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The Game is Where the Hype is

© Sandy Brundage

Online Gaming, PC Not Included

Fool.com has an intriguing article about Sega's upcoming launch of the Dreamcast system. The console includes a 56k modem to let players access to an online gaming arena or roam the Web.

As Dreamcast waits in the wings to make its debut, it's worth considering the question of what is Sega selling, technology or gameplay? What makes a good game? Where does storytelling fit in? Can flashy pixels make up for a shallow point-click-shoot backstory?

Feed:Dialog on the Frontiers of Game Design is an excellent collection of essays pondering those questions, with answers from some of the premiere game designers in business today, like Marc Laidlaw of Half Life.

Salon.com's Technology section often carries gaming newsbytes. A recent report by Moira Muldoon,They Got Game, uncovered a "get rich quick" gaming scheme- EverQuest and Ultima Online fanatics auctioning powertwinked characters on eBay for hundreds of dollars to people who don't have the patience to build their own high-level tyrant.

Gaming Without the Flash

For those of us sticking to conventional 'net access and immersing into a world built on a skeleton of text, Imaginary Realities is a webzine worth following. Updated on the 15th of each month, the zine scrutinizes MUDs from the creator-player point of view. "Wilderness Systems for MUDS", "So You Want to Code a Mud..." and "Level vs. Non-Level" are a few of the offerings in the July issue.

MU*s all start to sound the same after a while. Now, at last, a mudlist that posts reviews! Game Commandos has 432 mud reviews archived, in addition to roleplay guides, programming tips and GM tools.

Paul O'Brien's Interactive Fiction Page serves the same function for interactive fiction fans. The site hosts three years' worth of game summaries and critiques, and is updated with each new batch that contends at the annual IF Competition. The XYZZYnews Home Page is a peek at games in progress, as well as a storehouse of game design tips.

If players just want faster, louder, snazzier flashing screens, why are interactive fiction games still around? Why are MUDs a staple of the gaming menu? The ingredients of a good game lie underneath the hype. If the heart of the story is hollow, playing it will be like munching a handful of potato chips: tasty for a second, but ultimately unsatisfying. If the story grabs the imagination and holds it for ransom, then it doesn't matter if the screen is full of graphics or just text.

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