# Communal Activities

LLMS index: [llms.txt](/dvw/en/llms.txt)

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Sadly, players can’t gather round a camp fire and have a good sing-song; lag, if nothing else, prevents players from acting in concert to this degree. Nevertheless, there are things that players can do together as (virtual) leisure activities, and designers should support them.

For example, players like to tell stories. This doesn’t mean that there should be a bard class and everyone should be obliged to listen politely to their excruciating poetry. It does mean that there should be venues and situations conducive to storytelling and suggestions as to how to go about it. A somewhat overt approach would be to have a Storyteller’s Hall, for example, containing a variety of atmospheric rooms, each with a Storyteller Stone that bears the legend “tell your part of the story, then pass me on.” It’s crude, but it works.

Another example: Provide players with musical instruments. When someone plays the instrument, generate music. It doesn’t have to be complicated (although you can allow some MIDI-style composition if you wish). Playing an instrument is tangible: If someone else in the vicinity plays another instrument, you can lock it in to the same time and rhythm as the other player, lag or no lag. It’s possible to build up bands and orchestras this way. Other players can dance to the music. They’re communal activities that serve no gameplay purpose (although one could be devised). They’re popular because they bring people together. Asheron’s Call 2 features the playing of musical instruments precisely for this reason.

When people have done something exhausting, they want to relax. In the real world, that can mean going to the virtual world for some fun. Sometimes, though, the nature of this fun can itself be exhausting, and players need a way to relax within the virtual world. Give them ways to do it, or they’ll log off and find a real-world alternative.