characters. To ensure your characters are transforming in interesting ways, ask yourself these questions:
How does each of my characters change throughout the game?
How am I communicating those changes to the player? Can I communicate them more clearly, or more strongly?
Is there enough change?
Are the changes surprising and interesting?
Are the changes believable?
Change, in this case, need not be something major and permanent, just any sort of change to characters made through the story. This means that even flat characters can exhibit some small, temporary changes, if it makes for a fitting story. However, I believe that, with even the most rounded and transformative-prone of characters, change should be applied economically with the characters of NeS. The crazy nature of its topsy-turvy conflicts make it very easy for characters as it is to have the opportunity for change without trying. Without restraint, it's difficult to keep up with just exactly who the characters are, and I feel restraint is a key ingredient in good character. With that said, I'll take a look at the characters in the current story-arc as a whole.

Gebohq, having fallen as a "leading main protagonist" in a lot of NeSquared, has the opportunity now to transform back into that and perhaps more, as well as his relations with others (Thand, TLTE, Rachel, etc.) for better or worse. TLTE has the opportunity to continue transforming both as more a hero and more a villain -- something that should culminate epically at the end of NeSquared. Al Ciao may transform in either forging his character stronger against his alter-ego or succumbing to it. Amal may transform himself under TLTE's influence (hinted at for the worse). Finally, Losien may transform into a "leading main protagonist" herself as she attempts to "dethrone" Gebohq at the encouragement of Antestarr. I don't think any of the other characters have any foreseeable changes (smaller ones, and even larger ones, are unfortunately the kind that tend to crop up via improvisation), but I only see this as a potential problem for the antagonists (Thand, Rachel, Antestarr).

As for communicating any of these changes, they're usually pretty blatant (Amal: "Uncle Thand needs to be stopped, and TLTE has had the most success so far through violence -- I'll stop him by invoking the Law of Cool and rip him violently apart from the fabric of the story!"), so I'm confident that the transformations are clear and strong. If anything, we could probably stand to be more subtle. I'm mostly looking at you, Al the writer!

Again, I'm confident that there is enough change in the NeS, and if anything, the changes we have should possibly be fewer and forged from stronger and more drawn-out conflicts. I know I don't draw conflict out enough myself a lot, in any case.

As to whether the changes present and potentially-to-come are surprising and interesting, I'm not sure, so I'm going to have to err on the side of "if they are, they're not surprising and interesting enough" and attempt to make them moreso when it works with the story. I think if we manage to find a potential change for Thand that does justice to his character, that will certainly be both, though the search for one may be impossible. However, the changes that would be present (at least the ones I suggested) are certainly believable for the most part, however they might play out. I'm confident that most of the writers can (and have done) that much. Still, keeping this lens in mind is helpful when crafting the next post one is currently writing.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and have a change of character in your lack of involvement! :ninja:

[Gebohq]

Lens #82: The Lens of Inner Contradiction

A good game cannot contain properties that defeat the game’s very purpose. To remove those contradictory qualities, ask yourself these questions:
What is the purpose of my game?
What are the purposes of each subsystem in my game?
Are there things at all in my game that contradict these purposes? If so, how can I change that?
This lens, and the lens after it, are likely most intended to be used with the architecture of space in a game, and according to the author of The Art of Game Design, the purpose of architecture is to control a person's experience [within a space]. Also, according to Christopher Alexander, well-designed architecture has a "quality which has no name" -- [the experience in the designed space with this quality] feels:
alive, as if it holds energy
whole, like nothing is missing
comfortable, pleasing to be around them
free, not constrained naturally
exact, as if they are just how they are supposed to be
egoless, connected to the universe
eternal, as if they have always been and always will be
free from inner contradiction
The last is what this lens explores, since if the purpose of something is to be fun and it is boring, for example, that tends to be pretty bad. I'm actually wary with handling this lens, since I feel it can be easy to strike out something that isn't contradiction but contrast or a meaningful paradox or character or any number of other things. Still, I'll see what I come up with in this lens.

What is the purpose of the NeS [and its sub-systems]?

Hell, that's a big question -- it feels like asking what is the meaning of life (and not satisfied with "42" as an answer). If my hand were forced to answer, though, I'd guess that the purpose of the NeS is twofold and compounded together for a larger, more mysterious purpose to emerge: to provide an engaging story for the reader -- any story that invokes life in a way that our natural, real lives do not make apparent -- and to provide a "game" about collaboration and improvisation for writers to tackle in a narrative context. That larger purpose is understood then as the attempt to fuse and hold a bond between these seemingly contradictory purposes together. Any sub-systems are merely these larger purposes on a smaller and more immediate scale as far as I see it.

Are there things at all in the NeS that contradict these purposes? If so, how can I change that?
As already stated, it would seem that the attempt to provide readers with an otherwise traditional narrative experience is contradictory with the primary purpose provided to the writers (the conflict between "story" and "game-play" rages on still among academics in the gaming field). However, I do not believe this to be the case so long as it is clear to the readers what sort of narrative to expect (an unconventional one to say the least) and clear to the writers what sort of "game" to expect (one that requires great listening among both its other "writer" players and "reader" players). There must be room for "failure" (character) as well, and there is much that can be learned from improvisational theater in this case. The inner contradictions, then, are when we forget this balance and listen only to readers or only to other writers or, unfortunately, not listening to anyone (possibly even oneself), or when we place too much on perfection or too much on not doing our best.

There may very well be more specific contradictions that push against the purpose(s) of the NeS, but I'm afraid I'm too involved to look too much more objectively and would require an outside insight to further examine with this lens.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze the inner contradictions in the NeS yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #83: The Lens of The Nameless Quality

Certain things feel special and wonderful because of their natural, organic design. To ensure your game has these properties, ask yourself these questions:
Does my design have a special feeling of life, or do parts of my design feel dead? What would make my design feel more alive?
Which of Alexander’s fifteen qualities does my design have? Could it have more of them somehow?
Where does my design feel like my self?
As mentioned in the previous lens (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?p=1086500#post1090567), there is a quality that well-designed spaces tend to evoke. One of the aspects of that quality is that it feels alive, and Christopher Alexander breaks that (and the other aspects) down into fifteen properties:
Levels of Scale (seen also in fractal goals, interest curves, and narrative spaces)
Strong Centers (seen also in protagonists, the main goal, etc.)
Boundaries (seen also in rules)
Alternating Repetition (seen also in flow)
Positive Space (seen also in the relation of story and plot)
Good Shape (seen also in the visuals invoked in the imagination)
Local Symmetries (instead of global symmetries, seen also in rules)
Deep Interlock and Ambiguity (seen also in emergence from symbiotic elements)
Contrast (seen also in opposing lenses such as reward and punishment, etc. and character foils)
Gradients (seen also in flow, challenge, probability curves, etc.)
Roughness (seen also in character)
Echoes (seen also in fractal interest curves and elements that unify)
The Void (to contrast the strong center, wholeness, and content)
Simplicity and Inner Calm (seen also in emergence)
Not-Separateness (seen also in unifying themes)
With that in mind, I'll dive in with this lens.

Does my design have a special feeling of life, or do parts of my design feel dead? What would make my design feel more alive?
For the most part, the design of the NeS certainly feels alive. As I've said in previous lenses, part of the experience the NeS evokes is that it feels alive. The only times it feels dead is when new story posts are written too slowly. Still, perhaps looking at the properties of the nameless quality can help us find which properties it does and doesn't have and if they could have more.

Which of Alexander’s fifteen qualities does my design have? Could it have more of them somehow?
Let's take a look:
Levels of Scale: There is some fractal scale between the story thread, the story-arcs and scenes, but more could certainly be done to make these levels clearer and more connected. The "world" of the NeS, which also has levels of scale, could also benefit from a general idea of its levels of scale.
Strong Centers: The main characters (Gebohq, TLTE, Thand, etc.) are relatively strong, but Gebohq could stand to be a stronger character in the NeS these days. Their goals, at times, also aren't always as strong as they could be.
Boundaries: Pretty lax as far as boundaries, but I feel setting strong examples and 'guidelines' as far as "rules" would do the trick here, as well as with giving a framework for the "world" of the NeS as well.
Alternating Repetition: Can't recall anything in the NeS that has alternating repetition except perhaps for the preference that writers "take turns" with writing story posts (something I try not to encourage). Jokes and general narrative pacing could benefit from this more.
Positive Space: I think the NeS has some pretty clear positive space in relation to negative space, whether it's looking at story and plot, or the concrete and the imagined, or any number of things.
Good Shape: Admittedly harder to apply to a written narrative like this, so...perhaps? It's something to be mindful of in any case.
Local Symmetries: With the post-by-post method of writing, creating local symmetries while keeping things organic on a global level is very easy to do. Whether the NeS has those local symmetries, I'm not certain. Again, something to be mindful of when writing.
Deep Interlock and Ambiguity: Oh the ambiguity, how the NeS excels at that. As for a deep interlocking, I think the combination of literary and ludic elements can interlock quite deeply, nurturing an emergence of something harder to define.
Contrast: On the whole, it's hard to say. Most characters don't act as clear foils for each other, nor am I sure if many of the opposing lens elements contrast each other well enough.
Gradients: Not sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say there are few gradients than there could be as far as flow, interest curves and the like.
Roughness: The NeS has this in spades. Perhaps diamonds as well in the rough. Enough so it clubs people over their heads. I hearts this joke.
Echoes: There's certainly echoes when old characters pop back up, or characters are reminded of old conflicts, but since the NeS is often fixated on the present, echoes that appear tend to be few.
The Void: I think there's certainly this in the NeS. I wish I could objectively point to something that leads me to believe this, but I can't. Still, as with all these properties, this is something we should stay mindful of when writing story posts.
Simplicity and Inner Calm: The NeS is usually characterized as crazy and complicated, so even if the NeS has this property, it probably doesn't have enough of it.
Not-Separateness: Yes, there is certainly this in the spirit of collaborative writing and in the themes present in the NeS itself.
Hmm...that's odd. I would have thought the NeS would have more of these properties. Perhaps the properties it does exhibit are just that strong, or perhaps it does exhibit more properties than I can see, or perhaps it doesn't have as much of that nameless quality as I'd have imagined.

Where does my design feel like my self?
It feels like myself in its spirit of collaboration (it's interlock/ambiguity) and its roughness (character/quirks). Perhaps it feels like myself in the properties it appears not to have as well...

As always, please comment, question, criticize and examine the nameless quality in the NeS for yourself!

DISCLAIMER: I do realize that there is some difficulty in using this lens, as the author of The Art of Game Design himself says that he was only scratching the surface when talking about Christopher Alexander's nameless quality, suggesting that people should read the material first-hand. There is, therefore, a distinct possibility that I am misunderstanding and misapplying some of what makes up the "nameless quality" in well-designed spaces.

[Al Ciao]

LENS 8 - HOLOGRAPHIC DESIGN

Oooh... Holograms... >.>

Actually, I don't really know what I can add to this lens. Although I will say that I personally LIKE the script format, not just for writing, but for ease of reading. I'm confused by Geb's remark that some people have said that they find the script format hard to read. Because of its simplicity and many double spaces, it makes it MUCH easier to read, and I should know, being on my second readthrough of the entire NeS.

