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Storytelling For MMO Games Discussed

Posted by simoniker on from the playing-in-the-sand dept.

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."

7 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Indeed! by arhar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the main reasons I keep going back to playing certain single-player RPG's like Fallout, Betrayal at Krondor, Planescape: the Torment and Baldur's Gate is the excellent storyline, worthy of any movie. Maybe if any MMORPG had a good storyline, I would check it out ...

    1. Re:Indeed! by th1ckasabr1ck · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem, I think, is that the very nature of an MMO game doesn't lend itself well to a epic storyline. This sounds funny because the entire point of a MMO is to have lots of people in this huge world, but making an interesting, coherant storyline with tons of interactive parts is far more difficult than implementing the same storyline in a singleplayer game.

  2. Writing is crucial by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 3, Insightful
    If [and I believe this will happen] the MMORPG market continues to grow and attract a larger audience, there will have to be the inclusion of better writing. Of course, since this is a medium unlike most others, there are added wrinkles. The storyline that encompasses the entire universe must be interesting but it must also encourage the individual player to try to influence the overall arc of the story. This is why some of the MMORPG that are tied to existing franchises may have more trouble than a newly created franchise. In Star Wars [and I haven't played Galaxies so this is not a direct comment on that], there is a huge backstory of movies, novels, and cartoons that already dictate the order of events. Luke blows up the Death Star. There's no room in a game involving this universe for some unknown player to jump into the situation and take control. The other wrinkle added in a video game setting is the side quests. The motivation for these should be something more than just trying to level up - they should be guided by the larger picture of the universe and have some sort of effect.

    With all that being said, I think that if the writing comes up in terms of quality, these games are poised to take off in popularity far greater than they currently enjoy.

    --
    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
  3. Re:He's wrong by AuMatar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, because everyone who plays Final Fantasy just raves about the character advancement paths, noone ever mentions the story. They ought to just cut that part out.

    Sure, anyone can write a story. It takes talent to write a good story, especially good dialog. I don't know the qualifications of the guy interviewed, but if he has any prior professional writing experience I'd give him a far better chance that the average Schmoe.

    As for the don't play for the story thing- umm, no. Other than in MMOs, noone plays to mindlessly choose from the spell of attack menus. They play to see the game world, to interact with it, to see the story unfold. We had RPGs without stories back in the 80s- they were called "Dungeon Crawls" and they aren't made anymore.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  4. Speaking from experience of an MMORPG that wasn't. by nick_davison · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Do you see good, even epic story lines, becoming a core feature of MMORPGs in the future?"

    This would be the same game that cancelled its MMORPG component after customers had already bought copies but the MMORPG component hadn't shipped yet?

    Surely, to have a meaningful opinion on the subject, you should actually have been involved in the area you claim expertise on and actually stayed with it through to completion.

    Next people like George W. Bush will think their failing to do their service in the National Guard qualifies them to make decisions as Commander-in-Chief.

    What kind of an insane world would that be?!

  5. Re:Immersion and storytelling by Ankle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I couldn't agree more strongly, this is the single most prevailing reason I've quit playing every MMORPG. The most recent being EVE, a typical day was like:
    "Concentrate all fire on the forward apoc."
    "OMGWTFPWN N00B, GO4 RAVEN 1ST!!!"

    Stupid character names and dialog from stupid people are doing nothing but pulling the genre down for anyone who wants to actually have some sort of role playing related fun. At least back in the day on muds they'd be banned for not role playing.

  6. Writers are the key by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The only game company I know that takes pride in their writers and actually has full time positions for "Writers", "Senior Writers" and "Lead Writers" (taken from their jobs page / game credits) is BioWare (http://www.bioware.com).

    Granted their games are not MMORPGs but story driven CRPGs - from what they say on their forums, they are very proud about that. Also they got the IDGA Writing Excellence Award this year for KotOR.

    I tried to find other companies that have the luxury(?) of employing full time writers, but I failed...