Do you read quest text?

TomShreds

I sometimes read the texts, but it depends on the game. How about you?

Ilvaldyr

Always.

I'm an RPG fan, why would I not read the text?

Cameron27

What's the motivation if I don't?

My character won't feel very real if my only goal is to get to the next level because you know there are no levels in life.

Pilnkplonk

Nope, I'm not interested in some NPC's life problems while there are real people's real stories going on (even though they are RP stories). I can suspend disbelief and believe some NPC's story in a single player game but to me in a MMO they seem completely contrived and fake.

Unless it is player-driven it might as well not exist for me.

SwampRob

If it's the first time I'm doing that quest then yes, always.    I think everyone should, but to each his own.

Ionselon

I read the quest texts because it gives me a sense of being in the world instead of just running through it.  Unfortunately, most people in groups don't read the text and I find myself still reading while they've run off doing the next step.

 

Ion

Murashu

Nope. I used to like quests, but in today's games they just read like tasks. Go to location X, kill mob Y, loot item Z, for this much coin and this much experience is not what I could call a quest.

AlysenMinase

In certain games. In EQ2 and WoW, for example, not most of them. Other's like XI and Ryzom, then yes, I do.

Phry

i rarely if ever read the quest text, in WoW most of them are fairly quick/easy so reading them would just bog you down with details you dont really need, most of the fun in WoW for me isnt doing the quests, but in the group dungeons...

ruonim

You didnt stated how long it is. If im server with A4 worth of words of course i wont read it.

uquipu

The next generation of MMO will have voice actors acting out the quest text much like Dragon Age Origins.  A few MMOs already have many voice overs.

auryx

I remember a pretty stupid discussion once in Warhammer Online. Someone was saying that even though it's a PvP game, it's a pity they neglected the PvE side, because PvE and questing generally was so crap, etc etc....then the same person admitted that they never actually bother reading quest text anyway!

 

To me, if a game does quest text well, then it can really add to the atmosphere. My worst experience by far of quest text was in the Aion beta, where it was a badly translated kiddie-speak mess.

 

auryx

fyerwall

I read quest text.

I like reading and I like some of the story that it reveals.

Though some games like to give you a novella with each quest step which can get annoying.

Sovrath

I read quest text all the time.

However, if it's the umpteenth time I've done the quest and I know it by heart then I don't need to read it.

Cik_Asalin

I chose no.  This is why I get bored to tears from themepark games that have 'cruise-control' quests like WoW, WAR, Aion, etc., though not a knock on the quality of the game, just the type. I am gravitating to more sandboxy games with mechanics that dont hold your hand, and continuously looking for those games where you have to read the quest; its active role-play as opposed to passive role-play.

 

Those themepark games with cruise-control quests cater to laziness by not having to read the quests to play the 'game', but clicking 'aye', and having continuous illuminated path of travel to a 'red dot', where x marks the spot of completion.  To me, the game-play feel is as shallow as cheating; just no feeling of accomplishment for me. 

 

So my answer would be yes, if the option were in the choices above.  In that I prefer games that are more engaging to where the culture of the game is without guiding lights and automatic 'x's on radar, where you have to read the quests to accomplish them.

Shiperzz

Story is a big as much a part of my game-play as PVP and PVE, at least for me anyway. I make an effort to read the text in quests and enjoy the story. Hell, if I put the effort into writing up these stories, like the developers, then I would want player to really experience it. Sometimes there actually quite good. 

Nataku17

i did read them in FFXI as most of the quest were part of a main story line and were a good read. in WoW i hardly bothered i did start out when i first played it but i found the quests pretty boring

DarbiiRue

I've been MMOing for years, but I never read the quest text until Fallen Earth.

I realized the more I read the quest text, the more I liked the game. Right now I'm playing EQ2 and I've read all the quest text and chat conversations the NPCs have going on and I'm enjoying the game a ton more then I have in years past.

Sovrath

Originally posted by Cik_Asalin

I chose no.  This is why I get bored to tears from themepark games that have 'cruise-control' quests like WoW, WAR, Aion, etc., though not a knock on the quality of the game, just the type. I am gravitating to more sandboxy games with mechanics that dont hold your hand, and continuously looking for those games where you have to read the quest; its active role-play as opposed to passive role-play.