Also, while reading fiction on the computer can be problematic (again, I would know, being on my second readthrough), it makes the writing a lot simpler. And if you're a writer and just reading the most recent posts in order to make a post of your own, it's no problem at all, particularly since it's simplified by the script format.

The first draft nature of NeS really enhances the sandbox experience that I described in Lens 1 for the writers, as one doesn't have to worry nearly as much about how "good" the writing is, or where it's "going". This makes it all about the surprise (Lens 2) and not the "planning".

I disagree with Geb that the technology of the message board jars from the experience, but then, we're referring to different experiences. The message board interface is all about interacting with people (in a creative way, in the case of NeS and the workshop), which is essential to the sandbox experience.

In his mechanics that detract from the experience, Geb mentions the fact that there's no penalty for not writing, and seems to lament that there is thus no way to keep writers writing. He's thinking in terms of a "stick", when he needs to be thinking of a "carrot". We have to get writers and potential writers EXCITED about the NeS. Dangle NeSi in front of potential recruits. Talk about some of your favorite parts. (A berserk midget Viking? Excellent!) Highlight that "plot" and "skill" are secondary considerations. Describe the joy of the creative sandbox experience. Keep them hooked with compliments and interaction and building on their story posts.

LENS 9 - THEME

What? A theme? NeS? Er... Is random zaniness a theme? Many themes crop up from time to time, but I'm not sure if NeS has an overall theme. Nor should it, I think, as it should be free to do whatever. Escapism is a major cropup, as Geb mentions, but there is also story vs. Plot. Perhaps an overall theme is that nothing can ruin the story - although I don't think that really counts as a theme.

Besides, I don't know what Geb means by the "traditional ideas of a theme".

LENS 10 - RESONANCE

OOOH, OOOH! I want to knock Geb down a peg! Please, let me, let ME! >.>

Okay, let's answer some of these questions. NeS is one of the things in life that grabs me, but why? Well, one answer is that it's interactive, neverending, AND random. Sort of a technical answer, perhaps, but there it is. Because of those three qualities, I don't HAVE to plan anything. I can just write and know that it'll be picked up by someone else, and we can build off each other's ideas and go with the flow. But I CAN plan some things (even if I have to be prepared for them to be hijacked). Anything is possible in writing the NeS. I have a much harder time writing my own stories, because I feel that I have to plan them out ahead of time.

But it's more than that. NeS is fun because of the whole sandbox experience (Lens 1). That really makes NeS feel special to me, the illusion of the sandbox. But I'm repeating myself now, aren't I? And I'll keep doing it, till you young whippersnappers get that through your thick skulls! [/old man rant]

I haven't described NeS to nearly as many people as Geb has, but those I have described it to DO get excited. (What's wrong with the people Geb talks to?) I typically sum up NeS as a "comedic epic about these bumbling heroes who always manage to save the day, and half the humor comes from the fact that they KNOW they're in a story, and are always talking back to the writers, the Narrator, and the audience members". I describe that it's interactive and neverending and zany and random as well. The two guys I've tried to recruit with that spiel got pretty excited. (The first is still interested but doesn't want to write right; he has some ideas but isn't crazy about writing. The second is one I just described it to last week, so jury's still out on him.) I've described it to other people as well (NOT in attempts to recruit them), and they seem pretty impressed, if not interested enough themselves.

If I had no constraints? Then I'd be able to say to hot girls, "Hey, baby - I'm an NeS writer," and she'd be all impressed! >.> Seriously, though, there would be more writers for NeS, as Geb says, but also all the great ones of the past would come back - Ben, Britt, Krig, TLTE (I know you're out there somewhere!), Tracer, Janitor Bob, CookedHaggis, Antestarr, West Wind, Majiir, and others I know I'm missing. (If I didn't list your name, don't feel insulted, I jsut forgot. Wait, that's pretty insulting, too...)

There would also be an annual NeS convention, where all the writers meet somewhere (and it's paid for! By a government grant! Or Bill Gates! Or something!) And have a good time for a few days hanging out, barbecuing, playing video games, playing Laser Tag, etc. - oh, and talking about NeS, too.

The guest spots idea Geb has sounds pretty cool, but I'd be more interested in getting all the important people in my life to write for NeS - like my brother, my cousins, my best friend from HS, etc. When I get in a romantic relationship, I'd like my girlfriend, and later fiancee/wife, to be a regular NeS writer, too! It'd be an activity we can all share, one that I already find vastly enjoyable.

My instincts for how I think NeS should be are a desire for that ideal sandbox experience (Lens 1). What's driving those? Well, it's FUN that way! I don't have a real agenda for NeS like many people have. I'm not pushing a theme or idea - although I should point out I have many ideas, both for story ideas and for my way of looking at life that are expressed through my character Al Ciao: but I'm not PUSHING them. I mostly want to have fun, building off others' ideas and having them respond to my own. A symbiosis if you will.

When I was little, my brothers and I would play with our action figures in the playroom, and have long "episodes" of adventure with them, telling stories - often epic, often funny - with the toys, and blending our stories together. In a way I miss that, and NeS is the adult version of that.

LENS 11 - INFINITE INSPIRATION

Like Geb, I don't really try to weave my experiences into the story. I have plenty of inspiration just by being zany. (I have never had writer's block in my life - my problem has always been TOO MANY ideas, more than I know what to do with.) However, an exception is that some of my thinking and ways of looking at the world creep in. My character represents an evolution from obsession and munchkinism and some idealism that turns to despair as Highemperor, to balance and fairness and some cynicism that turns to hope as Al Ciao.

Still, various ideas and modes of thought creep into NeS from time to time. In one of my recent posts (2/8/2010, page 29), I had the heroes fall asleep, and Al Ciao realized that he was dreaming. This is called LUCID dreaming, and it's something I actually do. (Some people think it's impossible, some people think it's some kind of mystical thing, but it's neither. You simply realize you're dreaming, and then you're free to do whatever you want. I, for instance, like to fly!)

LENS 12 - PROBLEM STATEMENT

Oh, gosh, Geb is way over my head here. I mean, I understand what he's saying, but I'm not sure I agree with him, at least not completely (probably due to my own ignorance). Geb mentions that a problem for writers to solve is to use what's in previous posts in one's own post, in an engagin manner. This is true, but - and maybe I'm just splitting hairs here - that's a problem inherent in the "game" of NeS, in that it's an interactive story thread. The problem is created by the game, whereas I understand this lens to say that the GAME (NeS) is a solution to a problem, not that it CREATES a problem for the writers to solve.

So, with that understanding of it - and I may be way off base, I know - the problem that I am trying to solve in writing for NeS, is the problem of how to have fun in a creative and social way. (Did I really say social? Yes, I did. I consider NeS a social experience, in its interactivity.)

Have I been making assumptions about NeS that have nothing to do with its true purpose? Probably. The one that comes to mind is that I think everyone should just have a good time without pushing any big themes, but in truth, many people have themes and ideas important to them that they want to explore. While I have plenty of STORY ideas, I tend to be of the school of thought that NeS should be FUN without having to MEAN anything - but then, I think ANYTHING we enjoy should be enjoyed for its own sake and not for some greater meaning inherent in it. [/philosophical rant]

Is NeS the best solution? If thr problem is, as I state it is to me, to have fun in a creative and social way, then yes. It's certainly creative and social, but it's also ongoing and can be accessed from anywhere in the world with Internet access, anytime. As opposed to working in a community theater (which is a good and fun thing all its own), where everyone has to find the same time to work together.

The problem IS solved, at least for me. I'm having fun in a creative and social way. Of course, it'd help if more people would write. (I think it's telling that it's only when Geb takes a break - for a worthy cause, I might add :ninja: - that NeS experiences its worst slump ever.)

[Al Ciao]

LENS 13 - EIGHT FILTERS

Geb hits everything here.

Poodle Geb Kicked in'86: *whimper*

Not literally, little puppy.

Poodle Geb Kicked in'86: *whew*

As for the last filter, I certainly enjoy NeS more than enough. It's one of my favorite things to do, combining two of my favorite things - creativity and community.

Geb: And the Internet.

Well, yes, and the Internet, too.

Geb: Not to mention the hot, naked, spelunking--

Sarn: ACHOO!

Bless you. Anywho, Geb says something needs to change, if we're going by these filters, but I'm not too sure these filters really apply to NeS. The main problem with NeS is recruiting new writers, keeping the writers we have, getting them to post frequently, and working together with each other.

LENS 14 - RISK MITIGATION

What could go horribly wrong with NeS? All the writers stop writing! Oh wait, that already happened. Well, at least I'M keeping it going, and Cool Matty's come back, and Geb will be back in August, and Britt SHOULD come back this summer, and we expect Ben to pop back up, and as for TLTE, we'll keep hoping...

There's also the other problems, like writers not working with each other, or not writing frequently enough. We've covered that. Actually, I think the worst problem is that few people are as enthusiastic about NeS as Geb is. I believe I'm as enthusiastic (or nearly so) as he is, even though I don't take it as SERIOUSLY as he does. (See my above philosophical rant in Lens 12 about needing things to be meaningful to be fun.) If we had more people crazy about NeS, then it wouldn't shut down when Geb takes off. I hope to mitigate that with my own involvement once I get Internet access easily and regularly again.

[Gebohq]

I hope to reply to Al's stuff in more detail, but for now, I'd just like to point out that, at least with the current story-arc, TLTE has been one of the more frequent writers so far, so I can only say that we all love TLTE and his writing so much that we always want more, I suppose. :) With that said, and with Al talking often about friendships in the NeS, the next lens conveniently crops up with...

Lens #84: The Lens of Friendship

People love to play games with friends. To make sure your game has the right qualities to let people make and keep friendships, ask yourself these questions:
What kind of friendships are my players looking for?
How do my players break the ice?
Do my players have enough chance to talk to each other? Do they have enough to talk about?
When is the moment they become friends?
What tools do I give the players to maintain their friendships?
I think most of us agree that building friendships is an important factor in building and maintaining a community, and community is a fairly integral part of the NeS as a whole. So, my friends, lend me your ears as I examine with this lens. :)

I'm not sure if I can speak for everyone, but the friendships I look for in the NeS, like the ones I tend to look for in any other situation, are more the long-term, closer variety. Sure, I'm good with any sort of friendships, but I think it's really beneficial to the NeS to have closer bonds, since trust is extremely helpful in collaborative writing and stronger trust form with closer friends. Again, like improvisational theater, the NeS experience requires a degree of comfort among fellow writers (and even readers) since the act of improvisation can bring out more intimate sides of ourselves. Granted, we're provided more luxuries (more time to improvise) and limitations (the internet is a public domain), but the point still stands.

Unfortunately, I don't think the NeS provides any real solid ice-breaking moments, requiring most new people to simply dive into the community. I need to look up some ice-breakers sometime and see if and how they could be incorporated into the NeS.

As for talking to each other, yes, they have plenty of opportunities to talk among themselves (something I try to push), whether that be in the story itself, the workshop thread, the (un)official IRC chatroom, and other outside methods (Facebook, IM, e-mail, etc.). Given the material in even a few story posts of the NeS, yes, I think they also have plenty to talk about as well.

