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.