Jason W. LaPier

Massively Multiplayer Online Games in Literature

2012-05-03T09:56:00-07:00

Ever since William Gibson gave us the term cyberspace in his novel Neuromancer, fiction has featured the concept of a parallel virtual space in many forms. Entire worlds that exist side by side with the real world. Some of my favorites include the Idlewild trilogy by Nick Sagan, Natural History by Justina Robson, and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

Now that MMORPGs – Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (sometimes shortened to MMO) – are becoming more and more mainstream, where World of Warcraft is a household name as much as The Matrix, we’ll see authors finding ways to integrate this particular breed of cyberspace into their fiction.

The big question I want to ask: Is this setting entertaining? To the average gamer, it’s not much of a stretch. However, to the average reader – even those that could find cyberspace an entertaining setting even without being computer programmers or network specialists – how does an MMORPG setting come off?

Unfortunately, I’m no average reader in this question; I am a gamer. But in any case, I’m going to take a look at two examples of books that were released in 2011.

Chock full of nostalgia for the 30-something geek.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (375 pages):

Which MMO does the one in this book resemble? It’s mostly like Second Life in its environment, and provides opportunities to be used for education in addition to entertainment. In fact, in this version of the future, school is taught entirely in virtual classrooms. Special equipment is used for more of a “full body immersion” into the game world, rather than just a computer monitor.
Scope of the MMO? Near limitless on setting and worlds that can be created. You’ll find a lot of games-within-the-game; something Second Life always aimed for but was never able to pull off smoothly.
How does the MMO setting affect characters? The virtual world is truly an escape for the main character, who starts out living in the ghetto of the future: trailer parks where the trailers are stacked on top of each other high into the sky.
How key is the MMO concept to the plot? Extremely. In this case, the richest man in the world and inventor of the game world has passed on and scattered clues to his inheritance across the virtual landscape. The game world is (almost) a level playing field where dirt poor young adults actually have a fighting chance against multi-billion-dollar companies.

A tangled web indeed.

REAMDE by Neal Stephenson (1,040 pages):

Which MMO does the one in this book resemble? It’s a lot like WoW, but on steroids.
Scope of the MMO? More limited, since it does not have an “open build” kind of world, but instead entirely pre-written settings. There is a vassal system that allows gamers to build a hierarchy of live characters and robotic characters (serving a specific purpose like mining or trading).
How does the setting affect characters? One of the main characters is part-owner of the MMO. A lot of time is devoted to the two primary writers of the game, who are very distinct in their styles, and each influences the game differently (and ultimately leads to a sort of unplanned civil war, not based on in-game mechanics like race or faction, but an entirely player-created division: fans of one writer versus fans of the other). Also a lot of thought is devoted to the economy of an MMO, and in this case the fact that in-game money can be exchanged for real world money brings in a connection to unscrupulous Chinese players (one of whom becomes a central character as well… this book has like 16 central characters…).
How key is the MMO concept to the plot? In REAMDE, the existence of the MMO serves to bridge several characters together; characters who otherwise would have nothing to do with each other. Conceptually, there is less dependence on the idea of an MMO being a parallel world where anything goes, but instead it’s used mainly to get the story launched and becomes less integrated as the story progresses.

Why bring an MMO into a storyline?

One component is clearly similar in both of these stories. The MMO in question costs no money to use, which adds the potential to include all classes of people into that world. In terms of the stories, it brings certain characters into the lives of other, richer, “more important” characters. The virtual world gives the under-privileged the chance to become powerful in some way (which also increases the stakes for these characters).

How entertaining can an MMO in words be?

In REAMDE, I feel like there is a lot of fantasizing about how MMORPGs could have better economies if just the right systems were put into place (I’ve played enough to know this will never work; theories are nice, but in practice there’s no way to stop hyper-inflation in an MMO). Stephenson’s virtual world doesn’t branch out so much from WoW, except for the vassal system and some automation features. There is emphasis on the writing that goes into the game (and all the spin-offs of that content in other forms), which is interesting but ultimately the in-game civil war doesn’t really play a significant part of the larger plot.