The moment people become friends is something I'm not sure is in my realm to answer. In general, I would imagine the times that two writers form a collaborative bond as well as the times they talk to each other outside the story. As for maintaining friendships, I'm not sure there's really anything I can offer as far as a "friends list" or the like. This may be something that could be looked into with the wiki-type site.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and believe in the power of friendship (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePowerOfFriendship)!

[Gebohq]

Lens #85: The Lens of Expression

When players get a chance to express themselves, it makes them feel alive, proud, important, and connected. [Use this in combination with Lens #63: The Lens of Beauty and Lens #80: The Lens of Status.] To use this lens, ask yourself these questions:
How am I letting players express themselves?
What ways am I forgetting [to offer players opportunities for self-expression]?
Are players proud of their identity? Why or why not?
The short: readers have little to no room for expression, writers have virtually any opportunity for expression (though excessive self-indulgence is frowned upon) and the characters express themselves however best serves the story. With that said, I'll focus on the writers.

The writers, while given all the freedoms of expression given to any fictional writer, specifically have three areas to uniquely express themselves: their message board profile (name, signature, etc.), each post they write (stating the obvious) and traditionally, at least one character "of their own." This last, while I think too easily conflicts with the goal of collaboration, is nevertheless the traditional primary means of self-expression most writers latch onto when writing, so care has to be taken here to not deny either self-expression or the spirit of collaboration.

I feel like there should be some way for readers to express themselves, and in general, to have reason to be "just a reader" -- an active, vocal reader, instead of a writer as well. I'm not sure what that method of expression could be though, if any. Ideally, I'd like to give writers other means of self-expression so that I could more strongly discourage the "my character" mentality that sometimes crops up, but again, I'm not sure what.

In any case, though, I think writers can be rather proud of their 'identities' since each post is clearly authored by them, thus making it easy to identify "their" posts. Having the chance to look back and say "yes, that was my story post that people liked" I think is a very powerful means of self-expression.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and express yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #86: The Lens of Community

To make sure your game fosters strong community, ask yourself these questions:
What conflict is at the heart of my community?
How does the architecture shape my community?
Does my game support three levels of experience?
Are there community events?
Why do players need each other?
While in theory, the conflict at the heart of the NeS community could be to be the best of the writers (and could encourage each other to improve), this could turn into a heated competition that breaks against the spirit of collaboration and general relaxed atmosphere, and "writing the best interactive story thread" (if such a situation ever arose) I don't think would be much better. The conflict, therefore, is to try and wrangle the wild nature of the NeS into a story that is understandable and engaging for all levels of the community (readers and writers alike). For the reader, the conflict at the heart of their community has to be the ones presented in the story itself. Unfortunately, I can't think of a conflict at the heart of the overall community that includes both readers and writers.

The "architecture" of the NeS actually only shapes the community on a local, present level. On the upside, there is only one story thread (and one "out of story" thread), and a currently-running story-arc usually helps bring readers and writers together. On the downside, parallel story-arcs can often divide the current writers into their own little parts, there's are large gulfs between the levels of experience among the community (which I'll get to explaining in a moment), and the "post-by-post" nature makes it very easy for people to decide to "skip" parts based on who is writing (oh hey, a part written by Gebohq, I know I won't like this!) It's something of an equivalent of a neighborhood designed as one long road with rather long driveways.

For those of you wondering what the "three levels of experience" I'm talking about are, they are the newbie (someone new to the NeS and its community), the player (someone familiar and involved in the NeS and its community, but not a "master" or veteran), and the elder (someone who's presumably "mastered" what is offered from the NeS and its community). With that said:
Newbie: No, the NeS and its community does little to support new people. Don't misunderstand me -- I think the community is rather open and inclusive to whatever new people we can get, and I've tried to do what I can to offer ways to make it easier for a new person. Essentially, though, we're still at the "just jump in the pool!" level of helping out new people who might not even be confident in their abilities to stay afloat. One way may be to encourage and reward the "experienced" members to help the new people out more...
Player: Hell, even this level of experience isn't supported enough. Once they get involved, they tend to feel that if they stop reading for a while, they have to "catch up" and it becomes a vicious cycle that overwhelms them more than even some new players, despite my best efforts to discourage them from feeling the need to "catch up." Again, I'm hoping a wiki-like resource will help save the day here.
Elder: It's hard to imagine anyone in the NeS community as having "mastered" it, if such a thing could be even said to exist. Still, we certainly have "veterans" in the group (not all of which are measured in years involved), but does the NeS support them? It certainly invites for more difficult challenges (of which sometimes they wish not to embrace), and they certainly have joys of creating and "governing" privileges on a level that naturally comes to them (something I actually try not to encourage too much). They aren't, however, encouraged to outright "teach" what they know to new people, and I still struggle to figure out how best to reward such experienced members of the community to do so. In any case, the NeS mostly encourages this level the most when it should be doing its best to encourage the other two, especially the new people.
There aren't really any "community events" in the NeS that I can think of (with the numbers we have, this may be a moot point). I'm not sure what events there could be when the need arises either.

Writers, however, certainly need each other because the NeS depends on its collaborative effort. Readers, unfortunately, do not need each other as much (nor am I even sure such measures should be taken to make them "need" each other). In theory, writers need readers to have motivation to write (which in some cases, the lack of visible readers has made older writers move on, and in other cases, the "other writers" are enough) and readers need writers to create the story for them, but I feel some other "need" should be included as well between readers and writers. I do not know what that need would be, though, especially since I'm actually wary of the philosophy of "dependence" with each other, since it can often have the same problems as addictions.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and make something of our community!

[Al Ciao]

Lens 15 - the toy

At the risk of sounding like Al Gore in the 2000 campaign, "I agree!" Can't really add anything here, and I'm afraid that might be the case with a lot of these lenses, but Geb said, "Post anyway, even if it's just agreement or disagreement." He's a regular ole tyrant, isn't he?

Lens 16 - The Player

I think something the writers like about NeS, as touched on in the earlier discussion between Geb and Tracer, is the flexibility to write for either flat or round characters, or even more than that, to treat characters as flatly or roundly as they wish. My character, for instance, has a lot of backstory, but instory can fill in for any generic flat character in general zaniness.

Other than that, I have nothing to add.

Lens 17 - Pleasure

Hmm, I didn't even know about that technical breakdown of different types of pleasure Geb highlighted. Makes sense though. I particularly like the humor, discovery, and fellowship.

Of course, my favorite type of pleasure is, alas missing from NeS - sensation! You can't see it, or hear a musical soundtrack. Granted, some things in Nes you wouldn't want to see or hear (the rape of Catherine, for example), much less feel (such as feeling Gebiyl's hand get cut off), but I'm a sensate - I love fresh air and the wind and good food and music. Oh well, I guess that's what "real life" is for. [/ramble]

Lens 18 - Flow

I find NeS engaging, which is the essence of flow, as I see it. Not because it has a series of challenges (I am challenge-phobic), but because it keeps my attention. It keeps my attention because I can play with it any way I want to, but there specific parameters I can play with: others' plans (social) and past references and backstories (creative). It's all about that sandbox experience I talk about in Lens 1 (anyone remember that?).

That's all for now. Give me a cookie, Geb - I earned it!

[Gebohq]

*gives Al a cookie*

Lens #87: The Lens of Griefing

To make sure griefing in your game is minimized, ask yourself these questions:
What systems in my game are easy to grief?
How can I make my game boring to grief?
Am I ignoring any loopholes?
The author of The Art of Game Design in this lens defines "griefing" as when other players aim to cause grief upon other players. These are usually the "killers" mentioned in the Bartle Test of Lens #17 (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078389), and they have little interest in the spirit of the game experience, but rather, to ruin the experience for everyone else and feed off their grief. Is it possible to have these types ruin the NeS? Certainly, but not in way one might naturally think...

For anyone who has had any experience with the NeS, it's known that trying to "ruin the story" is not the easiest place to cause grief. On the contrary, "ruin the story" was precisely the goal of the story-arc Love Conquers All (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=18372&page=20#post885309), and that is one of the better story-arcs the NeS has had lately. No, so long as collaboration and improvisation are at the heart, no one can succeed in ruining the story. However, it IS very easy for people to "kill" the spirit of collaboration and improvisation, which is where some may get confused with how to "kill the story" since an anti-collaborative effort also tends to lead to traditional means of "ruining" the story as well. But said person could write a well-written story, yet make it incredibly difficult to collaborate by abusing trust ("I got a great plan, please give me some time!") or write "shock" or personal material that fuels animosity among the community and not serve the overall story, or any number of other things.

Fortunately, most people don't realize this, and the idea of ruining the story seems a far more lucrative target than taking some small extra effort to string the community along and break its fragile collaborative and improvisational spirit, so not being able to ruin the story will bore them, and the extra effort would likely bore them before they could act out any malice. I'm not sure how else to deter those who would cause grief, though, other than to try and build a strong, inviting, loving community. If there are any loopholes (of which I'm sure there are), I've yet to see them, and I worry one day that the NeS and its community won't be able to remain firm against the likes of the dredges of humanity that seem to show themselves the most at times on the internet.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze, but please do not cause grief for the sake of making others miserable. Thank you.

[Al Ciao]

Since Geb is moving today, I'll have to carry the torch and continue my comments on the lenses. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say, but Geb bribed me with a cookie...

Lens 19 - Needs

Nothing to add here. As I've said before, NeS fills my creative and social needs; Maslow's hierarchy just formalizes those needs in a context.

Lens 20 - Judgment

Not much here either. Although I will add the useless note that NeS judges a writer's interest in it, based on how avidly he/she posts for it.

Also, often there is not enough judgment at all, out-of-story, apart from Geb's criticisms. Actually, having been on the receiving end of Geb's criticisms before, I tend to think his judgments are generally pretty fair. Also, Geb only lays into you if he respects you, so don't get defensive if he does criticise you; it means he feels you are contributing in a worthwhile manner.

I myself have received a couple of judgments on NeS1888 which were pretty psoitive, so of course I thought they were fair! Even though they weren't all from Geb, I still cared about it.

Lens 21 - Functional Space

Again, nothing here. I agree with Geb.

Lens 22 - Dynamic Space

I feel that as a general rule, plans a writer has should be shared. Having a few unformed ideas is one thing, but massive plans for the story should be shared. Of course, I may be biased, since I'm DYING to know TLTE's epic schemes...

Anywho, to use Al Ciao as an example for this lens, he is an object. One of his attributes is his receding tendency to powerplay, as manifested in his sometime transformations into Highemperor. Usually ambition or desire or stress can trigger this state change.

That's all for now.

[Gebohq]

Thank you, Al. My move went well (though I needed an extra day), and it's thanks to people like Al that I can be confident in the next two lenses, the first being...

Lens #88: The Lens of Love

Do I love my project? If not, how can I change that?
Does everyone on the team love the project? If not, how can that be changed?
Without love, any endeavor is, at least on a practical level, to be far more difficult to achieve and its lacking presence will inevitably bring down the quality of the project. The author of these lenses goes so far as to say that one should "fake it until you make it" if necessary -- that's how important having love for your work means. While I'm not sure I agree wholeheartedly with that extreme, this is one of the more important elements I do my best not to neglect.

Do I love my project? Yes.

Does everyone else on the team (the writers) love the project? I believe so, yes.

Despite the brevity of my response here, this is certainly one of the most important lenses to take away from this thread, and I hope to continue pushing for the importance of love as involved with the NeS. As always, though, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself.

