This article really mirrors my feelings on what the main problems are with story presentation in so many games today, especially MMORPGs.
I've played so many MMORPGs that just try to forcefeed me story with paragraphs and paragraphs of lengthy quest text. Not only is this quest text laborious to read (or listen to, VO doesn't really help IMO), it's nearly always an excuse to make the player "kill 10 rats" and it's usually disjointed from other quests in the game. So playing an MMORPG really feels like sitting through an extremely long book of mediocre short stories.
Even worse, I've noticed that most MMORPGs seem to skimp on creating a really interesting world with interactivity that can convey the story to the player. You will have reams and reams of menial quest text, but the world will consist of like 5 copy pasta dungeon designs, some blank outdoor areas, and uninspired cities with barely any interactivity. How is a world like this supposed to convey the fantastical sense of wonder that the developer is striving for to the player?
If you want another great example of how this more suttle, interactive storytelling method can be effective...look at the Souls series. Dark Souls hardly tells you ANY story. It gives you like a few lines of extremely cryptic exposition to start, and that's it. You encounter lots of amazing areas in your journey, but the game hardly ever explains things to you...you are mainly left to either wander around in ignorance or do your own research to figure out what the heck is going on.
And yet, despite this seeming ignorance of story...Dark Souls has a TON of lore up on the web and a community that really enjoys the worlds, and story, of the Souls series.
Why is this? Why is it that a game, which hardly contains any story text, generates far more interest in it story than a game that has novels of quest text in it like an MMORPG?
I think that the answer is in the world of the game. Dark Souls may not tell you a story...but in a sense, it is a story. The world of Dark Souls is dripping with atmosphere and it's begging for you to uncover its mysteries. The story of Dark Souls is told in its ruined towers, vast libraries, and glowing crystal caverns.
What Dark Souls gets that other games seem to miss is that we, as gamers, want to experience the story...not just read or listen to the story.
Originally posted by Solar_Prophet Sorry, but after the debacle of Firefall (which was largely the result of Mr. Kern's inept leadership) this article has only slightly more credibility than one supposedly written by a toaster oven, and even then it's close.
I'm sorry, but I really can't stand this way of thinking. You can't disregard anything a person ever says just because you interpret something he did in the past as a failure. The article makes great points, and it stands on its own merit. Making an ad hominem attack against the author doesn't change that in the slightest.
Also...did you know that Albert Einstein did not believe in the basic principles of Quantum Mechanics, which turned out to be correct? In fact, he even argued vehemently against them. So since Einstein was wrong here, I guess we have to just disregard all that theory of relativity stuff that he came up with before right? Because anything that dude said must be stupid.
Don't you see how ridiculous this is? I mean...I'm sure at some point in your life you failed a test or got a bad grade in school...would you like it if people disregard everything you say because you got that F in Chemistry once?
Good article, although I assume you were talking about Dungeons and Dragons Online when you mention the narrator telling you what you're hearing? And obviously that was an intentional choice, kind of bringing the role of a dungeon master in a pen and paper game of DND into the MMO, not a lack of creativity on the part of DDO's creators
I think, when it comes to story telling, it's not how it's implemented, but how well. If the story makes you forget that you're leveling, then that's good story telling. Only two games come to mind that implemented story really well, one was TSW and the other FFXI. In both games players can recall all the quests by name, that's very good story telling.
Comments
Great article!
This article really mirrors my feelings on what the main problems are with story presentation in so many games today, especially MMORPGs.
I've played so many MMORPGs that just try to forcefeed me story with paragraphs and paragraphs of lengthy quest text. Not only is this quest text laborious to read (or listen to, VO doesn't really help IMO), it's nearly always an excuse to make the player "kill 10 rats" and it's usually disjointed from other quests in the game. So playing an MMORPG really feels like sitting through an extremely long book of mediocre short stories.
Even worse, I've noticed that most MMORPGs seem to skimp on creating a really interesting world with interactivity that can convey the story to the player. You will have reams and reams of menial quest text, but the world will consist of like 5 copy pasta dungeon designs, some blank outdoor areas, and uninspired cities with barely any interactivity. How is a world like this supposed to convey the fantastical sense of wonder that the developer is striving for to the player?
If you want another great example of how this more suttle, interactive storytelling method can be effective...look at the Souls series. Dark Souls hardly tells you ANY story. It gives you like a few lines of extremely cryptic exposition to start, and that's it. You encounter lots of amazing areas in your journey, but the game hardly ever explains things to you...you are mainly left to either wander around in ignorance or do your own research to figure out what the heck is going on.
And yet, despite this seeming ignorance of story...Dark Souls has a TON of lore up on the web and a community that really enjoys the worlds, and story, of the Souls series.
Why is this? Why is it that a game, which hardly contains any story text, generates far more interest in it story than a game that has novels of quest text in it like an MMORPG?
I think that the answer is in the world of the game. Dark Souls may not tell you a story...but in a sense, it is a story. The world of Dark Souls is dripping with atmosphere and it's begging for you to uncover its mysteries. The story of Dark Souls is told in its ruined towers, vast libraries, and glowing crystal caverns.
What Dark Souls gets that other games seem to miss is that we, as gamers, want to experience the story...not just read or listen to the story.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I'm sorry, but I really can't stand this way of thinking. You can't disregard anything a person ever says just because you interpret something he did in the past as a failure. The article makes great points, and it stands on its own merit. Making an ad hominem attack against the author doesn't change that in the slightest.
Also...did you know that Albert Einstein did not believe in the basic principles of Quantum Mechanics, which turned out to be correct? In fact, he even argued vehemently against them. So since Einstein was wrong here, I guess we have to just disregard all that theory of relativity stuff that he came up with before right? Because anything that dude said must be stupid.
Don't you see how ridiculous this is? I mean...I'm sure at some point in your life you failed a test or got a bad grade in school...would you like it if people disregard everything you say because you got that F in Chemistry once?
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?