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How MUSHing improved my writing skills.
By Bronwen Wheeler
Sure. I'd done creative writing at school, but really who doesn't dabble with such things at least once in their life? Just the other day I was looking back at what I call my, Pre-MUSH writing, and shuddered as I read those awful pieces of work.
The first thing that struck my attention was my spelling. That's it, my terrible, horrifying spelling. The first thing that one learns when writing on a MUD/MUSH/MUX or any text based game is spelling. Why? Simply because if you don't the game doesn't register the command that you are trying to type in. Sometimes this is just plain amusing, other times it can be downright lethal for your character. Continuously typing 'atack Amenik' while the other guy is infact typing 'attack' will only get you dead. So you learn, and you learn fast! (Even if it is silly American spelling, which is a pain for those of us brought up on the Queen's English.)
Creating agency. One thing my teachers always asked me was 'Why does everything come to your character? They never go out and do anything.' How has MUSHing help me fix this? Simple, if you sit in your house all day and wait for characters to come to you then you are probably not going to get much roleplaying done. You have to get out, make your own story, come up with your own plots, ambitions and memories. MUSHes are almost always player driven, they have to create agency for themselves, it very rarely comes knocking at their doors.
This leads to another topic which being a Classical Scholar sits close to my heart. Our society has lost the ability to tell stories as a group. The oral tradition has all but died, its last vestiages perhaps to be found only at things like table-top roleplaying games. While MUSHing is totally non-oral, it at least keeps some of the elements of the oral tradition. It is a communal event, where everyone is asked to join in the creation of a story. The tales are of an epic quality forming fantasy myths and legends such as can be seen on the Greco-Roman themed FIRAN MUX.
Lastly, and perhaps the most important is the inspiration that MUSHing offers. Everyday one is surrounded by writers of an exellent calibre, having been MUSHing for almost a decade or sometimes more. These people, like any other artist have refined their art to an amazing degree. Not only that but I personally find myself wanting to write outside of the MUSH I play on. I want to write more about my character, flesh her out with short tales that deepen and strengthen her personality. Often I will see another player use a particularly cunning or beautiful turn of phrase and be inspired to write something based on that. It is strange how even though I write everyday on the MUSH, I find myself wanting to write more now than ever before.
So, in conclusion, because all articles need such things. Online Text-Based Games offer an incredible environment for the author. Whether a new writer who is looking to expose himself to new ideas and people, an intermediate writer looking to get that daily practice in, or even an expert author who is simply looking for something different and unique to spark their muse once more, I would recommend such games to them without so much as blinking. See you online!
About the Author
Copyright Bronwen 2006
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