[Gebohq]

Lens #89: The Lens of the Team

To make sure your team is operating like a well-oiled machine, ask yourself these questions:
Is this the right team for this project? Why?
Is the team communicating objectively?
Is the team communicating clearly?
Is the team comfortable with each other?
Is there an air of trust and respect among the team?
Is the team ultimately able to unify around decisions?
Unfortunately, this is not a lens I can really apply with any sort of accuracy without other writers to chip in. The "right" team consists of the people interested enough to write as far as I'm concerned. As for whether we're communicating objectively and clearly, it's hard to say, as I feel we don't communicate enough to say one way or the other (but I'm a communication addict as well). I do think we're mostly comfortable with each other though, and for the most part, we do trust and respect each other, but that's just my guess -- perhaps others don't feel the same way and have remained quiet on the matter. With the collaborative and improvisational nature of the NeS, though, I do think most of the writers learn to unify around the decisions (in the story) that each of us make. As with the previous lens, though, this lens is critical in my book, and should be something to keep at the forefront of our thoughts.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and make yourself part of the NeS team.

[Gebohq]

Lens #90: The Lens of Documentation

To ensure you are writing the documents you need, and skipping the ones you don’t, ask yourself these questions:
What do we need to remember while making this game?
What needs to be communicated while making this game?
In the world of game design (the kind that involve numerous people and lots of money and time to make), design documents help keep track of what's being made where and why. They often either get updated or scrapped in the middle of production, and things such as a wiki-style database ( :ninja: ) are often the most useful for the documentation spoken of here.

For the NeS, we need to remember our goals, our characters, and to a lesser extent, the stories we've already told. We need to communicate at least some semblance of what we're thinking about in the current posts and our story posts to come (even if we wish not to reveal our 'surprises' we might foolishly have planned) and how we can best follow through with our goals, show our characters, and possibly work previous story material. Beyond that, I'd be interested to hear what you all think should be in a wiki-style resource so I can try to best tailor-make its structure.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and document your thoughts here!

[Gebohq]

Lens #91: The Lens of Playtesting

Playtesting is your chance to see your game in action. To ensure your playtests are as good as they can be, ask yourself these questions:
Why are we doing a playtest?
Who should be there?
Where should we hold it?
What will we look for?
How will we get the information we need?
As critical as playtesting is to game design, it's also a process for revision of the product. The NeS, by its nature, is one giant rough draft, and while playtesting would be of utmost importance if we were to edit previous story material or attempt to fine-tune the NeS for a mass market, it's not as applicable in the current state of the NeS. The most we can do is treat every moment of "play" as a playtest in itself and attempt to apply any changes for future posts.

One usually asks why a playtest is carried out, since they are often used to analyze very specific parts of a game design depending on where in development the project is at that moment. Again, since the NeS can't benefit from this process as objectively as this lens would have us do, we must simply use other lenses when writing our posts or story-arcs. Perhaps we're "playtesting" to see how well Thand can act as an active antagonist, or perhaps we're "playtesting" to see if a certain scenario carries its encouragement of cooperative writing strong enough. This is certainly a question that must be applied on a case-by-case basis.

Who should be at [the focus of] the playtest also applies on a case-by-case basis. Perhaps only the improvisational skill of one writer is tested for speedier posts, or perhaps a certain mix of characters are tested for their chemistry with each other as the reader sees it. Where the "playtesting" should be held is really only applicable in the context of the story, where perhaps some tests would be better in the "main story" or as a side story, though perhaps "testing" how writers can collaborate in person may work as well.

Where as "why" is inherently to make a better experience (as opposed to how well it'll sell to a demographic or to see if a technology works as it should), the "what" are the kinds of things I've already mentioned that are case-by-case. How the information is gathered is a bit trickier, since we don't have any objective method at this moment and what information we may have could only really be thrown into the workshop for a very quick "hotfix" in the story itself.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and playtest with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #92: The Lens of Technology

To make sure you are using the right technologies in the right way, ask yourself these questions:
What technologies will help deliver the experience I want to create?
Am I using these technologies in ways that are foundational or decorational?
If I’m not using them foundationally, should I be using them at all?
Is the technology as cool as I think it is?
Is there a “disruptive technology” I should consider instead?
As mentioned in previous lenses, we already have a fairly simple, effective technology in use, and the ideal technologies are currently far too expensive for the NeS appealing as a marginal medium.

The current technologies in use help deliver the experiences of cooperation (since message boards and the like help facilitate communication), and the ideal one would mostly only aid in the aesthetics department (though it could help focus the experience as a whole too). The current technologies are certainly used foundationally, while the ideal could risk from being merely decorational (though that doesn't mean it should necessarily not be used). "Cool" is certainly a factor I would be wary of in any case, should this lens need a more serious application, and a "disruptive technology" (a new one that has yet to be adopted as "good enough") isn't likely to ever be necessary for the NeS. If anything, it can get away with old (yet still solid) technologies (print media!), though if the NeS were to ever rise as a "mass" media, an ideal "disruptive" technology could certainly be considered.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #93: The Lens of the Crystal Ball

If you would like to know the future of a particular game technology, ask yourself these questions, and make your answers as concrete as possible:
What will ____ be like two years from now? Four years? Ten years? Why?
While this question is geared towards technologies that may be helpful, this could just as easily be applied towards cultural trends, social/political climates, fashions, whatever. However, even with that in mind, I don't think the NeS generally benefits any significant amount from riding on the "cutting edge" -- it's a very present-focused experience, and the act of reading and writing are immediate enough so that it's not necessary to worry about falling out of favor in the middle of production. This is still a useful lens to consider in the back of our minds, but it's not something I feel will be an advantage to use this lens strongly or a disadvantage to not use it.

For the sake of this lens, however, let's simply apply this to the NeS as a whole (though this is again not really the point of this lens.

Two years: No matter how things turn out, I think things will be more or less how things are now -- slow, but still plodding along like a turtle.

Four years: Here is where I fear things may become problematic. Many of us are in our 20s, and if nothing else, we're likely to only become busier and more involved with loved ones and work. If nothing is done to get some serious new (likely young) people involved, the NeS will likely start seeing itself on its "last legs" as it were. This is not even considering waning interest without attempts at broader outreaches (wiki-style resource, webcomic, and a published novel based in the NeS experience are things I hope to push more soon).

Ten years: Without growing our community and strengthening the foundation of our "craft" I feel the NeS will likely fade away by this point. However, I've been something of a fatalist with the NeS since page 1, so I hope to be continued proven wrong and have the NeS remain strong for another 10 years go come.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and anticipate the future as it concerns the NeS yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #94: The Lens of the Client

If you are making a game for someone else, you should probably know what they want. Ask yourself these questions:
What does the client say he wants?
What does the client think he wants?
What does the client really want, deep down in his heart?

The NeS, at this time, does not have or require a client. Perhaps one day, when it needs a sponsor or publisher or marketer or the like, this lens can be applied more traditionally. For now, we must consider the readers and the [other] writers as our client, and ultimately, they as the players (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078260) (in the NeS or any other project) should be seen as the primary client anyway.

So, for instance, a reader might say they want character development. What they think they want might be more specifically a character more "serious" with lots of inner conflict that they overcome, and what they might really want, deep down in their heart, is a darker character who doesn't actually develop too much from how they are introduced.

This lens can't always promise results. Sometimes what they really want is in conflict with the experience, goals, or long-term success of the project (or can't be resolved with conflicting desires from another client). Sometimes you're unable to figure out what they really want, or you do, but you can't show your client that their misperceiving their own real desires. This lens, like all the others, do help to open our awareness of those distinctions though.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and analyze with this lens yourself!

[Gebohq]

Lens #95: The Lens of the Pitch

To ensure your pitch is as good as it can be, ask yourself these questions:
Why are you pitching this game to this client?
What will you consider “a successful pitch?”
What’s in it for the people you are pitching to?
What do the people you are pitching to need to know about your game?
Ugh, the pitch. If only I liked this necessary evil...or was any good at it. Once again, let's consider potential new readers and writers as the client we're pitching to in this case.

We're pitching to possible new readers about the NeS because we wish to gain their active readership, and we hopefully feel they might have interest in it (whether it's the style of comedy or its metaphysical meta-fiction or simply the stories told). We're pitching to possible new writers for much the same reason, except we want their active writing as well as readership, though we might also hope to strengthen bonds of friendship as well.

A successful pitch is having someone who is genuinely interested in reading and writing (and ideally, someone who actually becomes a reader and writer).

For the reader, I would like to think an entertaining story is in it for them (though I'm quite aware that the story isn't as approachable as it could be) and writers who would likely start writing things requested (moreso than in other scenarios at least!) For the writer, they have the opportunity to flex writing muscles not often used -- collaboration and improvisation -- as well as join a community that I'd like to believe is fun and easy to start.

For both readers and writers, they need to know that the NeS is something of an absurdist comedy, a sort of modern fantasy with meta-fictional elements, and that plot is the enemy, and that unfortunately, there is some time investment needed (though not as much as they might think). For the writers, they need to know the importance of the ability to collaborate and improvise.

Hmm... well, the questions in of themselves here actually didn't turn out as bad as I thought. It's mostly trying to "sell the experience" that gets me -- how best to summarize what the story is about in a hooking way, how to best present its appealing factors while minimizing its unappealing factors in an honest manner. It doesn't help that I tend to sell the flaws foremost, believing that if they know the worst of it and accept that, the rest shows up well in its truest, best form.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and pitch your own ideas!

[Gebohq]

Lens #96: The Lens of Profit

Profits keep the game industry alive. Ask these questions to help your game become profitable:
Where does the money go into my game’s business model? Why?
How much will it cost to produce, market, and distribute this game? Why?
How many units will this game sell? Why do I think that?
How many units need to sell before my game breaks even?
Fortunately, this is not a lens that currently (or may ever) apply with the NeS. Unfortunately, should it ever (say, to publish a novel based on the NeS), I'd be at a great loss. I have a very poor business sense, nor is it a sense I whole-heartedly wish to have. Even for something as relatively simple as a novel (instead of a video game), I have little idea where the money would go in its production, how much that production, marketing and distribution would be, how well it'd sell and how well it needs to sell. It's something I need a better understanding of, especially if we ever have dreams of "selling out" -- we may wish to sell ourselves out and get actual money for this, but at least I don't wish to sell out the NeS itself. Understanding the NeS with this lens would help me better defend the character of the NeS from those who would put profit above it.

Please let me profit from your comments, questions, criticisms and analyzes of your own.

[Gebohq]

Lens #97: The Lens of Transformation

Games create experiences, and experiences change people. To make sure only the best changes happen to your players, ask yourself these questions:
How can my game change players for the better? For the worse?
This lens applies with the intent of something beyond the confines of the game, whether it's emotional maintenance, connecting with others, education, addiction, violence, and the like.

As with any escapist works, the NeS does change people for the better by offering emotional maintenance, such as problem solving something "not serious", and as with any confrontational works (yes, the NeS can have these too), the NeS changes people for the better by offering new insights, such as collaborative improvised writing. The NeS transforms the writers through improved collaboration and improvisation, all while connecting with each other at the same time. And, as with any story, we transform with the characters as they experience their struggles, whether they be absurdly comedic moments or how they deal with love, hate, and loss.

