Poll: Stories in MMOs

[Ganpot]

First of all, Hello Escapist forum-goers (Escapees?). This is my first actual post (although I've been lurking here for awhile now).

Anyway, a couple of friends and I were having an argument about storytelling in MMOs. Specifically, whether people preferred to have a preset and detailed story, or loose story determined by players themselves. I'll give an example for those who don't understand what I'm talking about.

The first approach is the one used in Star Wars: The Old Republic (and most other MMOs). The story is told primarily through cutscenes, and the player doesn't have a large input over what will occur. For example, a Sith Inquisitor couldn't just decide to join the Republic's side in the war effort.

The second approach is more similar to games like Eve Online and Minecraft (I realize Minecraft isn't a true MMO). Players are given a setting, and allowed to tell a story almost purely through gameplay. For example, a Minecraft player could decide to live as a lumberjack in a massive tree-house, but that story will only exist in the player's own imagination.

Personally, I think more people will vote for player-driven storytelling (that's certainly what I favor). So, what do you guys prefer? I'm curious to see which side will win.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I prefer set-piece, more professionally written, event driven stories that the player is a part of.

I remember Runescape always amazed me with its quests. Discovering the underground city of peaceful goblins underneath a populated town, the plague conspiracy that tore a city into two sections, the professional mob in a dwarvern city, the quests on the lunar-centered island, the haunted swamp, the knights of Camelot, and the man in a blessed grotto surrounded with ghouls. For an MMO, Runescape never went with the "Go here, kill this" tactic, it usually had some story to go with it, and I really liked it. Other MMOs just feel weak compared to Runescape's quests.

But you know, after you beat all the quests in Runescape you had to wait a long time for a new one to be released, and you had to grind for X hours to be good enough to even start the quest.

 

[vasiD]

I could really swing either way on this one... I love a good structured story, which is why I keep coming back to Old Republic even though I have the far superior Guild Wars 2 sitting there waiting for me.

What I'd really like is a deeper role playing experience where the story is still carefully scripted but has multiple branching paths allowing me to be anyone I want to be... Mind you, that sounds INSANELY hard for an MMO, but I bet if done the right way could allow for a very interesting world, where each player's story is genuinely unique due to the choices they have made. I basically just want a CRPG where after I finish with my unique branching story I can take my character online and role-play from there...

If I ever stop making music and start working on video games, this will be something I'll have to attempt.

 

[CarolusRex]

I quite like it when the story is pre-set, like in WoW. I enjoy following through the quest chains that help uncover the story behind Azeroth, Outlands and Pandaria and I like feeling like I'm a part of that story. I don't mind if it does seem like a general grind at time. The only thing I wish was that Blizzard made the raids and instances in WoW... A bit more lore filled, I mean it's fun to just run through a zone filled with elite enemies with a group of 5 people, but it does start to get... Boring and leaves me craving for me. Which is what I liked about The Hour of Twilight patch they brought in as the final patch for Cataclysm. The 3 dungeons it brought in were pretty damn lore-driven, which was nice. Overall I don't really mind not driving the story based around me, I like unfolding an already written story, but that's just my personal preference.

A player-set story doesn't really seem like it would fit in World of Warcraft solely because of the fact most of Warcraft's lore has been preset since the franchise began, but I do like the concept of a player-driven story as well!


...Man, whenever MMO things pop up all I can really bring to the table is things about WoW... But out of MapleStory, WoW, Diablo III and Runescape, I think WoW is the best chance I Have of at least getting my point across. If not I probably just sound like a raving lunatic who has posted utter nonsense. God, I hope I don't sound like the latter.

 

[The Madman]

Story in an MMO should be exploration and environmental driven in my mind, not given to the player via cutscenes or massive dialogue boxes. I want to have the setting tell the story; for example if I encounter a deep gorge filled with ruins, I want to be able to notice details that uncover those ruins nature. Nature of the damage, whether there are any remains, style of ruins. Maybe those clues would lead to the revelation that there is an ancient dragon living in the area and it's what's been destroying all these settlement over the decades, I then have a motivation to explore more fully knowing that this beast is here and, when its found, I have motivation to be both intimidated by it and eager to face this new challenge.

