as much as gamers cry about there not being stories in games I find it funny how many of them dont actually know the stories that exist in the games they are currently playing.
When I point that out many just say 'well its becuase the story is crap'
ok, well in order to know if a story is crap one has to actually read at least some of it.
I think having stories in games is silly anyway.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
It really depends on the game, for me. For most games, I just click through to get to the part where it tells me what to kill and how many.
I'd read if I had to in order to complete the quests or if the story is interesting and doesn't drag it out into paragraphs and paragraphs on end before getting to the go-see-NPC-X or go-kill-X-bunnies part. No company has ever asked my opinion, but if they did, I'd tell them not to hire people who really want to be novelists to write their storylines and quests. Those people need to go write books instead and leave the quest writing to people who understand that gaming is about moving and doing, not developing plot and characters over a series of wordy quests.
I hardly ever quest, even in games like WoW where questing is the main source of exp. I guess I'm old fashioned and like the Grind...no I'm not asian :P When I do a quest though (usually a class quest or a quest for something worth it) then I just read the summary at the bottom of the quest log, which 99% of mmo today have
I wouldn't consider it reading the quest, but the only game I ever quested alot in was Age of Conan. I guess I just hate reading, but at least the NPCs actually talk for the most part
It also depends on the game for me. I sometimes read the quest, but if I'm questing with friends or something, then I don't take the time to read it. Whether I read them or not, I'm still glad that they include them, because then i have the option to read it if I want. (not to mention sometimes the quest sometimes includes something that helps)
Typically I tend to read them all, just in case they give clues as to where to go to complete the quest. I think nothing is more embarrassing than asking "Where is ??" when the quest dialog tells you
I try to read them all but, seriously, how can you bring yourself to give a shit about *why* this particular npc wants 10 animals killed?
Well, of course not all quests are like this.
But you do bring up a good point.
last night when I was playing a little LOTRO before I went to bed I took a quest from an npc who needed parts from a boar as well as feathers from Craeben in order stuff the pillows at the Forsaken Inn.
After reading both quests I sort of thought the same thing "lady, aren't there other people around, perhaps someone who fancies himself a butcher, who will do this.
But then I put it in perspective.
My little lvl 20 character (I'm trying to convince myself I can have an alt) is poor and needs money. He has no backers. Why should I care about her request? Because I need money. These are the jobs in this part of the land and my character needs a job.
Of course, when one reads "The Lord of the Rings" there is never any question that the characters have or need money as it is not integral to the plot.
But as long as Insist on having an economy my character will need a job. And hell if I'm going t start crafting!
As a poitn of note, I don't do every quest in these games. If the quest seems like it will be annoying or that I will be running around from a to b to c I will just close the quest and not bother with it.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
When I started out with mmo's I had to read them to know where I was going etc. But now with the most games I just ignore them, I might read 1 of 1000 just because Im stuck and dont really know what to do.
I think that is the problem with quest based MMO. Developers think a wall of text is going to get people interested in the conversation with a NPC, well it generally doesn't. The difference is a quest is not like a novel, it is nowhere nearly as interesting as a story, so wall of text simply does not work well even to the most meticulous reader.
In order to get players to get into the conversation, best way is cutscenes or deliver the line sentence by sentence. It also does not hurt to make the quest less straightforward so the objective is not always so clear cut.
Of course from a developer's point of view, a quest based MMO need hundreds of quests if not more, and spending time to develop every single one can be a difficult thing to do as it needs additional resources.
Generally, I do try to read as much as I can, but many games that use solely wall of text in most of the quests eventually wears me out especially after a long day.
it REALLY depends on the game. in EQ2 (which i've been playing for 5 years) I read virtually nothing. Lore is poorly written and hardly ties to the world or makes logical sense. Once in a while there is a cool zone or questline that I do read, but these are rare. When I tried AION, it was even worse.
On the flipside, when I tried Fallen Earth, I read almost every single quest - the world and story were fascinating and it was very well written. Same thing with Tabula Rasa - getting the porno mag that the Colonel left in an abandoned tank is the greatest "go fetch" quest ever. I read most of the quests in Vanguard, especially the diplomacy ones. It was a great way to learn the lore and get into the world.
LoTRO i read many of the quests as well, due to their tie-in to the books. But it wasn't just because of the IP, I love star trek but I couldn't bear reading the quests in STO due to how poorly written they were and how poorly they related to the game.
So back to my original point... really depends on the game.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
If developers wants to include us more in questing why not let us build a relationship with the questgiver?
Lowering the amount of questgivers could allow just that to happen.
For instance: You just spawned as level 1 and see a guy standing somewhere close by, you talk to him and, in very few words, he explains a bit about who he is then you start adding quests in. Maybe his home was burned by some vandals alright cool he wants revenge, that´s the 1st quest and then what? Oh yeah he might need some shelter, gather x amount of this and that and deliver it to him, oh what now? Ah you sent you´re family away to X town? Sure i´ll go and tell them it´s safe to come home.
This is, obviously, a very short description but I think it would include the player abit more to have stories we can actually relate to rather then, bring me that book on the desk there and i´ll give you money and experience.
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
Comments
as much as gamers cry about there not being stories in games I find it funny how many of them dont actually know the stories that exist in the games they are currently playing.