I'm rather certain I can say that the NeS has (thusfar at least) not changed anyone for the worse, except for arguably me, as I have let my love for the NeS come between friendships and the like in the past. I feel I am the exception to the standard here, though, and my exception is certainly something that is not inherent to the NeS itself.

As always, please comment, question, criticize and express your own transformations with the NeS!

[Gebohq]

Lens #98: The Lens of Responsibility

To live up to your obligations as a game designer, ask yourself these questions:
Does my game help people? How?
Does the NeS inherently help people? Yes. It helps by building cooperation and improvisation, and it helps by telling stories and experiences that, deep in their souls, better people. And while the author of The Art of Game Design speaks of keeping your agenda of responsibility secret for some more practical reasons (your publishers are interested in money and will think you have your priorities in the wrong place if you disagree), I believe in the same -- to "hide the message" under a layer of entertainment -- for many other reasons. Subtlety, depth, sugar-coating (for lack of better words) -- these are the sort of reasons that come to mind for me. My responsibility is not something I will forget, and should anyone feel I have, I would hope they speak up passionately and clearly.

As always, please comment, question, criticize, and dare I say, be co-responsible in making the NeS something that betters people.

[Gebohq]

Lens #99: The Lens of the Raven

To remember to only work on what is important, ask yourself this question:
Is making this game worth my time?
The author of The Art of Game Design calls this lens "The Lens of the Raven" in reference to Poe's poem "The Raven" to elicit the idea that time is short, fleeting, and needs every moment of it to be capitalized. The author stirs up a bit of melodrama by the end of his book at this point, but it's a book for game designers (artists), so go figure. It is important to make sure that the project is worth your time though, so this lens is still important to apply.

Is crafting the NeS with its community worth my time?

Yes.

But why?
It's worth my time to craft and be a part of the essential experiences (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075684) of a living story-world paradoxically both with an epically mundane will of its own and a mundanely epic blank slate which to engage.
It's worth my time because of the absurdly comic surprises (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1075874) it offers.
It's worth my time because of the fun (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076018) in crafting and consuming the story as it unfolds.
It's worth my time because I'm curious (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076141) where the NeS will go next.
It's worth my time because of the inherent value (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076340) I place with a number of the characters.
It's worth my time because of the problems (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076479) I solve with it as stated in the problem statements (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077567) regarding its themes and goals (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079850) of collaboration and improvisation.
It's worth my time because the NeS has the potential to use aesthetics, technology, 'mechanics' and story (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076586) in a meaningfully unique way in relation to its experience (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076775).
It's worth my time for the themes (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1076970) of fight, flight and love it offers.
It's worth my time for how the immediacy and co-ownership in the NeS resonates (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077322) with me and my quest for the impossible dreams.
It's worth my time because while I may not yet have drawn from too much other things for inspiration, there is an infinite space of inspiration (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077386) to draw from with the NeS (and in turn, inspires me in other parts of my life).
It's worth my time because it passes many filters (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077784) for a good project.
It's worth my time because the risks are worth it and can be mitigated (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1077904).
It's worth my time because the NeS is fun even without goals, like a toy (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078103), even if a number of people are hesitant to play with it at first.
It's worth my time because the NeS is designed in mind for the "player" (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078260), if perhaps moreso for the writers than the readers.
It is worth my time because the NeS is (at least potentially) pleasurable (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078389) on a number of levels.
It is worth my time to embrace the challenge of designing the seemingly untamable flow (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078564) for the NeS community to experience fully.
It is worth my time because it fulfills many central and higher needs (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078729) of mine.
It is worth my time because it is an opportunity to be judged (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1078967) in a context that matters to me.
It is worth my time because it has a functional space (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079022) that engages me.
It is worth my time because the elements of the NeS create a strong dynamic state (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079160) with fascinating states of private and public knowledge of those elements.
It is worth my time because of how the NeS emerges (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079342) from such relative simplistic premises to complex character and illusion of life, even if its ratio of simplcity and complexity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082386) could stand to be more simple.
It is worth my time because of the actions (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079561) present in the NeS and its ratio of operational to resultant actions.
It is worth my time because there are few rules (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1079922) with the NeS, moreso guidelines of good behavior.
It is worth my time because its tests my skills (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881#post1080051) as a writer, collaborator and improviser mixed with its perceived highly valued (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080231) amount of chance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080427) -- the two together (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081155) mix engagingly with the NeS.
It is worth my time because the NeS is inherently fair (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080629) in its collaborative spirit.
It is worth my time because of the many challenges (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080769) it offers, particularly to balance "story" (for the readers) and "gameplay" (for the writers).
It is worth my time because the choices I make with the NeS are meaningful (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1080948), particularly with collaboration.
It is worth my time because of the potential for triangularity (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081109) to show in the story.
It is worth my time because of the option it presents between the mindless and the thoughtful (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081342).
It is worth my time for the thin streak of competition (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081517) present in the NeS, the thick threads of cooperation (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081647) the NeS ties its community with, and how the two together (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081793) co-exist.
It is worth my time because, as time consuming as the NeS can be, there is no hard time (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1081933) to abide by.
It is worth my time because while the rewards (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082081) are few, they can be quite valued, and there are few punishments (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082219) as well, though those certainly carry weight as well.
It is worth my time because a number of its elements are often elegant (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082612) and yet are defined strongly by their character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1082855) as well.
It is worth my time because it inspires my imagination (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083112).
It is worth my time, in part, because there is no complex economy (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083356) to consider, and potential economies would be unique.
It is worth my time because of the mere attempt at balance (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083505), even if it may still falter.
It is worth my time because I feel its accessibility (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083868), once unlocked to its full potential, will build a cooperative community unlike few others.
It is worth my time because, ultimately, I really can see my progress (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1083877), even if only in hindsight.
It is worth my time because it offers parallel stories (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084095) to work with that yet build like a pyramid (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084259) to a singular story.
It is worth my time to puzzle (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084424) over some of its challenges.
It is worth my time because there is potentially quite meaningful control (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084611) that I can take, its physical (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084782) and virtual (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1084916) interface offering transparency (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1085152) and feedback (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1085358) that is at least relatively "juicy" (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1085643), provided in fairly simple channels & dimensions (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1085798) as well as modes (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1085967).
This is worth my time because its interest curve (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1086143), while needing improvement, is certainly promising, providing good inherent interest (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=2#post1086359).
This is worth my time because, in many ways, the NeS is beautiful (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1086500).
This is worth my time because I project (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1086736) easily within and outside the story, especially in relation to "my character (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1089108)" Gebohq.
This is worth my time because the NeS is perhaps a story machine (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1086914) I find unrivaled.
This is worth my time for the obstacles (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1087164) it presents.
This is worth my time for the simplicity and transcendence (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1087371) it offers in its story-world (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088910).
This is worth my time because I can craft and follow the journies of a hero (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1087578) easily in the NeS.
This is worth my time because the NeS is chock-full of the weird (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1087783).
This is worth my time because I care about the stories (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088068) it tells.
This is worth my time because of the freedom (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088325) it offers me while providing me means of indirect control (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088578), such as collusion with characters (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1088771), over other writers without impending their own freedoms.
This is worth my time because of the characters I help craft: in their function (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1089296), their traits (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1089584), how they relate to each other (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1089869) through an intricate web of thoughts (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090061), their statuses (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090279), and how they transform (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090436).
This is worth my time because I do not believe the perceived inner contradictions (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090567) actually exist in the NeS.
This is worth my time because I do believe the NeS can possess the nameless quality (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090781), if it doesn't already.
This is worth my time because of the friendships forged (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1090872) with those I met before the NeS, such as Antestarr and Semievil, as well as through the NeS, such as Al Ciao (Highemperor) and The Last True Evil. These are but the tip of the friendships found through the NeS, however, and I hope to find more, perhaps to further forge the team (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1092378) of writers, for a community (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1091248) compounded by collaboration.
This is worth my time because I can express (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1091094) myself.
This is worth my time because there has been little grieving (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1091376), and I believe there is little room for it to foster.
This is worth my time because I love (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1092161) the NeS.
This is worth my time because there is some attempt at documentation (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1092580) in the workshop thread, and hopefully much more through its wiki-like resource to come.
This is worth my time because we are continually in a state of playtesting (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1092744) even as we play it.
This is worth my time because I don't really have to concern myself with the technologies (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1092967) of the NeS, or concern myself concretely of the future (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1093133) so long as I am mindful of the present, nor the whims of a outside client (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1093244), or the need to pitch (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1093244) to those only concerned with profit (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1093540).
This is worth my time because the NeS offers opportunities to transform (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=3#post1093683) myself.
This is worth my time because it is something I can truly feel responsible (http://forums.massassi.net/vb3/showthread.php?t=56881&page=4#post1093792) for and be proud of it.
I wish I could make more time for it, and yet "real life" encroaches on me more and more it seems, and its only a matter of time before I fear it'll keep me away enough for it to fade away. I fight it to some degree, as the NeS is one of the things most worth my time, but dare I say, what if I have a love life, perhaps with one who isn't interested in the NeS, or start a family, or can't keep the NeS community together strong enough without the simplicity of school for new people, or hell, just feel I've run out of steam, can't hack it anymore, and don't wish to drag it through a half-dead state? I do believe time can be made for anything, but if I'm to be responsible and keep within the spirit of the NeS, it cannot consume my life either.

As with life, at least for now, all I can aim to do is spend my time wisely so that, if the NeS does die tomorrow, there will be no regrets.

Now that all the lenses have been covered, please take the time, if you will, to make any comment, ask any question, attack with any criticism, and to give whatever time you can to help me make the NeS and its community stronger, wiser, crazier, clearer, and funnier. Help me to see that its spirit never ends...

[Gebohq]

Lens #100: The Lens of Your Secret Purpose

To make sure you are working toward your one true purpose, ask yourself the only question that matters:
Why am I doing this?
It wouldn't be much of a secret if I said it, now would it?

[Cool Matty]

Wouldn't much of what you said in Lens 99 be the answer to 100?

[Gebohq]

And now to answer back everyone who commented (that I didn't already comment on)! If I missed anyone, please let me know!

think part of the surprise fun factor is what kind of response you will receive from what you write. Surprise or unknown if what is written will metamorphosis in to something else and how that will happen. And just as things develop there is the unknown in what things fade away how things fade away.


Think one the expectations (conventions) (anticipations) we might have in the experience of writing or reading(watching, listening...) a story is to see a situation get resolved. That there will be some sort of ending to it. Or have the expectation to have an explanation for everything in the story (no plot holes). Having an ending to something or tying up loose ends does not always happen in the NeS. Some explanations of unexplained can be summed up as a plot hole. Writers have allowed (embraced?) holes in the story to be there even if they become a let down.

experiences of having control and not having control.

Kind of reward in participation in the experience of NeS is keeping the story alive and not allowing something named to last forever to die. thinking about the dammed or forgotten characters, their stories lost. To keep a story alive you have to continue to tell it.
Yeah, the surprise definitely manifests most in seeing how future story posts respond to your own. It's a bit of a balancing act between collaborating well with each other as writers in the workshop, where we risk toning down surprises too much, and keeping ideas to ourselves until we post them, which risks an anti-collaborative spirit.

