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

[Kakashi on crack]

Can't really have any one of these three without the other two...

I'd have to say though, in order of most importance to least importance, I'd go with Character, then plot, then world. If a game had great, realistic characters, and an awsome plot, I could care a lot less about if it's based in some old shmoe building in a random real-life town or something.

 

[Srdjan]

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

How can't you?

Here's a character: John, he likes cats.
No plot or world there.

Well genius try to make game of that...

 

[zombiesinc]

The characters and their development.

The world, and plot are bonuses in my opinion. And most RPGs that I play revolve around the end of the known world (or universe) due to some horrific and 'unstoppable' force. Don't get me wrong, I can still really enjoy a plot like that so long as it's done well, but regardless, the characters and my attachment to them is far more important.

 

[DaemonicShadow]

The characters take pole position, because sometimes even if the other two are bad it becomes the exploits of fine characters in a bad world and story, which in itself can become entertaining.

 

[Squilookle]

It's not possible to have a good plot with bad characters, so The Plot is more important by default because it's a given that it will have good characters included.

Also there are times where I've thought 'what a great world, but the plot didn't show us nearly enough of it.' I have NEVER thought 'what a great plot- if only it took place in a different world'

So again, the plot. has to be the plot.

 

[Slippers]

Characters are but the cogs, whose point is to tell me the story.
The Story is just a means of introducing the world.

If either part is shitty, the whole experience, by extension, goes down the shitter. But by removing the world, you remove the purpose of the tools.

 

[Choppaduel]

idc so much. They all can be deal breakers though.

 

[gbemery]

I had selected plot in the poll but wish I can change it to character because after I finished reading a few more posts I realized characters are a little bit more important than a good plot. If you have a nice world with a crap plot you could get through it, but nothing will surprise you. But now if the characters are crap then you won't want to finish it usually.

If you have a great plot the "what's going to happen next" feel can get you through a lot. Such as a horrible world setting and some bad characters. But where I decided to change on this was I have seen some movies with good plots/story but the characters and world were just so bad that I was too busy yelling at the screen and not paying attention to the plot and then quickly stopped watching.

So I would change it to characters, because great characters are really what draw you in. As long as they can portray to you accurately what they are feeling, then you can usually over look a bad plot and world composition.

 

[crunchieman]

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

How can't you?

Here's a character: John, he likes cats.
No plot or world there.

Well genius try to make game of that...

Ah, good insult to my intelligence there.

 

[Geekosaurus]

They sort of come as a package; try telling James Cameron however.

 

[ScarletRider]

I voted characters. I'm a student of the hard-boiled school, and strong characterization is a must. As basic as the plot is, and as mundane the world, a stand-out character can bring a story to life.

 

[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.

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

I didn't find it that enthralling to be frank. Not trying to start a flame war but everything just felt mediocre and that there was probably a bigger and better game out there.

 

[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

I didn't find it that enthralling to be frank. Not trying to start a flame war but everything just felt mediocre and that there was probably a bigger and better game out there.

Well I wouldn't go as far to say that I find it enthralling but one has to respect the online capabilities that Halo has and how great the frame-rate is even with so much going on. Admittedly the graphics aren't that amazing but we're so used to high-end graphics now that it doesn't really matter any more.

I like the way the covenant have different races all working together it's pretty interesting to see how that works but the UNSC it's just like watching Starship Troopers all over again

 

[Wolfenbarg]

Depends completely on what type of story it is. Some stories are completely character driven. In those sorts of stories, I'll be looking for that more than anything else, even if I would normally go nuts for the plot. Other movies are plot driven, and have no time for character devotion. In those the scenario itself far outweighs the importance of who is taking part in them. As for world stories, I don't care for them. If a story can't keep me sucked in with the plot or characters, it's a waste of time.

 

[The Hot Sauce Thief]

All three should be equally good
but if I am forced to choose one, I would go with plot

 

[DirgeNovak]

The most vital thing is good dialogue. If your dialogue sucks, your characters are de facto uninteresting, the story, even if it's great on paper, will come across as silly, and if the characters and their story are bad, the world won't be any good either.

 

[Ildecia]

I would have to go with the world.

took me a sec to think about it. I literally sat here and had to pick apart a bunch of games i've liked because of one or more of those 3 aspects you offered up in the story.

In my opinion i say its
50% world (atmosphere, actions, encounters)

25% characters (development, individuality, affect on the overall story by themselves)

25% plot (gotta have it going somewhere, or else you suffer from MMO syndrome. you're either the all mighty "one" or some random level addict).

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The characters definitely, just think of Firefly. The world and story were great, but it's the interactions between the characters that made it what it was. Of course there are exceptions though.

 

[(whitty name here)]

If I would have to choos, the characters. If I don't give a shit about them, don't know their motivation, or just all around have to ask "why?" then it breaks it for me. Plot is a close second. If its some stupid 'save the world because' plot, then yeah I'm gonna opt out.

 

[Dwarfman]

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?

Idealy what you want is a measure of all three. An amazing new world to discover, Intricate characters and a reason for them being.