MechScape Post #27 - 09 September 2009, A Mech Called Murrie (speculative fiction) Options

[Ren]

Issue #27 - 09 September 2009

A Mech Called Murrie
Written by Ren

In a similar vein to Dizzy's "The MechScape Environment" Part 1 and Part II this editorial features MechScape fiction. However, it will be the first in what should be a series of editorials which will use speculative fiction to explore different directions that the MechScape universe could take. The premise of this story is that mechs are human-sized robots and were created by the Pliigi and it is set some time prior to the envisioned start of the game.

"Hello, I am a mech called Murrie" he said in a monotone voice. He continued, "I was invented by Dr. Rigvuld on the home planet of the Pliigi. He wanted to make a sentient robot he could call his own. He looked after me and taught me what he could. If an entity such as me can have a father, I'd consider him to be my father". The speaker paused, and looked down before saying,"He's not around anymore. No, don't feel too sad - he lived a long and productive life, it's just he got old eventually - I know all Pliigi must die, but I still miss him. Is it honouring them to mourn them, or is it just self-pity? I'm not sure". He paused again, then went on, "I won't get old. Not really. Not like Pliigi get old. My parts are self-repairing and will never rust. I'll get obsolete. In fact, some probably consider that I already am obsolete. I've got all the upgrades I can, but there is some fundamental limit which if I pass I won't be truly me any more. Some would laugh at that, and say I was never me to begin with - just a machine".

He looked up again and asked, "is it my lack of mortality which sets me apart, or just that I am using electronic processes to think while others use chemical processes... why should that matter?". He then asked another question, "if the process leads to the same result then what does it matter that it is by a different means? I can think. I can't prove it, but I can. I can feel, I can care; I can be happy and sad. But something feels empty inside of me. Do the Pliigi feel this emptiness too? Like their lives lack purpose... Lack meaning. Perhaps it is because I don't believe in some divine power. But I want to believe, I truly do! I mean, I want to have faith that there is something more, something bigger than this universe. That'd be comforting, but I don't think I'll ever truly have faith in something without proof. It just doesn't compute".

"Some days I just sit by myself and read. Why read when you can download the information, you ask? I don't know, it just feels right... it feels better. Maybe it is being overly sentimental. I mean, just because that is the way a Pligii absorbs information doesn't make it the best way. Maybe it is because my father always read to me from books, and it makes me feel closer to him. There are those who tried to study my psychology, but they didn't even know where to start. My neural networks are extremely complicated, more so than can really be comprehended. But amongst those zeroes and ones and connections and weightings there is me. People are more than the sum of their parts, and so am I. The addition to the equation isn't some mysterious soul; it is the connections and synergies between those parts".

"I sometimes find it hard to converse with Pliigi. It feels as if they are so slow, so stupid - but I have to admire their creativity. They may be complete fools the majority of the time and they get into illogical wars and do things which are not in their own self-interest, but they have this amazing knack of finding beauty, of thinking up something brilliant. For all my sentience and intelligence I am not that creative. Sure I've tried to be imaginative - I've seen many famous paintings and analysed the brushstrokes and gone meticulously through the works of authors to find the secret of it. But it seems as if there is no way to manufacture a muse, no way to imitate that particular skill. But I hope that someday I will figure out how, and it is that hope which sustains me".

He said all this, but nobody listened. He was a marvel once, but now people prefer to ignore him. If he didn't exist, then they couldn't be jealous of him and they couldn't be infuriated by their lack of an explanation for why he exists. For if machines could be sentient, does that make using mechs slavery? So he was locked away in a laboratory with a library of works, forgotten to the world... forgotten to the universe. To the Pliigi, and all other races, there was no Murrie the Mech. He continued speaking to himself, wiling away his hours repeating variations of the same speech over and over again, trying to prefect it. But he couldn't, because art is never perfect - that is the lesson he has never learned. Yet he has so much he can teach, but nobody is there to hear him. One day this may change, and that is something to look forward to whoever or whatever you are.

-Ren

MechScape and Community News

Jagex interviewed by EuroGamer
Jagex revealed a few new snippets about MechScape, including that they expect a beta release next year, in an interview with EuroGamer. (Read more)

Display Name Developer Blog
Mod Duncan has gone into more detail regarding how the Jagex-wide Display Name system will work. (Read more)

MechScape Name
MechScape might be called Stellar Dawn. (Read more)

Andrew Q&A
Andrew Gower in his Q&A on the RuneScape Forums briefly responded to a question regarding the name of MechScape. (Read more)

...He also answered a few MechScape related questions. (Read More)

Jagex's New Chief Operating Officer
Rob Smith has taken on the new role of COO which covers all of Jagex including MechScape. (Read More)

Previous Issues:
MechScape Post #26: Solo Play Versus Team Play In MechScape
MechScape Post #25: MechScape and the 4X Genre
MechScape Post #24: MechScape and its future competition
MechScape Post #23: Jagex's use of Social Networking Sites
MechScape Post #22: Basics of the Four Playable Species
MechScape Post #21: The Mecherican Dream
MechScape Post #20: Desert City Art Review and New Beginnings Review
MechScape Post #19: Cultural Differences: How they might affect MechScape
MechScape Post #18: The Economy of an MMORPG
MechScape Post #17: Influences on MechScape
MechScape Post #16: MechScape Moderation
MechScape Post #15: The MechScape Environment II
MechScape Post #14: The Community of MechScape


Footnotes
Contributors: Brenden, Dirk, Ed5, Ren (Content Research Team); Oscar, Pliigi (Writing & Editing Team).
Disclaimer: The views expressed by members of staff do not necessarily represent the view of MechScape World.