Resolution can also be a tricky balancing act. Good stories usually have some sort of [satisfying[ resolution, but the NeS, by its nature, can only resolve so much, if only because it's meant to never end. The same goes with what control we have and what control we don't have as well. The important thing though is the last thing you said, though: we do have to continue to tell the story to keep the NeS alive.

I think, from the past, the best methods of implementing new problems and conflicts was the abandonment of the staple NeS plot of the standard heroes going about defeating the next issue of the Big Bad. In the end they do get boiled down into the standard NeS plot, but it always brings in new and interesting material.
Yeah, some of the better conflicts in NeS have been the ones that veered away from the standard. "Love Conquers All" comes to mind for me.

Think you can say the text is is an aesthetic thing.

We tend to keep with the script format. or if writing a huge chunk to put some negative space in between little chunks.

The layout is a way to manipulate how the viewers eyes will move when viewing the text. but rules in how we read (start at top left, go left to right, going down.) dictate for the most part how our eyes go across the page.

Think the negative space serves as a way to have the eyes stop for a bit.

With the script layout..putting a gap between lines. doing things like using bold for Char name. other things like italics.
guess the layout gives the text texture or a rhythm.

Play done using color for a certain character. -> Fred
Haha, yup! It goes to show that even something as seemingly simple as text can still have a lot of aesthetic to it!

As a disclaimer, I know much less than Geb about games and game design, plus I'm not as clever as he is, so don't expect my answers to these lenses to be near as insightful or long as his. Furthermore, there is a great possibility that I will understand some of what a particular lens is getting at, so if an answer is way off the mark, that's why. In addition, a lot of my answers to different lenses may overlap. As well, I'm focusing more on NeS as an experience for writers, rather than just readers.
Clever, shmever. I'm glad you've been taking a stab at your own takes with these lenses!

LENS 1 - ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE
To me, the essential experience for NeS is FUN, for the reader, yes, but especially for the writer. (I write assuming that any readers are also writers, but this is probably true anyway.) Note also the distinction, as Geb has pointed out before, between "fun" and "funny". (Not that NeS isn't often funny as well.) I guess the primary question here is what about the experience makes it fun.
To me the fun elements is the impression of a large sandbox to play around in. Are you building a Wagnerian sand palace or a simple sand tower? Moats? What are all the other kids in the sandbox building? How can we fuse our castles together? Literally build them into one another? Have them be neighbors? Set them up as rival sand castles? It's an exercise in imagination and cooperation.

Okay, so that's not very technical, but it's that same quality of experience that I get out of NeS and that I think would be wonderful for others to have.

To get this experience, one needs writers who are writing relatively frequently - more than two would be ideal, but too many gets messy, but then what about NeS isn't messy? - as well as writers who are willing to reach out to other writers, even if it's only instory, by building off their ideas instead of simply railroading one's own idea of a subplotline (something I used to do a LOT). The first element is probably the easier of the two, but even that can be difficult, especially since Geb is our primary recruiters. Having other writers try to recruit their friends would be a good idea, and something I'm trying to do with a few people I know (I'm introducing one guy I know who likes to write by first introducing him to NeSi).

The second element, that of interdependence on other's ideas and story building blocks, can be even harder, as it's something that depends a great deal on the personality of the writer. It seems extremely hard for most writers to let go of the idea that they are in control - because it's very hard to be in control of anything in NeS, other than the post you are writing right now. Yes, we can make plans and share them with other writers, but as Benjamin Mahir said once in the workshop, "Not only do you need a Plan B, but Plans C, D, and E, and be prepared to write up a Plan F on the seat of your pants when the next plot twist hits."
To say that the goal is "fun" is, indeed, a bit broad -- it can be applied for the "players" of just about all entertainment -- so I'm glad you tried to delve further. :)

While the comparison to a sandbox is a natural and not inaccurate comparison to make with the NeS, I would be wary of that analogy. Sandbox play often lack direction, goals, visible progression and structure in general, which for something as large and continuous as the NeS, can be a detriment for continued play, as it were.

I've always wondered what the "ideal" number of writers for the NeS at any given time would be. I suppose it depends on how involved those writers were, but would 10 writers be too messy for even the NeS? 50? 100? It's hard to imagine having that problem anytime soon though for me, hah.

And yes, first rules of improv club: do not plan in improv club. ;)

LENS 2 - SURPRISE
Haha! Surprise is the very definition of NeS - one never knows what's happening next. When we try to plan something, it usually ends up being anticlimactic because the writers get bogged down by it. (Either that, or it takes months to write: witness NeS1999.) If anything, we need more surprise sometimes. It is the natural tendency of writers - even those as venerable as the Gebster himself - to make some kind of an outline for the next story arc. Of course, the flipside of that is that without some kind of plan or outline, writers sometimes don't know what to write.

Perhaps our main problem with planning story arcs is that we tend to decide on how it's going to end instead of just pointing the characters in a direction. For example, with the Without Credit arc, we knew we were heading for a showdown with Vice in which Guy Book needs to be rescued so that lovable Geb can recover. On the other hand, the sub-arc on page 26 when some heroes go to Disneyworld merely had a direction: "Let's go to Disneyworld so Sem can reunite with his family!" This, perhaps, can be key to making more surprises and less bogged-down anticlimaxes: directions instead of destinations.

To answer some of the more specific questions about this lens: The direction the story is going in will surprise the readers/writers. (Geb's commment about how embracing or subverting story conventions and how random tidbits of absurdity take on greater importance is a GREAT one.) About the rules, art, and technology offering surprises, Geb pretty much covers that.
Writers can definitely surprise others with their posts, obviously - but often, the greatest surprise is surprising oneself. I often don't know exactly how my post will turn out - in some cases I have NO idea. I simply start with the end of the last post and go. If there's no particularly destination one must reach, you just roll with the punches, even the self-inflicted ones.
Once again, balance between "planning to have an idea what to write" versus "stifling the improvisational spirit" is a tricky one, and I agree that setting a direction/goal is probably the best general solution to that. Surprising oneself can be one of the best surprises too. :)

LENS 3 - FUN
Much of the fun in NeS comes from the surprise (#2) that comes from the interplay of imagination and cooperation (see #1).
On the other hand, matters of style can also make the NeS more or less fun to read. A simple script-like style - with double spacing - makes the reading easier on the eyes, whereas reading posts like Shade's old ones (sorry, Shade, if you're reading this) or JM's short novel post Dec 1st '09 or even mine lately (because my comp's not cooperating with me; kudos to Geb for editing double spaces into them) take away from the fun factor. Also, the style of the writing can help.

With many apologies to West Wind and Majiir - who are incredibly talented and brilliant writers who I wish would come back - sometimes people can write in a very heavy narrative style, with long paragraphs of dense text - appropriate for a novel, but difficult on a computer screen, particularly for a story which is generally much lighter in tone than a novel.

As far as the balance between what Geb calls escapism and epic drama... To me, epic drama can also be an escape; by giving meaning to a story, we get some sort of catharsis when the real world often confuses us with its lack of sense or meaning at times. But I digress. I used to lean more towards epic drama; now I lean more to zaniness. Of course, I still like epic drama and use it in my posts, but even then I try to have a hefty dose of zaniness in it. I think both approaches are good, but they just need to be balanced. The biggest problem with epic drama is that it often involves a destination rather than merely a direction (see my notes on Lens #2 above) and as such can bog down the writers. If a writer or writers wants to use some kind of epic drama in his posts or (gasp) plans, (s)he needs to be prepared to see it through himself or else to see it fall by the wayside. On the other hand, other writers should be prepared to cooperate to some degree with the dramatic writers' inclinations. This may be easier for some writers than others. Tracer, for example, prefers unlimited codfish to ultimate power. (Of course, where would we be without Tracer? The story would be much duller and less interesting, for certain.)

I suppose that boils down to Geb's juxtaposition between the epic and the mundane.

On a side note, I anxiously await TLTE's return to NeS, so we can build off each other's epic ideas. :-)

Something else I find very fun about NeS is that it's basically created a setting, a world, of its very own. With hallmarks like a second star or the Sahara having become a giant lake swimming with mutant scorpions, or events like Helebon's brief but hellish dominion, NeS has its own flavor and history apart from "generic Earth setting". One thing I love to play with is how the rest of the world perceives the NeSheroes and their actions, whether it's writing a newscast by Tod Ayitsgon Narain or a reaction from Hero Force One to their lesser-known counterparts.
Style can definitely influence fun, as you've pointed out. I think the preference to light-heartedness, comic, and escapist narrative for the NeS is primarily tied to wanting it to be fun. With fun often being "pleasure with surprises" as defined in The Art of Game Design, it makes sense that the more "serious" side isn't often considered fun and therefore not as desired. Obviously, there are flaws with this line of thinking: there are many stories people enjoy that aren't considered "fun" and people even play games which can be very serious and thought-provoking, so long as it manages to engage on some level of artificiality (gambling, as I see it, ceases to be a game when it involves real money from this perspective). Still, the preference for fun is natural in this case.

And yes, drama can certainly be escapist, just as comedy can actually be 'confrontist' (for lack of a better word). It's more the juxtaposition of the varying opposites (like with epic and mundane) that I was getting at in regards to the NeS.

LENS 4 - CURIOSITY
Often, writers for the NeS come in with their own goals for what they want to create. Back in the day, for example, I wanted to create an epic story about Highemp seeking to conquer the NeS before eventually being redeemed in a grandiose drama. More recently, JM wanted to write the story of JM the Character's split consciousness. I have to admit, ultimately I think these singular goals are often defeating to the spirit of NeS itself. Not that having personal writing goals is bad, but when that's your only driving force, it damages what the story could be. In my case, I was too focused on writing Highemp's story and having go where I wanted it to go, that I couldn't adequately respond to other scenarios set up within the story. I got steamed at Tracer when he zombified my character and put him on Jeopardy, instead of rolling with the punches. (That was back in the 20s of the original thread.)

On a less obsessive level, nearly all writers are more interested in their own characters - Cool Matty, for example, had his subset of characters that he wrote for a lot. And he was by no means alone in that. Often, if a writer didn't know what to do with his/her own character, (s)he wound up writing nothing at all. Kudos to Tracer - not only does he write with any and all characters, he doesn't even have a character of his own (though there was briefly an Agent Tracer who got killed off page 50). Not even Geb has that singleminded devotion to zaniness wherever it can be found.

If more of us could be more like Tracer - or at least more like Geb - and write for all sorts of different characters and scenarios, NeS could get along a lot better. (Of course, many writers have done just that, most recently, brilliant people like Benjamin Mahir and TheBritt.) The question here is, how can NeS put this type of curiosity into writers' minds and make them care about it more?
I'm at a loss to answer that, as much of it depends on the personality of the writer him- or herself. Perhaps the best way is to set up interesting scenarios in one's own posts and seeing how other writers jump on it.
Haha, yes, being like Tracer is a good thing to be for the NeS. :) Encouraging curiosity through how others will work with your material as well as traditional means to manipulate curiosity in readers through the narrative are definitely the name of the game for NeS.

