Hello World!
Kingdoms of Camelot (KoC) has been seductive and addictive, has spiked my adrenaline and linked me into a community of new friends. So here’s the hard part. How do I duplicate all this in my novel, The Game? Is it possible to reproduce the allure of virtual gaming in the real-life theme park of my story?
I think I’ll examine my four summaries on how KoC works in reverse order.
The fourth piece is easiest – community. My characters are all looking for connections. That the Game exists means that friendships will form. Plus, I encourage interactions between the local. and The Game staff through a system of rewards. The book’s in pretty good shape here.
You can’t have too many adrenaline spikes, but I have not neglected them. And with those that occur outside The Game, this is fine tuning rather than substantive change. Hopefully, awareness is all that is needed.
The first two aspects of KoC gaming – seduction and addiction – are those I must recreate in The Game. Of the two, addiction is more difficult. Yet for The Game to work, must draw people in and leave them aching to return over and over again.
I’ve been working, with my writer friend Lee Hallison, on developing the pamphlet that players in the story will receive as they enter The Game. It describes points, categories and levels of experience, and offers some hints. Having my characters reference it for direction should help non-gamers understand what is happening..
The Leaderboard could dominate more, I suppose, though comments from my writing group tend to ask, “Why explore?” “Why continue?” Who cares about earning a score?” Why indeed? The seduction needs to precede the addiction – and I’m not sure yet how to strengthen it.
In kiosks, players can check what they’ve found and their points earned. If my characters make more use of these at first, they’ll be reinforced more often. Perhaps I need some additional way for players to discover their progress?
Though I sense layers of involvement on the horizon in KoC, they seem less adaptable to The Game. The vital elements must occur early on – make The Game more winsome, and draw the players into exploration. Their rewards will constantly encourage them onward.
Next stop – back to the book!
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