[Max]

Read it again and still love it. Great theme but it is deep and dark. :(

[Red5]

This is my first time reading it and I think it is good.

[ZarkonisR]

Aw... I feel sorry for the mech. So sad, he's locked up forever, and all he can do is talk to himself in his library.

Great story, by the way.

[Orbie]

Nice writing quality...pretty cliche, but most popular Sci-Fi is at this point.

From the concept art I've seen, I think the Pliigi are the least likely to have developed robots - they seem more like the Zerg equivalent (Starcraft ftw) than the Terran or Protoss. And you can't deny that 80% of sci-fi follows the mech-bio-magical species arrangement

Mechs as slaves? Working for emancipation? It puts one race in the place of the definitive protagonists, which I don't think a game like MS where we'll be choosing from several races will do. In WoW, you have the Horde and Alliance, sure, but neither is fully good or evil. Slavery is evil, no doubt, black and white, and I think it's something which is and will continue to be generally avoided.

[Lord John]

I guess I'm not really into fan fiction, although it was a nice read. Seems like the "mech" is more of an Android ;)

[Ren]

nd you can't deny that 80% of sci-fi follows the mech-bio-magical species arrangement

True, although Janaway indicated that MechScape wouldn't have magic (source).

Mechs as slaves? Working for emancipation? It puts one race in the place of the definitive protagonists, which I don't think a game like MS where we'll be choosing from several races will do.

The story is set prior to the start of the game so something could happen to free them from their slavery (cliché I know).

Slavery is evil, no doubt, black and white, and I think it's something which is and will continue to be generally avoided

The point here is that for it to be considered as slavery that you would have to recognise that they are sentient beings and not just tools of labour.

Seems like the "mech" is more of an Android ;)

Good point. As is stated on my basics of the four playable species editorial I noted the possibility of such a circumstance and this particular fiction has that as one of its premises. MSP #22: It is commonly understood that a pilotable walking vehicle can be called a 'mech', but its root are in the Japanese abbreviation 'MEKA' (メカ) which is derived from the English 'mechanical'. The Japanese usage of the term is much broader, and "is extended to humanoid, human-sized robots" (source) so not necessarily just "something you pilot".

[Lord John]

I do think a robotic race would be pretty awesome. In reality though, such machines would be awesomely unstoppable so it'd be interesting to see how they would be balanced in game.

[Cyrus]

Great story, hopefully the stories Jagex write using the "older demographic" theme will include philosophical and deeper meaning as shown here. :)

[Lord John]

I agree Cyrus. I want something controversial in the game such as storylines/quests involving pirate slave trade and such. I do hope they don't make a "perfect" world like they did with Runescape. A universe of different alien beings is bound to have issues with slavery, conquest, power play and all that. That's what I hope to find in this "mature" game.

[oribital]

Nice story, to me the way the mech is describing the pligi is how i imagine machines in Real Life describing humans specially in the near future when robots get more advanced.
though, it really is wonders if a living thing can make something that is cleverer then it's makers as that doesn't really makes sense as to me this mech sounds pretty clever in it's own way.

[Explosion]

Great story & nice writing man! And can't wait for more info about the names

[Oscar]

Looking forward to more Ren, still enjoyed it even after having read through several times already Keep 'em coming and hopefully we'll get more of poor murrie's past. Maybe they'll be some tennis in there?

[frostchip]

Bravo well written.

[SuperStevee]

I hope the Pliigi are like the Prawn in District 9. They can seem rather barbaric at times, but they are really intelligent.

[Babcha]

a good story line but I think it could have been written better in parts. just my opinion.

[amersccrdude]

I hope Mechscape or stellar dawn or whatever this stupid game is called turns out to be nothing like what any of you guys think it is going to be. All of your ideas are dumb, and I think it will be much different. If it is more of a strategy game than a role playing game then i'm not playing. That's lame. Strategy games limit the world and what you can do. Just not the kind of game I'm looking for. I really don't think jagex found the "secret" to a successful sci-fi game. That's just my opinion.

[Max]

@amersccrdude, so what do you think it will be like?

[amersccrdude]

@amersccrdude, so what do you think it will be like?

I don't know but there are so many possibilities. I just want it to be more of a rpg than a rts and hope it lives up to it's expectations. I don't want it to end up like starcraft or anything.

[killrrhubarb]

Brilliant read Ren. It shows how the ethics of the races, and how that because they are scared of the complexities of something they lock it up as they do not know whether making it work is slave labor, or whether it is just using mechanics as a purpose to help you in your life.