When I point that out many just say 'well its becuase the story is crap'
ok, well in order to know if a story is crap one has to actually read at least some of it.
I think having stories in games is silly anyway.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
It really depends on the game, for me. For most games, I just click through to get to the part where it tells me what to kill and how many.
I'd read if I had to in order to complete the quests or if the story is interesting and doesn't drag it out into paragraphs and paragraphs on end before getting to the go-see-NPC-X or go-kill-X-bunnies part. No company has ever asked my opinion, but if they did, I'd tell them not to hire people who really want to be novelists to write their storylines and quests. Those people need to go write books instead and leave the quest writing to people who understand that gaming is about moving and doing, not developing plot and characters over a series of wordy quests.
(EDIT: Wordy post is wordy.)
I hardly ever quest, even in games like WoW where questing is the main source of exp. I guess I'm old fashioned and like the Grind...no I'm not asian :P When I do a quest though (usually a class quest or a quest for something worth it) then I just read the summary at the bottom of the quest log, which 99% of mmo today have
I wouldn't consider it reading the quest, but the only game I ever quested alot in was Age of Conan. I guess I just hate reading, but at least the NPCs actually talk for the most part
ZERO!
I am more interested in character development over some forced story.
I try to read them all but, seriously, how can you bring yourself to give a shit about *why* this particular npc wants 10 animals killed?
If you stand VERY still, and close your eyes, after a minute you can actually FEEL the universe revolving around PvP.
It also depends on the game for me. I sometimes read the quest, but if I'm questing with friends or something, then I don't take the time to read it. Whether I read them or not, I'm still glad that they include them, because then i have the option to read it if I want. (not to mention sometimes the quest sometimes includes something that helps)
Typically I tend to read them all, just in case they give clues as to where to go to complete the quest. I think nothing is more embarrassing than asking "Where is ??" when the quest dialog tells you
Well, of course not all quests are like this.
But you do bring up a good point.
last night when I was playing a little LOTRO before I went to bed I took a quest from an npc who needed parts from a boar as well as feathers from Craeben in order stuff the pillows at the Forsaken Inn.
After reading both quests I sort of thought the same thing "lady, aren't there other people around, perhaps someone who fancies himself a butcher, who will do this.
But then I put it in perspective.
My little lvl 20 character (I'm trying to convince myself I can have an alt) is poor and needs money. He has no backers. Why should I care about her request? Because I need money. These are the jobs in this part of the land and my character needs a job.
Of course, when one reads "The Lord of the Rings" there is never any question that the characters have or need money as it is not integral to the plot.
But as long as Insist on having an economy my character will need a job. And hell if I'm going t start crafting!
As a poitn of note, I don't do every quest in these games. If the quest seems like it will be annoying or that I will be running around from a to b to c I will just close the quest and not bother with it.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
When I started out with mmo's I had to read them to know where I was going etc. But now with the most games I just ignore them, I might read 1 of 1000 just because Im stuck and dont really know what to do.
I think that is the problem with quest based MMO. Developers think a wall of text is going to get people interested in the conversation with a NPC, well it generally doesn't. The difference is a quest is not like a novel, it is nowhere nearly as interesting as a story, so wall of text simply does not work well even to the most meticulous reader.
In order to get players to get into the conversation, best way is cutscenes or deliver the line sentence by sentence. It also does not hurt to make the quest less straightforward so the objective is not always so clear cut.
Of course from a developer's point of view, a quest based MMO need hundreds of quests if not more, and spending time to develop every single one can be a difficult thing to do as it needs additional resources.
Generally, I do try to read as much as I can, but many games that use solely wall of text in most of the quests eventually wears me out especially after a long day.
it REALLY depends on the game. in EQ2 (which i've been playing for 5 years) I read virtually nothing. Lore is poorly written and hardly ties to the world or makes logical sense. Once in a while there is a cool zone or questline that I do read, but these are rare. When I tried AION, it was even worse.
On the flipside, when I tried Fallen Earth, I read almost every single quest - the world and story were fascinating and it was very well written. Same thing with Tabula Rasa - getting the porno mag that the Colonel left in an abandoned tank is the greatest "go fetch" quest ever. I read most of the quests in Vanguard, especially the diplomacy ones. It was a great way to learn the lore and get into the world.
LoTRO i read many of the quests as well, due to their tie-in to the books. But it wasn't just because of the IP, I love star trek but I couldn't bear reading the quests in STO due to how poorly written they were and how poorly they related to the game.
So back to my original point... really depends on the game.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Exactly, because it is a task list, not a quest!
If developers wants to include us more in questing why not let us build a relationship with the questgiver?
Lowering the amount of questgivers could allow just that to happen.
For instance: You just spawned as level 1 and see a guy standing somewhere close by, you talk to him and, in very few words, he explains a bit about who he is then you start adding quests in. Maybe his home was burned by some vandals alright cool he wants revenge, that´s the 1st quest and then what? Oh yeah he might need some shelter, gather x amount of this and that and deliver it to him, oh what now? Ah you sent you´re family away to X town? Sure i´ll go and tell them it´s safe to come home.
This is, obviously, a very short description but I think it would include the player abit more to have stories we can actually relate to rather then, bring me that book on the desk there and i´ll give you money and experience.
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.