Comments on: Questus Interruptus

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:32:23 +0000

I’m not sure you can, actually. In my mind, MMOs are best for creating places where people can tell their own stories, especially with other people. Rich lore and periodic events can serve as a great backdrop for that, but strong storylines often just get in the way, at least if they take precedence over player experience.

Interactive stories (games) really aren’t built to handle the huge decision matrix that an MMO can produce. They can work in single player games, but in an MMO, the most that can really work is to have some sort of world event like the WoW zombie invasion, and let players bounce off of it.

To that end, the player’s story is more about *their reaction* to world events. That’s viable and fun, but it doesn’t give the same sense of *altering* or *driving* world events that the best single player games give to players.

By: spinks

spinks — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:50:59 +0000

I would definitely be up for a chapter type format.

And I do think storytelling in MMOs is being put front and centre by a lot of the big AAA games at the moment. I mean, that’s what long quest chains are really all about. It’s storytelling, JRPG style. Part of the reason for the huge success of Wrath is due to the stronger use of story in both the big questchains and the phasing.

Trouble is, strong use of story as defined by MMOs right now are still pretty weak writing by any other definition. And it’s being an uphill struggle to force players into strong storylines because the conventions of books and film just don’t work well in interactive fiction. The games don’t exist (yet) which encourage players to pick options based on what would make the best story.

I feel that I’m being jumbled because I’m fascinated by storytelling and I do want to write more about it.

But in another sense, players will always make their own stories in MMOs. It’s just that they may not be very interesting stories and that’s the rub. (ie. I started at low level, I explored the world and did some quests, then I joined a guild, then there was some awesome guild drama but it totally wasn’t my fault, and we got this great kill on boss X this one time where it was almost a wipe but … etc etc).

How can you guarantee a good narrative experience without forcing people into railroaded quests (or providing a human storyteller)?

By: Tesh

Tesh — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:19:45 +0000

I’d take that in a different direction and look at the Guild Wars storytelling. In other words, monetize it by “chapter” rather than by sub, and tell strong stories that actually end (or at least, chapters that end). Like the L5R card game, player actions can even drive the future storytelling.

Thing is, that’s not really what I’ve ever turned to MMOs for; that’s more the province of single player RPGs. I’ve always just thought of MMOs as giant worlds that allow for players to tell their own stories.

By: Hope feeds nostalgia « Stylish Corpse

Hope feeds nostalgia « Stylish Corpse — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:35:41 +0000

[...] to Spinks for inspiring the thoughts that led to this. I may steal, but hey, I credit. [...]

By: Ysharros

Ysharros — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:03:52 +0000

Turbine seem to be one of the few of the “major” games companies who do this. They did it with Asheron’s Call, and now they do it with LOTRO. Granted, Asheron’s Call didn’t see major major story updates every month, but a few times a year you’d get a doozy, like an entire town destroyed and left as a smoking crater, or — a few years later — that town in the process of being rebuilt (and other towns destroyed).

I miss that.