There is a big battle in-game, but game mechanics break any notion of immersion. The most elite players have computer screens jammed full of the statistics of their minions and the battleground. The battle also comes long after many real-world shootouts and explosions, so it loses a lot of punch, and thankfully isn’t the final “shootout” (which does take place in the real world). What it comes down to is that the stakes are extremely high in the real world, and in the game world the stakes are minimal.

REAMDE forces you to stretch your suspension of disbelief to the max in other ways as well; it’s hard to believe how many people would play this game that sounds like a pumped up version of WoW, and yet in the book every other character has experience with the game. I mean, it sounds like WoW but with more involved writing, which should increase immersion, but then adding in automation features and multiple ways to transfer money in and out of game; aspects that break the immersion.

In contrast, Ready Player One uses a dystopian future to set up a global reliance on escapism using a virtual world. It’s not that this scenario is more realistic (it’s meant to be absurd in the slightest), but given the setting, the characters interactions with the virtual world are more believable.

As far as a central theme, Ready Player One is the clear winner. While both novels use the MMO concept as a way to bridge worlds between the powerful and the unfortunate, Ready Player One goes farther and asks another question about this future of ours: can we become too immersed in games? In REAMDE there is a kind of minor point about the fact that so many millions of people addicted to a single, networked game open themselves up to potential exploitation by rogue entities. When these rogue entities are forced to meet with real world forces, they turn out to be rather ineffective criminals. In Ready Player One, having so many people immersed in a game world opens them up to potential exploitation by corporate interests; I think this path more closely resembles the path we’re on, even if it is intentionally exaggerated.

One programmer’s revenge.

Where Ready Player One will lose some accessibility is in the numerous geek-cultural references. I think Cline does a pretty good job of keeping the nostalgia-induced reverie to a minimum so that non-D&D/Atari 2600 types won’t feel lost. For those of us who owned sacks of multi-sided dice and remember the Easter egg in Adventure, all those references are icing on the cake.

So those are my thoughts. I like bringing these virtual worlds into fiction if it’s essential to the story, and well-balanced. If it feels like too many pages dedicated to “how I wish WoW really was”, then I don’t want to read it, I’ve had that conversation with my friends a thousand times. If I were a bigger fan of WoW, I might enjoy REAMDE more, but I just never got into it obsessively. To Stephenson’s credit, the entire book doesn’t necessarily revolve around the game (there is plenty of other ridiculousness going on). On the flip side, I enjoyed the nostalgia in Ready Player One, probably much more than the average reader (but not any more than the average geek). The “game world” in RPO is more intriguing in its openness, and those who are familiar with Second Life will see a world in which the ideas behind SL have reached maximum potential.

What do you think? Have you read either of these books? Did the game-within-a-book enhance the story or just annoy you?

What I’m playing (February 2012)

2012-02-11T09:23:00-08:00

Don’t expect any detailed reviews with ratings and whatnot, but I’d like to talk about what games I’m currently playing: Mass Effect 2, Dear Esther, Atom Zombie Smasher, and Binding of Isaac. Also: Why I’m not playing Saints Row the Third.

Mass Effect 2 in effect

Mass Effect 2

Okay, so I’m not really playing ME2, I actually just finished it. I think it may be one of my favorite all-time RPGs, or at least in the last couple of years. It’s one of those games I never had high hopes for (I’m not really sure why; afraid it wouldn’t live up to hype I guess), and it turned out to be just a great game. The dialogue/decision-tree system is engaging, with well-written dialogue and options that actually have an effect one way or another on the game world. I loved that there wasn’t some distinct “good” or “evil” way to respond, but instead a variety of choices that ranged between “paragon” and “renegade”. I felt like I could choose my options based on my real feelings at any given moment and not worry about some kind of alignment shift or faction shift or something. Combat sequences were compelling enough to be pretty enjoyable, and I liked that my two AI partners would act on their own fairly well, but in hairy situations I could take the option of giving them some directions. If the game was all action, the combat would probably get boring, but it was fairly spaced out. Also, owning your own ship and being able to walk around it and talk to different crew members totally made me feel like I was in a sci-fi TV show… how can you beat that? Of course ME3 just came out a few weeks ago, but from the sounds of reviews I’m not getting my hopes up.
Mass Effect

