May 25

MNB: Episode 8 (”Slouching Towards Innsmouth”)

Category: MMOG Nation Broadcast

The eighth episode of the MMOG Nation Broadcast delves deep into dreary pits of despair and angst. “Slouching Towards Innsmouth” is all about the horror genre and how it intersects with MMO gaming. Michael discusses past successes in the industry, the challenges facing possible future games, and reads a little Lovecraft. Tune in.

Music:
Going down to Dunwich, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
Command 1, System Shock 2 soundtrack
Living an Illusion, Dark City Soundtrack
The Dish, Star Trek: First Contact Soundtrack
Duskwood, World of Warcraft Soundtrack
Facetus Malum, The Truth and the Light (Music from the X-Files)

2 comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Garth Schwer May 26th, 2008 10:57 pm

    “Hi Micheal,

    I’m a long time listener, first time caller and I really love your show”

    Could you post some links for your discussion themes, I totally enjoyed the material and wanted to read some more in this line.

    thanks again,
    Garth

  2. Sok May 27th, 2008 4:55 pm

    I think a big issue with Horror as a genre (like Comedy, and unlike Fantasy or Sci-Fi or Espionage) is that Horror’s attempting to evoke a particular emotional reaction from the subject. You can do this in something personal and targeted like a book, movie, or 1-player game, but when you have such a non-linear, deliberately unfocused setting such as an MMO, it’s much harder to create evocative situations. As you state, you can manage “creepy” based on the graphics or perhaps a quest plot point, but nothing like the apprehension you get out of, say, Silent Hill.

    In a broader sense, I think MMOs are really bad mediums for creating/telling stories, at least when the story’s handed down from developer to player. An MMO has to accommodate so many different possibilities that any emotional reaction outside of reacting to the mechanics – horror, humor, sorrow, joy – would be fleeting.

    In other words, despite the heritage from D&D, MMOs still play more like Monopoly. There may be a story going on when you play Monopoly, but do you really care?