Friday with(out) Means - July 29th, 2011: Time Keeps On Tickin'

[battlebug123]

For me the most important thing is a world that makes sense. Story is there to create the atmosphere.
Story gives reason for actions. Which actions you take should be up to you.
For example- omni vs clans is story driven, and gives reason to pvp.
the player needs to show a bit of fantasy to fully enjoy.

What story shoud not do is to force you into immediate action like quest driven storylines. That way you are forced into behaving a certain way and exactly follow a certain path. Thats like a bad movie.
the player doesnt need to think at all. ideal for dull players.

[Ikarus]

My question to you guys is this: What makes a good story in a game to you? Is it the writing? Is it the *style* of writing? Is it the atmosphere, or the immersion? What is it that ultimately makes you feel a game's story is worth investing in or not? Does the lack of a written narrative bother you when playing, or do you prefer a completely open-ended world without any background or setting at all? Answer if you want.

A story begins with good worldbuilding, i.e setting. Does it make sense, or is it just a superficial thing that serves as a reason to not call it "Red vs Blue". Are the factions bland and one-dimensional, or are they filled with interesting persons, perspectives and possibilities.
Always keep in mind that you aren't writing a storyline, you are writing a world. There must be a red line, of course, but the most important parts of good worldbuilding are the small tidbits you can gather here and there.
I love all the old weapons in the game because they all have a description that ties them to the world. "This is an OFAB submachine gun. It is awesome." is meagre, to tell the truth.

The other enemy is stagnation. There must be continued development, again not in world-shattering dimensions, but in small tidings. The editor news are a good example, and brings me to the next and last thing: Give the players opportunity to involve themselves.
Again, that doesn't necessarily mean a huge event for everyone. Back when Gamigo was responsible RK3 we had a couple of very motivated EMs, that liked to appear as "unimportant" figures or spontaneously as well, just for the fun of it.

To answer your last question in a short way: It is not an either-or question, but I prefer a well written world over a well written event-storyline, because everyone plays in the world, and not everyone wants to or can take part in events.

[SoapTarder]

took me a few days to think the question over, but after pondering over what makes a good story in a game, its definitely the back story for me. nothing keeps me more interested in a story, then if the current setting and plot are intertwined with a rich history. the sense of nostalgia that comes from the past/present relationship is what drives a good story. read any good fantasy novel and this rings true every single time.

as far as immersion goes, walls of text that give every detail annoy me. I would rather find a weapon, or a piece of armor, or gear, or whatever, where the description gives a small piece of history, where over time all the little tidbits of history form a story in your mind.

doing long quests is also a fail when they are really repetitive. like go to A then B, back to A, then to C, then to B, then Back to C etc... these kind of quests are designed to do one thing: keep players busy for just a little bit longer. as we can see, alot of those players are no longer playing because they want to spend as little time as possible leveling and getting gear, and as much time as possible interacting socially in pvp/social/credfarming/etc. kinds of content.

storyline wise, the best games I've played are Phantasy Star 2 (1989, Sega), many of Black Isle's Games, Final Fantasy 2 & 7, Mass effect series and AO, just to name a few on a long list of Great stories. all these games have one thing in common; an incredible and believable back-story. the history is laid out in small pieces as you progress, so that your current actions give you a sense of nostalgia, or deep immersion with the game world.

anyway, to me, this is storytelling at its finest. without the past/present (or even present/future) relationship, there is no hope of captivating the player/reader (in this case me), plain and simple.

[Siahanor]

As others have said, you have to involve the player personally in the story and in the world. BUT you also have to temper their involvement.

For example, AoC and its "You ( and the couple hundred thousand other players ) are the chosen one" just doesn't work. You cannot treat a multiplayer story like a singleplayer story, the player cannot be "THE HERO".

Instead, you want the player to feel heroic ( or evil, if they choose ) in relation to the whole. The player needs to have individuality, yet remain a viable part of the whole, pretty much like real life society.

For example, in real life a firefighter who rescues a child from a burning building is indeed heroic and stands out in the crowd, but his heroism doesn't over shadow the heroism of a cab driver who rescues a woman from a group of attackers. Each is a hero, but not THE HERO.

[DaChains]

As much as I like medieval shoulderpads, AO deserves unique armor that underlines each of the faction's uniqueness.

For example here is what I designed for Anarchy Online.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8093/example03.jpg

PS. Hire me, already applied.

[Dragocze]

For example, AoC and its "You ( and the couple hundred thousand other players ) are the chosen one" just doesn't work.