 

Those themepark games with cruise-control quests cater to laziness by not having to read the quests to play the 'game', but clicking 'aye', and having continuous illuminated path of travel to a 'red dot', where x marks the spot of completion.  To me, the game-play feel is as shallow as cheating; just no feeling of accomplishment for me. 

 

So my answer would be yes, if the option were in the choices above.  In that I prefer games that are more engaging to where the culture of the game is without guiding lights and automatic 'x's on radar, where you have to read the quests to accomplish them.

It doesn't have to be passive role play. that is up to the player. As I just posted in another thread regarding taking all the quests from an area or doing them one by one, I adopt an internal narrative for the character and set out doing the quests with that narrative and characterization in mind.

I consider it an internal role play as you won't find me speaking in charcter or anything like that. But my character's have a loos backstory that allows me to approach each quest/task with that charcterization in mind.

It's really all about attitude and intention.

One can actually play a themepark game in a way that is closer to how people used to play mmo's. You don't have to take every quest nor do you have to take any quest.

LOTRO, a very big themepark game is the perfect example. I've done levels where all I did was explore or adopt a mission (such as clear out goblin town or find all he major orc enclaves in moria and destroy them) and I've done levels where I took all pertinent missions that made sense to me.

It's only when people start taking everything that's given to them, turn off their minds, and methodically carry out the tasks without any sense of perspective that we get issues in our game play.

The opposite can happen in sandbox games where people just camp out an area and start grinding. That activity for many quickly starts becoming a social session and more about shooting the shit with your clannies than actually feeling you are part of a world.

I can agree with the x marks the spot questing as it can quickly bypass any sense of actual game play and can turn it into a relay race.

It's then reqired by the player to adopt some sort of idea of "he travelled for many days and finally found his quarry" idea to back up why you all of a sudden know exactly where your enemy is.

 

Dibdabs

I've played WAY too many RPG games, going back to the 80's, to bother reading the made-up backstories in current RPGs and MMORPGs.  I probably gave up reading them a decade ago!  The back-stories (or "lore" as the nerds call it) may be well-crafted, but after roughly a quarter of a century there's only so many times you can read the same old, same old and still find it even meaningful, let alone new and exciting.

Cephus404

Rarely, if only because the quest text very rarely ever has anything whatsoever to do with the quest itself, it's usually some random, nonsensical story that doesn't impact anything in the game or the gameplay.  Why do I care if King Whosit's daughter got kidnapped by a dragon?  Do I get to rescue her? Or do I just go whack a dragon?  Do I ever get to interact with the daughter at all?  Does it matter?

Until the quest text is essential to the actual gameplay, I'm not going to bother.  It's just a waste of time.

Death1942

it depends on how well the game engages me and how long the text is.  I get really put off by a wall of text that would take a good 2 minutes to read.  If i am really into the game and the previous quests where well written/designed then i usually read it.

 

In the current crop of MMO's i find myself hardly reading any as they are either poorly written or are the same stuff over and over again.

Ihmotepp

Never read it, unless it has an impact on the game world. 

In single player RPG's it does, in MMO's it does not. 

Will ANYTHING at all about the game world actually change if I do or do not do the quest? 

In a single player, the answer is yes. I may blow up an entire town that will cease to exist, or open up an new area that was previously inaccessible. 

In an MMO, unless the game world changes for ALL players, no real change has occured. Quests NEVER change the game world in an MMO, I so don't bother to read them. 

Khrymson

I always read the quest text regardless of what I'm playing and often times again when playing an alt in an MMO.  So many quests ~ can't remember them all from the time before, plus some of them are really funny, but I will agree that most are not that great, but I still like to know the story behind why I'm kill x, or gathing y.

 

However, I do enjoy spending a great deal of time exploring the new zone I get too before I start quests, and often times I'll be reading the description of where said quest takes place and I'm like, "oh yeah I remember that." and can easily understand where I need to go and what to get or kill.

 

I am also usually playing the main healing class in most MMOs, and when in a party, {yes I give warning upon joining or creating parties that I read quest text, but they never listen} oh I love it when everyone else clicks through the text and runs off while I'm still reading, and then start getting into elite fights and they start to lose; calling out for heals, and I'm still back there reading.  Serves them right for rushing and not waiting for their support...rofl

Amathe

I want to. I try. But after 10 years and a million quests, it all seems so redundant.

 

So now it depends on the game, and whether they make the quests worth reading.

Dreamnuker

Well i'm reading quests all the time, because it makes me want to play the game even more.