Shamanic Powers

Level 1: Interior pyramid. Act of be acted upon.

It’s a pretty scary place inside this pyramid… plenty of aggressive NPCs on this level. NPC (Non Player Character) is otherwise called an AI (Bungee the Halo team talk about “AIs”) or Mobiles (Richard Bartle talks about “Mobiles” in Designing Virtual Worlds). In our jargon NPC = AI = Mobile.

The purpose of Level 1 is proactivity:

• SP learns to differentiate between proactive and reactive
• SP gets to practice taking a proactive approach

This is achieved by:

• SP finding nuggets in hiding places
• SP gets acted upon if too slow (also serves to establish the pace)
• in-game exercises
• RL exercises

SP[14] must act… or be acted upon. Any ideas? Again, use the comments to put forward suggestions.

Level 0: Exterior Day. Market. Orientation.

The student-player (SP hereafter) [14] (age in square brackets)… SP[14] moves around amongst the stalls and sellers… finds a storyteller who gives the SP the narrative so far… and a list of items needed on his quest to attain greatness.

To save boring gender stuff (putting him/her, his/hers) I will refer throughout to him, by which I also mean her.

Tania we discussed this some weeks ago and had decided to go with a gender-neutral student-player. I have in mind Keisha Castle-Hughes as PAI in Whale Rider, a tomboy-ish figure, David taking on Goliath. That’s in this SP[14] mode which extends to Level 2. Taking on a little more shoulders by Level 3 SP[16].

The purpose of Level 0 is orientation:

• establish the narrative
• learn the key strokes

This is achieved by:

• meeting the storyteller
• getting the things for the quest ahead

Let’s discuss the things he needs… use the comments to do this… I’ll kick it off… a thing like a compass which helps the SP find his way through the game (remember the compass which points to the thing you most desire in Pirates of the Caribbean? Which disturbingly for Elizabeth one time points to Jack)…

Level 10: Exterior night. Sacrificial platform. Fly.
Level 9: Interior pyramid. Find your voice, reach out to others.
Level 8: Interior pyramid. Reflect on your journey.
Level 7: Interior pyramid. Strengthen body, mind and soul.
Level 6: Interior pyramid. Share knowledge with friends.
Level 5: Interior pyramid. Listen before you speak.
Level 4: Interior pyramid. Negotiate with the gatekeepers.
Level 3: Interior pyramid. Be thorough in your preparation.
Level 2: Interior pyramid. Look where you are going.
Level 1: Interior pyramid. Act or be acted upon.
Level 0: Exterior Day. Market place. Orientation.