Dear Esther: lots of gorgeous/depressing scenery

Dear Esther

No, it’s not a game. I’m sure there are all kinds of debates on whether this kind of thing is really a game; I’m going to be lazy and just call it what I think it is: interactive art. You can call it a game if you like, either way, I recommend you try it. Dear Esther started out as a HL2 mod that came out a few years ago. I didn’t look at it back then, but when I saw that it had been polished and released as a stand-alone “game” the other day, I dropped the $10 on it. It is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. Sometimes (okay, almost always) I play games to escape, and this “not-game” felt like a true escape. The writing is a tad purple for my tastes, but it’s not overbearing and it’s spaced out enough to be adequately poetic. It only took me an hour and a half to run through it, but I have a feeling I’ll be doing it again some time.
Dear Esther, DRM-free version available, or alternatively get it on Steam

Smashing zombies. Also some collateral damage.

Atom Zombie Smasher

I picked this up in a Humble Bundle a number of months ago. I thought I’d get bored with it quickly, because the game has a simple look and feel, but I find myself coming back to it time and time again. It’s a pretty unique strategy game, and Blendo Games gives it an entertaining retro war-time style that adds to the enjoyment. The goal is to rescue civilians from zombie outbreaks using a collection of unique units that you control. Don’t expect to see any actual walking rotting corpses in this game; the zombies just appear as little pink squares (differentiated from the humans you have to save, which are little yellow squares). And expect to have to replay some of the maps again and again, trying out different placement of your units and maximizing the number of civilians that you rescue. My only wish for this game is that there was some strategy to choosing where to defend on the “overland” map; there is a small amount of strategy, trying to keep outbreaks from spilling over into nearby zones, but unfortunately at the start of every round new outbreaks can just land anywhere on the map, rendering any containment strategy pretty useless.
Atom Zombie Smasher at Blendo Games

Twisted, and goes great with bourbon.

The Binding of Isaac

According to Steam, I’ve logged over 90 hours playing Isaac. Yikes. The reference is to a bible story… I’ll leave that for the interested reader to research. It doesn’t really have much to do with the gameplay, which is a lot like the very first Zelda, in that you walk into a room, move in four directions, “shoot” in four directions (and by shoot, I mean blink and project big fat tears), kill bad guys and open chests and so on. The randomly generated maps and power-ups ensure you’ll never have the same experience twice. Isaac is the perfect mindless, demented arcade game (with a touch of RPG) for me to play while drinking a bourbon and unwinding from my work day. The one downside to this game? Absolutely no support – the developers don’t even have a website, as far as I can tell. I think the game is Flash-based (some how wrapped up to run outside a browser), and as a result at times the performance is sub-par, especially for a retro-style game.
Binding of Isaac on Steam

What I’m not playing

Yes, that’s me, in the toilet costume.

Saints Row: The Third

Actually, I logged about 30 hours with SR3; which is at least half as much as I played SR2. As a co-op experience, SR2 was one of the best ever. There are definite improvements between 2 and 3: the vehicles handle much more realistically and the “smart phone” functionality is really handy. The way you spend your reputation points and can upgrade weapons gives the game a pseudo-RPG feel, so you have much more control over how your character progresses than you did in SR2. However, I’d like to see even more of it; by the end of the game you’re just maxed out on everything and any diversification you had mid-game is washed out.

As far as the storyline goes, well, it’s as ridiculous as you might expect from a Saints Row game. And then some. I’ve heard theories that the game itself is actually a movie that the gang is making after their success in SR2; which might actually explain some of the ridiculous stuff that happens in SR3.

