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Don't Run into the Woods

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Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#21

Post by itishappy »

jvanderbot wrote: post #12
itishappy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the opposite boat. This style nicely mimics how I think. I find the types of fragment in the article align with the boundaries of each unit of thought in a manner that quite clearly approximates my internal dialog. I think your examples does a disservice, as your breaks do not follow such rules.

Writing down "How you think" is not good general-audience presentation of information. That's probably Journalling. "Writing" is probably supposed to be general-audience presentation of information. By avoiding all rules of presentation, you invalidate everyone's ability to quickly digest the information. I tried to scan this as I usually do, and was forced to read each excruciating, disjointed, malformed line one by…

I do not agree with your definition of writing, nor do I think that was ever the authors intent. Works quite well for me. To each his own, I suppose.

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#23

Post by bee_rider »

RugnirViking wrote: post #19

There is a fun to be had with games divorced almost entirely from any storytelling though. For example various abstract strategy games I play like rule the waves, or games like rocket league. The fun there is not largely enhanced by the fantasy of it, I think. The mechanics themselves are the challenge, and overcoming them and creating things using them is the fun, something that is more abstract with books (you'd ha…

I haven’t really enjoyed the actual plot of very many video games at all. When I have tried to watch cutscenes and dialog, it has typically been pretty shallow stuff.

In my head, the plot of the game is the imagined story of my guy. The cutscenes and whatnot, that’s just somebody else’s fanfic about my guy, a much better character that exists in my head.

Environmental storytelling can be pretty good, though. The FromSoft games did a great job of setting up environments that evoke the feeling of a type of world, you fill in the blanks, despite having basically incoherent actual plots.

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#24

Post by rileymat2 »

Perz1val wrote: post #20
kwertyoowiyop wrote: post #2

there’s something about this writing style that really annoys me and detracts from the message. if you’re going to ignore the rules the payoff needs to be worth it otherwise you’re just being… self-indulgent?

I often read texts (blogs, articles, long comments, etc) out of order, skipping whole paragraphs, coming back if I feel like I missed a detail. Just going fast. This post is entirely incompatible with that. Not only that, the combination of thin, serif, monospace font on a white background is distracting, but also like 1/4th of the text is bolded, further messing up how I think what is important. Like it is trying to…

> coming back if I feel like I missed a detail

How do you know you are not missing a ton of important meaning? I feel like I know people that do this and are clearly missing major points by substituting their on beliefs in.

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#25

Post by throwaway626 »

jvanderbot wrote: post #12
itishappy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the opposite boat. This style nicely mimics how I think. I find the types of fragment in the article align with the boundaries of each unit of thought in a manner that quite clearly approximates my internal dialog. I think your examples does a disservice, as your breaks do not follow such rules.

Writing down "How you think" is not good general-audience presentation of information. That's probably Journalling. "Writing" is probably supposed to be general-audience presentation of information. By avoiding all rules of presentation, you invalidate everyone's ability to quickly digest the information. I tried to scan this as I usually do, and was forced to read each excruciating, disjointed, malformed line one by…

[dead]

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#26

Post by throwaway626 »

jvanderbot wrote: post #14
gherkinnn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one thought per line. A few notes on a topic without the in between words. Works for me.

why not start with a linear narrative? use all the techniques we already know and feel them in video game form? have you heard of walking simulators? They're just that, with one or two twists. Yet... I'm not saying you should show it to anyone if you're not ready. This sounds like ... rambling. There's no connection between any of the lines. If you're brainstorming, brainstorm. I suspect that's what this is.

[dead]

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#27

Post by squirtlebonflow »

Omroth wrote: post #10
kwertyoowiyop wrote: post #2

there’s something about this writing style that really annoys me and detracts from the message. if you’re going to ignore the rules the payoff needs to be worth it otherwise you’re just being… self-indulgent?

It's the bold that really puts me off.

Really? I find that it makes it so much more pleasant and easy to read. I read it much faster than I would have without bold. The author is telling you which parts of the sentence are most important, so your brain frees up that processing part where you have to figure that out.

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#28

Post by squirtlebonflow »

jvanderbot wrote: post #12
itishappy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the opposite boat. This style nicely mimics how I think. I find the types of fragment in the article align with the boundaries of each unit of thought in a manner that quite clearly approximates my internal dialog. I think your examples does a disservice, as your breaks do not follow such rules.

Writing down "How you think" is not good general-audience presentation of information. That's probably Journalling. "Writing" is probably supposed to be general-audience presentation of information. By avoiding all rules of presentation, you invalidate everyone's ability to quickly digest the information. I tried to scan this as I usually do, and was forced to read each excruciating, disjointed, malformed line one by…

Disagree entirely.

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#29

Post by falcolas »

RugnirViking wrote: post #19

There is a fun to be had with games divorced almost entirely from any storytelling though. For example various abstract strategy games I play like rule the waves, or games like rocket league. The fun there is not largely enhanced by the fantasy of it, I think. The mechanics themselves are the challenge, and overcoming them and creating things using them is the fun, something that is more abstract with books (you'd ha…

I love stories, and I love games which tell good stories. More specifically, I prefer good stories over gameplay. Most games which focus only on deep gameplay mechanics rarely stick to me. I'll play them until I'm competent, and then I lose interest without something else to keep me attached to them.

Honestly, if you took my favorite games and stripped them of their stories, they would be mediocre games at best. Yet they tell stories which I can not find in any book.

FFXIV: A MMO with sub-par position-based combat (compared to WoW and other MMOs) which has made me cry a few times, which makes me crave the next installment in the story. I've never found a villain redemption arc to compete with some of those found in this game.

Mass Effect Trilogy: A pretty boring ability shooter whose difficulty lies in bullet sponges. The story it weaves for a surprisingly immense cast of characters is astonishing.

Neir Automata/Reincarnation: A pretty standard Platinum spectacle fighting game, with a branching story system which will outright fuck with your mind. The story is ridiculously deep and convoluted, with absurd characters you'll love even as they're ripped from you.

Anyways, all that to say that I can understand why people would prefer mechanics over story, but I'm definitely not one of them. :)

Re: Don't Run into the Woods

#30

Post by galangalalgol »

bee_rider wrote: post #23
RugnirViking wrote: post #19

There is a fun to be had with games divorced almost entirely from any storytelling though. For example various abstract strategy games I play like rule the waves, or games like rocket league. The fun there is not largely enhanced by the fantasy of it, I think. The mechanics themselves are the challenge, and overcoming them and creating things using them is the fun, something that is more abstract with books (you'd ha…

I haven’t really enjoyed the actual plot of very many video games at all. When I have tried to watch cutscenes and dialog, it has typically been pretty shallow stuff. In my head, the plot of the game is the imagined story of my guy. The cutscenes and whatnot, that’s just somebody else’s fanfic about my guy, a much better character that exists in my head. Environmental storytelling can be pretty good, though. The From…

I concur, I'm not sure I could even tell you the plot of many of the games I've played, even solid crpgs ostensibly based on plot like the bioware games. They had great stories everyone agrees, but I mostly was just playing for the meta game. But item descriptions and dialog, good writing there can totally make or break a game for me. A whole coherent story is second to the texture of the world that interactions create.
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