Storytelling For MMO Games Discussed

Thanks to GameRifts for its interview with television and videogame scriptwriter Lee Sheldon regarding the state of writing/story in online gaming. Sheldon, who has most recently worked on Cyan's URU: Ages Beyond Myst, is asked "Do you see good, even epic story lines, becoming a core feature of MMORPGs in the future?", and responds: "Yes, and sooner rather than later... The big question of course is whether [developers will] continue to spend all their money on high quality art and programming and treat the writing as a hobby anyone can do. Without the same commitment to quality as in the other elements that make up an MMORPG the writing will continue to fail miserably."

Comments

Re:Indeed!

[ripsnorta]

I always thought that the first Asherons Call made a decent attempt at telling a story. Every month the game was updated with new content and advanced the worlds story arc. I've definitly missed that with the other MMORPGs.

So it's not impossible. The big challenge, as I see it, is to give each character the possibility of a personal story that eventually affects the state of the world.

Re:Asheron's Call

[Fiz Ocelot]

Asheron's Call was awsome. It was small enough that the actual developers could do live events. There were also many pre-scripted events like the shadow wars (floating spires etc.).

There was even a hub town that caused a lot lag on all servers because of the constant overpopulation...so the town (Arwic) actually got blown up into a huge smoldering crater by the shadows :)

These Devs had FUN, and they were Involved with their game, a key element missing from so many today. The storyline was also good in AC, with a few story arcs like the shadows, virindi, olthoi, and Martine / Gaerlan. Sometimes getting to converse with the characters or battle them.

ah good memories of a great game :)

(and I do remember the shadow wars, defending Fort Tethana and other towns.)

Dragon Empires -- Piers Anthony

[Marc_Hawke]

Not sure what a reception this will get from Slashdot, but Dragon Empires, (http://www.dragonempires.com/) hired Piers Anthony (Xanth, etc) to do their story. He did the framework and foundation of the story.

Then other people keep fleshing it out more and more. It's actually the only MMORPG where I read all the backlog of fiction that goes along with it. This one is actually somewhat interesting, (even if it as well will have nothing to do with the gameplay.)