But really, what it comes down to is that the co-op experience was terrible in SR3. Stuttering and lag made driving unbearable, and that’s most of the game. Playing through arenas, where the “zone” (of what you can see) is limited, like in Genki challenges, those bits worked just fine, with no lag at all. But anytime you wanted to drive down the street or fly a copter or anything like that, your partner can’t shoot worth a damn because the lag is guaranteed to make them miss. The developer, Volition, seems to have taken a “it’s not us, it’s you” stance, despite the fact that so many people have raised the issue. I guess they’d rather crank out useless DLC than fix the game. Very disappointing for a company that’s made some great games in the past.
My Saints Row Stats

Best Sci-Fi Films, 2005-2010

2011-10-07T23:57:00-07:00

A few weeks ago I saw Super 8. While the film was enjoyable and of course extremely well-directed and well-produced (almost to a fault), it struck me how non-sci-fi this science fiction movie was. I think you could argue that the movie was about the dream of film-making, and the sci-fi elements were just there to provide a backdrop to the real story.

That’s fine with me, but it got me thinking about how this year has been a little lacking in terms of sci-fi movies. There are a few, sure, but does anyone else get the sense that movie-makers think they can sate the sci-fi crowd with comic-book superhero movies? I mean, even Cowboys and Aliens was originally a graphic novel.

2011 might be a little bit of a rut for sci-fi, but it hasn’t been all-bad the last few years. Thinking back, I came up with a list of my favorite true science fiction movies that came out between 2005 and 2010.

Serenity (2005)

Believe it or not, I saw Serenity before I watched a single episode of Firefly (now I’m a Browncoat). I usually avoid made-for-TV sci-fi, but when I saw the trailer for Serenity, I knew I had to see the movie. Director/writer Joss Whedon serves up plenty of action, humor, dystopian government cover-ups, and who doesn’t love the genre mix of space-flight sci-fi and wild western shootouts? One of my favorite things about the Firefly universe is that there are no goofy aliens that look impossibly similar to humans (save a pointy ear or change of skin color). Instead, we get to explore the emotional and physical limits of humankind. And some of the best dialog in all of sci-fi.

Inception (2010)

The scary story behind this movie is that it was almost never made. Director/writer Christoper Nolan had to beg favors from his industry pals to make it happen, and it was only due to the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight that they gave him the go ahead. They expected the movie to be a total loss. Instead, they got a mind-bending movie from the director/writer that brought us Memento with an immersive and intriguing science fiction plot.

Predators (2010)

Okay, I’ll admit it – I had my doubts about this one. The two Aliens vs. Predator movies that came out in the last decade were not all that great (the second one was just painful). Produced by Robert Rodriguez, Predators didn’t hit it off exceptionally well with critics and audiences, but I thought it was underrated. Director Nimród Antal balances vast scenic shots and action and the casting line-up is chock full of great actors. Taking the franchise off-world (avoiding another predators-in-the-city scenario) brings it back to a sci-fi base. Sure, the plot isn’t terribly deep, but we get a little of that “who’s the real predator” element and Antal brings an intensity and atmosphere to the film that pays homage to the original (and then takes it a little farther, in my opinion).

The Road (2009)

I think this movie was good, but I always have a hard time telling when I see a movie and I’ve already read the book. Since I know what’s coming, I never know if the movie is doing a good job of pacing, foreshadowing, creating suspense, and so on. I can say that there are some nightmarish scenes where the imagery on screen came pretty damn close to the imagery in my head.

I had to put The Road on my list just because Cormac McCarthy is one of the best writers. Of. All. Time. The only problem with the movie is that you don’t get to read McCarthy’s writing. The novel is like if Hemingway and Philip K. Dick had a baby and then Cormac McCarthy hung that baby upside-down by its feet on a hook in his basement and watched it slowly starve to death and wrote down every meticulous detail and the words made you weep with the beauty of life and death.

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Speaking of PKD, this was another movie-made-from-a-book-I-read that I think was pretty good, but I learned from other people that they saw the end coming. My response was, “How did you see that coming? I never saw it coming!” But then again, I was drowned in the dark and complex world on the page, and it’s a little different getting it all into a two-hour movie. The rotoscoped animation that director Richard Linklater uses helps create that dark world, and the acting is terrific; Keanu Reeves reminds us that in the right role he can act his ass off and Woody Harrelson and Robert Downy Jr are just damned entertaining.