Yeah that's pretty stupid. I agree with your post. If FC would read only one post, it should be yours.

[szuzu]

Why are shoulderpads even a thing? They make no sense and I've never seen them in fiction or nonfiction outside of MMOs, really bad 80s fashion and American football

[Mastablasta]

They make you look all big and burly.

[Siahanor]

Why are shoulderpads even a thing? They make no sense and I've never seen them in fiction or nonfiction outside of MMOs, really bad 80s fashion and American football

Maybe to protect your shoulders?

http://www.bikebandit.com/joe-rocket...LAID=338434481

http://www.swordsandarmor.com/mall/spaulders.htm

http://www.skaldic.com/shoulder.htm

[Technogen]

Why are shoulderpads even a thing? They make no sense and I've never seen them in fiction or nonfiction outside of MMOs, really bad 80s fashion and American football

Most current armor has them built in. http://www.tactical-life.com/online/...3/a-tacs-b.jpg

Also light armor, aka most police stuff and most army stuff does not have large ones but just extra fabric there. They do make aiming above the head slightly harder, and they add weight, where they normally only protect from close range impacts not projectiles.

AO has both close range impacts and projectiles, so it make sense for their armor to reflect that.

[SoapTarder]

...really bad 80s fashion...

like these?

[Thorneee]

For example here is what I designed for Anarchy Online.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8093/example03.jpg

Wow, good job here. Would love to see this ingame.

[MidgarClan]

Although I love that fabricated Omni Tek Armor, I am sure Funcom would say "It's to Shiny" To be put in game as is

[Demoder]

Why are shoulderpads even a thing? They make no sense and I've never seen them in fiction or nonfiction outside of MMOs, really bad 80s fashion and American football

Never seen the Minbari Warrior Caste in Babylon 5 then?
Neroon: Wiki Wikia

[DaChains]

Although I love that fabricated Omni Tek Armor, I am sure Funcom would say "It's to Shiny" To be put in game as is

There is no such thing as too shiny )))))))))

[SoapTarder]

As much as I like medieval shoulderpads, AO deserves unique armor that underlines each of the faction's uniqueness.

For example here is what I designed for Anarchy Online.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8093/example03.jpg

PS. Hire me, already applied.

wtb that as new armed forces tank armor, for realzies plz

[DaChains]

wtb that as new armed forces tank armor, for realzies plz

Nobody noticed the Xan combat token board >>

[Ahndracorvid]

What makes a good story in a game to you?

Ideally, as much interactivity as possible. A good story is a good story, but in a game I'd hope for more involvement than I'd get from reading a book. With the latter, you're just the audience. But with a game, you're part of the action. That is the difference to me.

/2cents

[battlebug123]

... tickin', tickin', into the future...

a bomb is also tickin' so will there be an explosion soon* and will it be a big reveal?

[Mastablasta]

A good story depends entirely on what type of game we're talking. In Doom the story is fine. It's not a main part of the game, and in fact has no real purpose other than to give a reason as to why it is you're doing what you're doing. And it pretty swiftly takes a backseat to even that.

In an MMO? Depends on the type of MMO, I guess. In the WoW style, the story is an integral part of the game play. The player is being told a very long story in which they are the hero, experiencing all kinds of "unique" sights and events. The story is used to build the world, make it plausible, but sit within the frame of "this is sort of a movie you're watching". Everything else not to do directly with story related things sticks out, in a sort of "this is the videogame part" kind of way.

The "EVE" style of MMO storytelling, which AO sort of used to subscribe to, is better suited, imo, to the MMO genre. It builds a plausible world full of internal logic, and then events affect it in a sensible way. It's not a hero tale, but rather the history of another world. Factions shift, allegiances change, areas fall from the hands of one into the hands of another, control shifts back and forth, and the game builds its own story. A long history of events, in which players are partakers, not protagonists.

Which is best? I really do think that the type of story and the way its presented is best determined while you're in the design stages of your game. You can have room for more than one type of story as well, but the hero style story fits poorly into an MMO when put there by designers. If a player does something heroically, then it should be in the context of interaction with other players, and you could argue that the only way such an event can take place at all in an MMO is in that context. Because what does it matter that you fail a quest or don't bother doing it, if the guy giving it to you says the world will end if you don't? You know it won't.
But if your corporation's station is under attack, and the only way to get reinforcements would be to zip through heavily guarded enemy lines in your defence decked out tiny ship, and your actions result in victory for your side. That would be a heroic event, and it's non-scripted and real. And things would've turned out differently.