So, to better understand the Rallying Calls, I wasn't clear on some things with David Georgeson's example: say you've built a big city, and built these stone walls around it, and now an army has come for a siege. Is that something that happens over a couple hours, or a week?
McPherson: That army siege lasts until the players on the server have completed that stage.
"Think about it as if you're playing the game as if it were a book."
Butler: Think about it as if you're playing the game as if it were a book. So, you've started a new chapter. In this chapter, the army has arrived to lay siege to your city. All the elements of the plot that you progress with, as the reader of the book, you'll be progressing through those as a player in the game. There will be times where you need to be in the right place at the right time, and there will be situations that are drawn out over a longer period of time.
In general, Rallying Calls will be there, like a public quest, we intend for people to participate in them, right? So, simply defeating the enemy at the walls may be something that requires a day, two, may require a week. A siege implies that something would be fairly long lasting. A battle on the other hand [snaps fingers].