The Fountain (2006)

A movie as heavy as The Fountain is never going to get rave reviews, and the critics were pretty divided. If you want your storyline straightforward and your intelligence insulted, this ain’t the movie for you. But if you’re ready for a dive into a few difficult sci-fi concepts, give it a try. I only wish the ending came together a little better.

Director/writer Darren Aronofsky insisted on doing The Fountain without CGI effects, and instead hired a father-son outfit that does recordings of oil and water and particles through a microscope that comes out looking like gorgeous, swirling space-scape. Also, if you’ve only seen Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, you might mistake him for a movie star; take note: the man is an Actor.

Children of Men (2006)

Heavy and strong, the story of a near future where the human race has inexplicably stopped reproducing. Some of the shots in this film are just amazing; you feel like you’re right there, running through streets, ducking in and out of buildings while the city erupts in gunfire all around you. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. I can’t wait for director/writer Alfonso Cuarón’s next movie (titled Gravity).

Moon (2009)

I saved the best for last. The atmosphere and pacing of director Duncan Jones’ first feature film is just amazing. This is true science fiction, not an action or horror movie with a science fiction setting. Clint Mansell’s soundtrack is so perfect, I could listen to it over and over and it will still give me chills. Sam Rockwell is one of the most honest actors in the business. If someone put a gun to my head and said I had to choose between Moon and my first-born child… well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I don’t have any kids.

Runners-up

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

H2G2 has been presented in various forms with ever-shifting storylines. The movie is definitely entertaining and has a great cast (I don’t care what you say, I loved Mos Def as Ford Prefect; and did I mention how awesome Sam Rockwell is?), but I have to admit: the best way to enjoy Douglas Adams’ hilarious space adventures is by reading the books.

District 9 (2009)

It took me a second watching to really appreciate this movie. Initially, the element of racism – presented in the heart of South Africa, a country that has worked very hard to make strides to improve those same conditions – was a little uncomfortable for me to swallow (it doesn’t help knowing that many South Africans took offense). It’s definitely a gritty film, and I honestly just love that protagonist is so damned unlikeable. It’s an interesting success story too – the first-time director produced a short film that got the attention he needed to make the full length film. Plus at the end when the main character is stomping around in that mech-suit thing – action sequences don’t get any better than that.

Pandorum (2009)

Cross genres and some critics will always bust out their “derivative” stamp. If there weren’t already tons of zombie movies coming out in the last few years, Pandorum wouldn’t have felt so “derivative” by having some zombie-like antagonists in it. If you’re in the mood for sci-fi and you’ve exhausted everything else on my list, I’d give this one a shot. I found it entertaining enough. It’s dark, creepy, and a little claustrophobic at times. Ben Foster is a great actor – I’d love to see him land parts in some better movies.

Specifically not on the list

Things that are not really science fiction (superheros, magic, horror, etc)
The Island (2005) – This one starts out with a decent, interesting sci-fi premise (even if a little “derivative”; Tessa Dick called it “another PKD rip-off”) but just as it gets interesting, director Michael Bay over-actionizes it.
Avatar (2009) – Hey, I saw it twice in the theater. Gorgeous 3-D effects. Unmemorable storyline.
Star Trek (2009) – Great reboot, and I liked how director J.J. Abrams and writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci used time travel to rewrite Star Trek history, giving them free reign over the plot without a barrage of trekkie historians raining photon torpedoes down on their houses. Upon a second watching all I could think about was how obnoxious the orchestra was. Pay attention audience, this next part is EPIC! Yeah, now the next part? Even MORE EPIC!

Oh, I know I left a few things out. Sunshine (2007). I Am Legend (2007). Cloverfield (2008). Not to put those other movies down, necessarily, but they just didn’t have the same impact on me.

So now I’ll put it to you: what are your favorite sci-fi movies since 2005?

Obligatory “Hello, World” Post

2011-09-29T06:27:00-07:00

Hello, world!

My name is Jason W. LaPier. I’m an author and a web developer. I love science fiction: books, movies, TV shows, video games, and so forth. And of course, I love books and movies and video games even if they’re not sci-fi. Basically, we’re talking escapism. Real life sucks… so come escape with me.

Oh and here are some pictures of my dogs.