LENS 5 - ENDOGENOUS VALUE
Geb pretty much hits all the points here. A formal reward system would be bad, I agree, and the best rewards for the writers are responses and feedback to their posts, both instory and out of story. If someone writes his posts but his story developments are ignored or rendered moot by a plothole, then he feels left out. And even better are out-of-story compliments (or even constructive criticism). I know when I read Britt's review of NeS1888, I was grinning from ear to ear. It was more than just a line saying, "Hey I loved it," it mentioned specific things he liked or found interesting, plus it was absolutely glowing. I bet all writers could use more of that!
In-and-out-of-story feedback is looking to be the best method to go with for the NeS. :)

LENS 6 - PROBLEM SOLVING
For the writers, as Geb said, most of the problems boil down to that one question about writing a post that's interesting and builds off previous posts. However, there can also be problems of interaction between the writers themselves. Perhaps the biggest conflict (that I know of) was with my constant powerplaying in years past. More than a few writers were upset with me, but TLTE especially got upset (justifiably so, I might add), and thus a major conflict occurred between himself and me. Most disagreements between writers won't be nearly so dramatic, but I think it raises the excellent point that writers must solve interpersonal problems. TLTE and I solved much of ours in the story itself (NeShattered page 1), although poor Geb was a go-between for us, as I didn't have MSN and TLTE didn't have AIM, and only Geb had both. Thus we see that interpersonal problems can be solved in at least two ways: either by direct communication, and/or by settling it instory.
Yeah, it's not something I addressed, but by default of collaboration and improvisation being at the heart of the "problem" to solve for NeS, problems that arise from interpersonal communication and the like must also be solved, which isn't always an easy task.

LENS 7 - ELEMENTAL TETRAD
I pretty much agree with Geb here (surprise surprise), but I do have a couple things to add. I think the white text on black background qualifies as an aesthetic. I think it makes NeS easier to read, as it's different from the usual boring black-on-white text, but is still easy to read because of the color contrast (as opposed to blue writing on a green background).
Also, I think some of the mechanics (unless I'm misunderstanding the term) also include unwritten "rules" such as writing NeS in a script-like format or writing narration in italics. That's all I have to add, sorry.
Geb: Here's a $20 for agreeing with me.

Thanks.
Haha, don't tell them I bribed you! Now everyone will be hitting me up! ;)

And yeah, every visual matters, even when it's text. I've always wondered, if the NeS had its own site, if the white on dark-green should still be the general default or not...

For me the only rules are to go with the flow of what's been written and try to keep my posts consistent with the spirit of the story. For example one time I killed off the character blujay which Geb promptly undid in the next post, but he did it in a way that was kind of funny so it wasn't a problem at all - it was great. edit - This is actually one of the things that I enjoy about NeS, because although good ideas can come from me better ideas can come from other people. The other posts often give me new ideas for the story which is why I love it when the other writers get directly involved with the same characters I'm writing for.

I think the key to both of those rules is just keeping up with the research, making sure that I know what other writers have written so I don't directly contradict and invalidate what they wrote. Although sometimes these plotholes can actually help the story along - I remember Krig had a hilarious continuity post when the TACC side-story got pasted in to the main thread.

One of my worst moments for following my own rules was during the dreamstate arc. I had been taking a break from posting then decided one day to drop back in and make a game-changing post. It was a dumb move.
Eh, the "research" as you described in depressing accuracy can be problematic at times. It's necessary to best respect the collaborative spirit, but it can also very easily feel like "work" and not "fun" -- balance between fun for the reader and fun for the writer can be very tricky. And the example you gave is actually something of a big no-no I made as far as improvisation is concerned, since you're never really supposed to say "no, what you said is wrong." You're supposed to essentially say "yes, and..." in response, and continue. I myself don't follow this as well as I should, though, and often sneak in "retcons" like the one you mentioned. Still, as you also said, sometimes it can be generally agreed upon for the better, especially if done in a way that's still respectful to the other writer being retconned. I do think that "not doing the research" with the NeS isn't always a bad thing, in any case.

Still working on catching up on your posts Geb.

Influence: I know now that the posts that I did make had tons of influence from personal real life stuff. I did intend to base some things off of stuff in my life into what I wrote but more of me came out in the writing than I thought I was putting out there. An example of something from the real life me that I didn't realize I put in was how I just really really don't like to be abandoned.

other influences of course from Movies and such. and from the interactivity, influence came from other writers
Yeah, it's funny how stuff about yourself sneaks into what you craft. It's certainly common to see in any artist and their work. It actually reminds me of when Stephen King in his "On Writing" book mentioned how he didn't realize he was writing about his own alcoholism in his earlier works. And yes, working with other writers certainly influences your own writing too. :)

Gebohq, you're doing a great job with these. Please continue; I'm watching with interest.

I wanted to talk about this for a moment, because it's my main source of difficulty with the NeS. I know in my heart of hearts the foundation of the NeS is/was distraction. It was a web serial, something people could quickly add their funny pop culture spin/fantasy idea to and then return to the business of posting on the main Discussion forums. I believe it has also moved on quite a bit since then. Why? Because the inevitable literary progression has happened - our characters have evolved.

I introduced little more than a riff on a stock Eastern European Big Bad to the NeS cast. Now, as has been mentioned before, he's more or less the most three-dimensional character in the mix. Others have undergone less profound transitions as well, always making them more interesting, more suitable for more sophisticated narratives and discussions.

And then I remember it's the NeS, and quickly throw a joke in.

See, that's my problem - the founding intent of the NeS is, to me, a sideline, window dressing to the more interesting stuff. I really want to see what happens to TLTE, Gebohq, Amal, Losien, Thand, Tracer, MacFarlane, Al Ciao, Krig et al. It is not a riff anymore; even by the broadest stretch of the term, it's not a riff.

That's why I think I envy Tracer's writing style most of all - he comes back to the NeS, seemingly out of nowhere, and effortlessly transitions back into the comedy. With me, I always feel like I'm juggling - plot strands, character motivations, etc - and the zany comedy distraction motif is just another ball to catch.
I'm certainly not one to believe that initial intent must be paramount, but maybe that's the American in me looking at living documents like the U.S. Constitution too. I also believe we have our strengths and weaknesses: Tracer is good with the comedy (sorry if I keep putting you in the spotlight, Tracer), and you're good with the drama. I do think it's important to be mindful of the roots of NeS, and to never forget to not take the NeS too seriously, but it has grown as well, and we must be mindful of that as well. I honestly think the heart of NeS is both distraction and...vocation? Examination of truth? Not sure how to best describe its opposite. In any case, the opposites together, which I'm sure you've noticed the trend. :)

Speaking on Lens #61: You can draw a lot of parallels to Left 4 Dead 1/2 and how the Director works in the game. Valve did a lot of research and learned a lot of things about how people want pacing in their games. The Director actually strives to achieve a player experience similar to the graph you drew, with highs and lows to allow players to breathe after a hard fight, but build anticipation for the next. All with the promise of a big ending. The large fights in the game are aptly named "Crescendo Events" for that reason.

What's really interesting with what Valve did in the games, is they actually created an AI to make its own "story" so to speak, every playthrough. Every time it will be slightly different, and even better, it will be tweaked toward each team's individual play style and skill level.
I already responded to this, but I just wanted to say also that I should really play the L4D games at some point more than just the five minutes for work back in the day. Alas, my computer is ancient, though, and I'm too poor now to be getting something better anytime soon. :(

LENS 8 - HOLOGRAPHIC DESIGN

Oooh... Holograms... >.>

Actually, I don't really know what I can add to this lens. Although I will say that I personally LIKE the script format, not just for writing, but for ease of reading. I'm confused by Geb's remark that some people have said that they find the script format hard to read. Because of its simplicity and many double spaces, it makes it MUCH easier to read, and I should know, being on my second readthrough of the entire NeS.

Also, while reading fiction on the computer can be problematic (again, I would know, being on my second readthrough), it makes the writing a lot simpler. And if you're a writer and just reading the most recent posts in order to make a post of your own, it's no problem at all, particularly since it's simplified by the script format.

The first draft nature of NeS really enhances the sandbox experience that I described in Lens 1 for the writers, as one doesn't have to worry nearly as much about how "good" the writing is, or where it's "going". This makes it all about the surprise (Lens 2) and not the "planning".

I disagree with Geb that the technology of the message board jars from the experience, but then, we're referring to different experiences. The message board interface is all about interacting with people (in a creative way, in the case of NeS and the workshop), which is essential to the sandbox experience.

In his mechanics that detract from the experience, Geb mentions the fact that there's no penalty for not writing, and seems to lament that there is thus no way to keep writers writing. He's thinking in terms of a "stick", when he needs to be thinking of a "carrot". We have to get writers and potential writers EXCITED about the NeS. Dangle NeSi in front of potential recruits. Talk about some of your favorite parts. (A berserk midget Viking? Excellent!) Highlight that "plot" and "skill" are secondary considerations. Describe the joy of the creative sandbox experience. Keep them hooked with compliments and interaction and building on their story posts.
Haha, you're absolutely right about the carrot instead of a stick -- positive reinforcement is always better than negative! I still pine that we don't have much of either though. And while a message board system is certainly adequate, coming from a bit of a different idea of the NeS experience, I do think it could be something better.

LENS 9 - THEME

What? A theme? NeS? Er... Is random zaniness a theme? Many themes crop up from time to time, but I'm not sure if NeS has an overall theme. Nor should it, I think, as it should be free to do whatever. Escapism is a major cropup, as Geb mentions, but there is also story vs. Plot. Perhaps an overall theme is that nothing can ruin the story - although I don't think that really counts as a theme.

Besides, I don't know what Geb means by the "traditional ideas of a theme".
Sadly, you didn't have access to the links I made, but it's not really important. It was mostly an attempt at clarification where I think now none was needed. While I do think the NeS should have a theme, I think is best left to rise naturally, which I think it has.

LENS 10 - RESONANCE

OOOH, OOOH! I want to knock Geb down a peg! Please, let me, let ME! >.>

Okay, let's answer some of these questions. NeS is one of the things in life that grabs me, but why? Well, one answer is that it's interactive, neverending, AND random. Sort of a technical answer, perhaps, but there it is. Because of those three qualities, I don't HAVE to plan anything. I can just write and know that it'll be picked up by someone else, and we can build off each other's ideas and go with the flow. But I CAN plan some things (even if I have to be prepared for them to be hijacked). Anything is possible in writing the NeS. I have a much harder time writing my own stories, because I feel that I have to plan them out ahead of time.

But it's more than that. NeS is fun because of the whole sandbox experience (Lens 1). That really makes NeS feel special to me, the illusion of the sandbox. But I'm repeating myself now, aren't I? And I'll keep doing it, till you young whippersnappers get that through your thick skulls! [/old man rant]

I haven't described NeS to nearly as many people as Geb has, but those I have described it to DO get excited. (What's wrong with the people Geb talks to?) I typically sum up NeS as a "comedic epic about these bumbling heroes who always manage to save the day, and half the humor comes from the fact that they KNOW they're in a story, and are always talking back to the writers, the Narrator, and the audience members". I describe that it's interactive and neverending and zany and random as well. The two guys I've tried to recruit with that spiel got pretty excited. (The first is still interested but doesn't want to write right; he has some ideas but isn't crazy about writing. The second is one I just described it to last week, so jury's still out on him.) I've described it to other people as well (NOT in attempts to recruit them), and they seem pretty impressed, if not interested enough themselves.

