INTRO: What is Drupal's GameAPI?

Ok, I noticed a nice long thread on this, discussing the virtues of XML, versus FLASH, and other nostalgic waxings over a few games that have slipped into the folds of obscurity.

So, with that in mind, let me tell you what I have been doing, planning, and working.

For me, the concept of "real time" gaming has always been a lousy way to do business. You can only play with certain players (those who just so happen to be logged in when you are), need to schedule yourself so that you are online when others need you to be to be involved in a certain plot, no time or effort is emphasized-- reaction NOW (usually resulting in a hack and slash environment) is the means to play.

I've been a fan of play by post games for a while now, because they tend to be moderated (you act, moderator plays the role of the dice), they give you time to compose and think (I can muse over the nice long detailed post and other replies while at work, then come home and craft my lengthy, thoughtful, and most artistic literary reply), and mostly because they are far better for playing the psychological complexities I enjoyed playing in my table top gaming years.

The downside I've seen to play by post, however, is a preponderence of OOC knowledge. Player A, in City A can read about Player B in City B, and use this knowledge (certainly not if I'm moderating, else the Wrath of the Gods finds him, and twists his plans with devious intents) to further his plans in the game. Or perhaps it's a case of reading people's profiles, so you know which one in the crowd to pickpocket. Or reading entries of the Compendiums, so you can make sure that, even though it is called a secret in the Compendium entry, you know that elves have a weakness for cold wrought iron, even though you come from a place with no practical experience with elves, and have never even seen nor spoken with one during game play. I lovingly call this aspect of the game "Omnivision".

For me, the key has been to begin tweaking the forums idea into something a little more...personal. So far, I've been restricted to usergroup (membergroup) permissions, but it's a start. Hard for you to read an entry in the compendium you aren't supposed to, if you can only get information specific to your race and region (your everyman knowledge). Hard for you to peruse OTHER people's play on boards you aren't on.

As I said, it's a start. Here's where I plan on going with it:

I have done multiple installs of a forum system with all the forums sharing the memberbase, and a few other key tables. What this allows is one log-in for accessing all the various forums. I have designated each forum to a different genre, from medieval fantasy to modern day, each being developed to be a physical representation of the setting. It takes four days to cross the desert? Guess what, there are four different threads (representing the various geological places in the desert) that you must post across to travel it!

I'm also tweaking the profiles, so that when you log in, they appear to be the profile of the particular character of the board you are playing, versus showing up as "Bob from Ohio" on all the boards. This would include separate avatars. They would also post as the character as well. Only moderators and administrators would have a clue as to which characters actually belong to which players across the whole spectrum of games.

The compendiums are designed with the player in mind as well. If elves from city A are under the belief that dwarves are made of rock, then guess what...as a player of an elf of city A...your version that you can access of the compendium says that dwarves are made of rock! You can't see the entry for the dwarves, that tell them that they think you elves are made of wood! This allows for the character to discover on their own that all the old wives' tales that they "grew up with" aren't necessarily true. It also builds into the system the prejudices and bigotries that make a racial relationship dynamic. It's a pet peeve of mine that races that are supposed to be shunned and persecuted aren't, because players don't work against each other, they work with each other...even though they shouldn't be. This helps.

The customizing of the profiles also allows for shapeshifters to be thought of as the identities that they assume, with only the moderation staff aware of it. The further use of permissions allows the psionics to be able to read the profiles of those who don't have a psychic defense...and PMs those that do, of who is trying to nose around in their head...LOL

As you can see, it's becoming complicated and convoluted quickly, but forum software still has it's limitations.

I think you have some great concepts here, along with the large contingent of "ooh-rahs" that agree that something along these lines should be developed.

I would definitely be interested in getting involved, although my abilities as a coder are severely limited. My ideas on structure and set up for generic genre-less modular gameplay, however, are not, as you can tell.

OZ HAS SPOKEN!

Sweet...looking forward to it!

OZ HAS SPOKEN!