Poll: Which is more important to you in a storyline.

[crunchieman]

I was just wondering about this the last day. I was wondering if people liked to read books or play games because the plot was intresting, it had intresting and diverse characters or because it was based in a very intresting world?
So there you go which one and why?

 

[TerribleAssassin]

The world.

As long as the world in the appropriate form of media effectively portrays what it's trying to show, I won't notice the awfulness of anything else.

 

[Pocotron]

The plot could be terrible, but its up the characters to really do their jobs. A very nice poll actually, very thought provoking.

 

[DanielBrown]

Hard to say, but I think the characters are the most important to me.
The world can be a bit bland but still work and the plot can be so cheesy that it's awesome, but when the characters are just plain boring or filled with angsty teens it's a major turn off for me.

 

[Zarmi]

It's a tie between the plot and the characters. I don't think a story is good without either, so... Yeah.. A tie.

 

[KingGolem]

I like the world the most. This is probably all because of Dungeons and Dragons and fantasy novels, but to me the most important part is a unique and interesting setting. You can have a great plot and characters, but if the setting is drab like, say, modern times, I'm not the least bit interested. Of course, I prefer excellence and creativity in all three.

 

[Palademon]

They are all important, but I say the plot, because even if the characters are good, they need something in which to test their character. And yeah, I do appreciate the world, since I like unusual senarios in games.

 

[The Admiral]

Plot must come first. Without good narrative, there can be no character development and their motives and actions will make no sense. If you focus too much on the world, then you will end up with a 30 minute cutscense explaining the geopolitical situation of the game world and get made fun of on Unskippable. However, exploring the world and building it around the narrative can creat an exciting universe and open possibilites for futre gameplay and sequals. Same goes for the characters. You learn about the characters by how they react to plot events. You watch them grow over the course of the narrative. If you have a good story, the other elements should fall into place.

 

[Naheal]

It's a tie between the characters and the world. If you take a bunch of interesting characters, put them in a fleshed out world, and toss a generic situation at them, the plot writes itself.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

definitely the characters. i've known some writers who are AMAZING world-builders, but who cannot make an interesting character to save their lives. Ed Greenwood comes to mind (Elminster may be his one exception, but he's also very generic, so he doesn't count). after characters, i'd say the world, for pretty much the same reasons Naheal pointed out. plot can be important, but let's face it, at this point, there are no new plots.

 

[Valkyrie101]

A combination of the three. Boring characters, and you end up with Dune: a creative masterpiece that's too dry (ironically) to read. Boring plot, and there's no point to the story. A boring world is the least disastrous of the three, but it does take away a lot and makes the story less appealing.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

The set pieces.

There's no poll option for that and I'm not even sure it's part of the storyline, but, hey.

If from these three, the characters.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Not choosing. Deficiency in any area weakens the story plenty.

 

[Ramin 123]

The world.

As long as the world in the appropriate form of media effectively portrays what it's trying to show, I won't notice the awfulness of anything else.

You must love Halo then (not trying to start a flame thread here), Halo has an amazing world and the Covenant are interesting but it's everything else that's so shit and bland

 

[joebthegreat]

This is a hard question to answer. If I had to I'd have to say Characters, because making them seem real effectively covers any holes in the plot or world.

Effective characterization means bad decisions are now understandable, and any world can be made interesting if it has interesting people.

 

[Ashcrexl]

i would pick character, but then i remember left 4 dead and how disappointed i was in the story (the chopper crashed! what a twist!), so i lean more toward plot. but really, you cant have a good story with only one or the other, story is just a little more important sall.

 

[Instant K4rma]

The characters, no doubt. I mean, take a storyline such as Dragon Age: Origins. The character development (should you delve into their side plots) is fantastic. The voice actors do a great job of portraying the characters as real, believable people. The story is so grand and fantastic because the characters involved in it are so well acted and developed. If you boil down the plot of Origins, it's really nothing more than "Big evil creature blows shit up. Kill it to save the world." Not the most original plot, but because the story is told so well through it's characters, the seemingly generic plot is brought to a new level, and sticks out as a phenomenal narrative.

 

[Srdjan]

You can't have any of these without other two.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

The universe; the "canon".

 

[Nupu]

I actually can't say what would be the most important.
The plot has to be good for the game to work but the characters have to be good too,
and the world has to fit all of those together... im just going to stop here before I start talking about this for hours