If I had no constraints? Then I'd be able to say to hot girls, "Hey, baby - I'm an NeS writer," and she'd be all impressed! >.> Seriously, though, there would be more writers for NeS, as Geb says, but also all the great ones of the past would come back - Ben, Britt, Krig, TLTE (I know you're out there somewhere!), Tracer, Janitor Bob, CookedHaggis, Antestarr, West Wind, Majiir, and others I know I'm missing. (If I didn't list your name, don't feel insulted, I jsut forgot. Wait, that's pretty insulting, too...)

There would also be an annual NeS convention, where all the writers meet somewhere (and it's paid for! By a government grant! Or Bill Gates! Or something!) And have a good time for a few days hanging out, barbecuing, playing video games, playing Laser Tag, etc. - oh, and talking about NeS, too.

The guest spots idea Geb has sounds pretty cool, but I'd be more interested in getting all the important people in my life to write for NeS - like my brother, my cousins, my best friend from HS, etc. When I get in a romantic relationship, I'd like my girlfriend, and later fiancee/wife, to be a regular NeS writer, too! It'd be an activity we can all share, one that I already find vastly enjoyable.

My instincts for how I think NeS should be are a desire for that ideal sandbox experience (Lens 1). What's driving those? Well, it's FUN that way! I don't have a real agenda for NeS like many people have. I'm not pushing a theme or idea - although I should point out I have many ideas, both for story ideas and for my way of looking at life that are expressed through my character Al Ciao: but I'm not PUSHING them. I mostly want to have fun, building off others' ideas and having them respond to my own. A symbiosis if you will.

When I was little, my brothers and I would play with our action figures in the playroom, and have long "episodes" of adventure with them, telling stories - often epic, often funny - with the toys, and blending our stories together. In a way I miss that, and NeS is the adult version of that.
I think I get the general vibe of what resonates for you. :) As for what's wrong with the people I talk to, I wouldn't jump on them too quick. I may just be reaching out to the wrong people, or maybe I just suck at "selling" the NeS to new people, or both. ;)

LENS 11 - INFINITE INSPIRATION

Like Geb, I don't really try to weave my experiences into the story. I have plenty of inspiration just by being zany. (I have never had writer's block in my life - my problem has always been TOO MANY ideas, more than I know what to do with.) However, an exception is that some of my thinking and ways of looking at the world creep in. My character represents an evolution from obsession and munchkinism and some idealism that turns to despair as Highemperor, to balance and fairness and some cynicism that turns to hope as Al Ciao.

Still, various ideas and modes of thought creep into NeS from time to time. In one of my recent posts (2/8/2010, page 29), I had the heroes fall asleep, and Al Ciao realized that he was dreaming. This is called LUCID dreaming, and it's something I actually do. (Some people think it's impossible, some people think it's some kind of mystical thing, but it's neither. You simply realize you're dreaming, and then you're free to do whatever you want. I, for instance, like to fly!)
I'm not sure if I touched on this or not, but the author of The Art of Game Design intended for this lens to be used to look for inspiration from unexpected places, not just other games and entertainment. I think your example of lucid dreaming is a step in the right direction as far as drawing from what you know and not just pulling from other stories and such.

Incidentally, though, Inception deals with lucid dreaming of sorts. You should see it if you get the chance, Al. Everyone should, really. It actually made me think of these lenses a lot.

LENS 12 - PROBLEM STATEMENT

Oh, gosh, Geb is way over my head here. I mean, I understand what he's saying, but I'm not sure I agree with him, at least not completely (probably due to my own ignorance). Geb mentions that a problem for writers to solve is to use what's in previous posts in one's own post, in an engagin manner. This is true, but - and maybe I'm just splitting hairs here - that's a problem inherent in the "game" of NeS, in that it's an interactive story thread. The problem is created by the game, whereas I understand this lens to say that the GAME (NeS) is a solution to a problem, not that it CREATES a problem for the writers to solve.

So, with that understanding of it - and I may be way off base, I know - the problem that I am trying to solve in writing for NeS, is the problem of how to have fun in a creative and social way. (Did I really say social? Yes, I did. I consider NeS a social experience, in its interactivity.)

Have I been making assumptions about NeS that have nothing to do with its true purpose? Probably. The one that comes to mind is that I think everyone should just have a good time without pushing any big themes, but in truth, many people have themes and ideas important to them that they want to explore. While I have plenty of STORY ideas, I tend to be of the school of thought that NeS should be FUN without having to MEAN anything - but then, I think ANYTHING we enjoy should be enjoyed for its own sake and not for some greater meaning inherent in it. [/philosophical rant]

Is NeS the best solution? If thr problem is, as I state it is to me, to have fun in a creative and social way, then yes. It's certainly creative and social, but it's also ongoing and can be accessed from anywhere in the world with Internet access, anytime. As opposed to working in a community theater (which is a good and fun thing all its own), where everyone has to find the same time to work together.

The problem IS solved, at least for me. I'm having fun in a creative and social way. Of course, it'd help if more people would write. (I think it's telling that it's only when Geb takes a break - for a worthy cause, I might add :ninja: - that NeS experiences its worst slump ever.)
Actually, I think you used that lens more correctly than I did, and I think I agree with your assessment. I'd probably word it differently, but essentially, I think you got the idea of what problem the NeS "solves."

LENS 13 - EIGHT FILTERS

Geb hits everything here.

Poodle Geb Kicked in'86: *whimper*

Not literally, little puppy.

Poodle Geb Kicked in'86: *whew*

As for the last filter, I certainly enjoy NeS more than enough. It's one of my favorite things to do, combining two of my favorite things - creativity and community.

Geb: And the Internet.

Well, yes, and the Internet, too.

Geb: Not to mention the hot, naked, spelunking--

Sarn: ACHOO!

Bless you. Anywho, Geb says something needs to change, if we're going by these filters, but I'm not too sure these filters really apply to NeS. The main problem with NeS is recruiting new writers, keeping the writers we have, getting them to post frequently, and working together with each other.
They may not, and in any case, you're right about what you said. Also, I sure do love kicking the dog (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KickTheDog).

LENS 14 - RISK MITIGATION

What could go horribly wrong with NeS? All the writers stop writing! Oh wait, that already happened. Well, at least I'M keeping it going, and Cool Matty's come back, and Geb will be back in August, and Britt SHOULD come back this summer, and we expect Ben to pop back up, and as for TLTE, we'll keep hoping...

There's also the other problems, like writers not working with each other, or not writing frequently enough. We've covered that. Actually, I think the worst problem is that few people are as enthusiastic about NeS as Geb is. I believe I'm as enthusiastic (or nearly so) as he is, even though I don't take it as SERIOUSLY as he does. (See my above philosophical rant in Lens 12 about needing things to be meaningful to be fun.) If we had more people crazy about NeS, then it wouldn't shut down when Geb takes off. I hope to mitigate that with my own involvement once I get Internet access easily and regularly again.
Man, poor TLTE getting poked, despite being one of the more prolific writers for the current story-arc. It just goes to show how much we want you to write, TLTE! And sadly, August was my optimistic deadline -- my current (and final) deadline is the end of October. I'm still hoping both Britt and Ben will be back far sooner though and that CM continues to write!

Lens 15 - the toy

At the risk of sounding like Al Gore in the 2000 campaign, "I agree!" Can't really add anything here, and I'm afraid that might be the case with a lot of these lenses, but Geb said, "Post anyway, even if it's just agreement or disagreement." He's a regular ole tyrant, isn't he?
Yes, yes I am. And you've done well. :downs:

Lens 16 - The Player

I think something the writers like about NeS, as touched on in the earlier discussion between Geb and Tracer, is the flexibility to write for either flat or round characters, or even more than that, to treat characters as flatly or roundly as they wish. My character, for instance, has a lot of backstory, but instory can fill in for any generic flat character in general zaniness.

Other than that, I have nothing to add.
Flexibility for characters, hooray! Once again, opposites brought together. :)

Lens 17 - Pleasure

Hmm, I didn't even know about that technical breakdown of different types of pleasure Geb highlighted. Makes sense though. I particularly like the humor, discovery, and fellowship.

Of course, my favorite type of pleasure is, alas missing from NeS - sensation! You can't see it, or hear a musical soundtrack. Granted, some things in Nes you wouldn't want to see or hear (the rape of Catherine, for example), much less feel (such as feeling Gebiyl's hand get cut off), but I'm a sensate - I love fresh air and the wind and good food and music. Oh well, I guess that's what "real life" is for. [/ramble]
Hey, I'm all for getting other 'sensations' for NeS too: music, comics, tactile games, whatever!

Lens 18 - Flow

I find NeS engaging, which is the essence of flow, as I see it. Not because it has a series of challenges (I am challenge-phobic), but because it keeps my attention. It keeps my attention because I can play with it any way I want to, but there specific parameters I can play with: others' plans (social) and past references and backstories (creative). It's all about that sandbox experience I talk about in Lens 1 (anyone remember that?).

That's all for now. Give me a cookie, Geb - I earned it!
While I'm glad the NeS can be engaging, it's certainly not quite the same as flow as this lens means. It's not to say that the NeS can't bring people in flow, but it can be tricky, to say the least.

Since Geb is moving today, I'll have to carry the torch and continue my comments on the lenses. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say, but Geb bribed me with a cookie...

Lens 19 - Needs

Nothing to add here. As I've said before, NeS fills my creative and social needs; Maslow's hierarchy just formalizes those needs in a context.
Oh Maslow, making things cooler with pyramids. :ninja:

Lens 20 - Judgment

Not much here either. Although I will add the useless note that NeS judges a writer's interest in it, based on how avidly he/she posts for it.

Also, often there is not enough judgment at all, out-of-story, apart from Geb's criticisms. Actually, having been on the receiving end of Geb's criticisms before, I tend to think his judgments are generally pretty fair. Also, Geb only lays into you if he respects you, so don't get defensive if he does criticise you; it means he feels you are contributing in a worthwhile manner.

I myself have received a couple of judgments on NeS1888 which were pretty psoitive, so of course I thought they were fair! Even though they weren't all from Geb, I still cared about it.
I'm glad you felt they were fair. :) And to clarify, while Al is correct about my tendency to get more critical the more I feel you're contributing in a worthwhile manner, it doesn't mean that if I don't criticize you that I don't think you're contributing in a worthwhile manner either! Don't want people to get the wrong idea there.

Lens 21 - Functional Space

Again, nothing here. I agree with Geb.
Yay. :)

Lens 22 - Dynamic Space

I feel that as a general rule, plans a writer has should be shared. Having a few unformed ideas is one thing, but massive plans for the story should be shared. Of course, I may be biased, since I'm DYING to know TLTE's epic schemes...

Anywho, to use Al Ciao as an example for this lens, he is an object. One of his attributes is his receding tendency to powerplay, as manifested in his sometime transformations into Highemperor. Usually ambition or desire or stress can trigger this state change.

That's all for now.
You're not the only one dying to know, Al... :ninja:

Wouldn't much of what you said in Lens 99 be the answer to 100?
How observant. ;) But there is at least one other reason I have that is secret, and a driving factor for me... perhaps even 2 or none, which I will leave unexplained. The idea though is that you have your own private reasons, and those reasons are powerful because they are private.