Much better than some NPC walking up to me and saying "Oh hey, there's this dragon, kill it with X number of buddies. Thanks!".

If I want long rambling text or npc driven events I'd play a singleplayer rpg, they do it better anyway and I don't have to deal with other players.

 

[TheMagicIndian]

I've played a lot of MMOs. In fact, I've played nearly all of them. There's only one MMO I've ever played with a story/stories that I'd actually call good and its FFXI. When I finished the Chains of Promathia story in that game, I genuinely felt sad for finishing because I'd come to the end of a great adventure. Kinda like a good book does. It was the only MMO, nay, the only GAME I've had do that.

If you haven't guessed already, I prefer the preset stories that are written by professionals. I think I'll expand on your question a bit. I prefer the stories with no choices in it that can lead to different outcomes. If they do that, they tend to be mediocre in overall quality. If I wanted a choose your adventure story, I'd go to the library.

 

[Aeonknight]

I've played a lot of MMOs. In fact, I've played nearly all of them. There's only one MMO I've ever played with a story/stories that I'd actually call good and its FFXI. When I finished the Chains of Promathia story in that game, I genuinely felt sad for finishing because I'd come to the end of a great adventure. Kinda like a good book does. It was the only MMO, nay, the only GAME I've had do that.

If you haven't guessed already, I prefer the preset stories that are written by professionals. I think I'll expand on your question a bit. I prefer the stories with no choices in it that can lead to different outcomes. If they do that, they tend to be mediocre in overall quality. If I wanted a choose your adventure story, I'd go to the library.

Same here. I can still recall the names of the players I grouped with and the events that transpired during that expansion's quests/missions. From 6 years ago.

Conversely, I can't remember how most of the matches of BF3 played out last night.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

I've played a lot of MMOs. In fact, I've played nearly all of them. There's only one MMO I've ever played with a story/stories that I'd actually call good and its FFXI. When I finished the Chains of Promathia story in that game, I genuinely felt sad for finishing because I'd come to the end of a great adventure. Kinda like a good book does. It was the only MMO, nay, the only GAME I've had do that.

If you haven't guessed already, I prefer the preset stories that are written by professionals. I think I'll expand on your question a bit. I prefer the stories with no choices in it that can lead to different outcomes. If they do that, they tend to be mediocre in overall quality. If I wanted a choose your adventure story, I'd go to the library.

Same on FFXI. The Chains of Promathia storyline was fantastic, and the Treasures of Aht Urhgan story was a lot of fun too. Rise of the Zilart and the nation stories weren't as good, and I didn't get through all of Wings of the Goddess, but I still enjoyed them all for the most part. Even the silent protagonist didn't bother me as much as it seemed to bother some other people.

On the other hand, I'd say that the Imperial Agent storyline from SWTOR was just as good but in a very different way. More intrigue and memorable characters, less emotional moments and feeling of adventure.

I would consider those two stories (Chains of Promathia and the Imperial Agent) to be the best examples of the two different types of MMO storytelling mentioned in the OP, so they're the only two I feel right in comparing to each other. And that's why I voted "both."

(GW2, as much as I love it, has a weak story. It's backed up by terrific lore and worldbuilding, though, which is how it keeps me there even though I feel like there's room in my life for more. Maybe FFXIV 2.0 will fill that hole. We'll have to wait and see.)

 

[Gatx]

I feel like the Old Republic way can be done well, but you will always, ALWAYS have that immersion breaker of being told that you're this super special one of a kind guy, and knowing that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of other players being told the exact same thing.

I'm a fan of sandbox MMOs like the old Star Wars Galaxies, the now shut down Shadowbane, and of course EVE for gameplay reasons (the end game isn't just endlessly running the same few raids), and a set storyline just doesn't really compliment that kind of gameplay.

 

[God's Clown]

I like being told a story. I am not very creative story wise, so SWTOR appeals greatly to me in the aspect. Though Swtor has the problem of the class quests being rather short compared to length of every quests. I'd have preferred it being a single player to be honest.