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Original post by PepsiPlease
Normally, I don''t play games for the stories. To me, the point of a game is to provide entertainment. Even when playing an rpg, I normally don''t bother concentrating on the stories, as they can be long.

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WHAT?? What do you think the point of an RPG is? A role playing game is DRIVEN BY ITS STORY.

An RPG with no story would be a pointless game of walking around a world with no purpose, encountering random enemies and fighting them. What the hell is the point, or fun, in that?

I really pity you in that you''ve probably missed out on so much by not even paying attention to the storylines of games, especially RPG''s.

If you don''t want a story, play a sports or fighting game.

I believe stories have to fit the occasion. If your playing a typical RPG (Final Fantasy, Baldur''s Gate). Your usually play for the story. Story isn''t everything though. No one is gonna sit through 20 hours of bad collision detection and horrible interface just to see what the story is like.

I think that games like FPS and Fighting titles don''t really need stories as long as the meat of the game, the action, works well. I personally play an FPS for the setting and to shoot some people. The story isn''t really important as long as everything makes sense to a degree. I''m gonna be like WTF?! if I see a potato coming at me with a banana after I just polished off some Nazis in a Atomic Age setting.

In general, the story has to fit the genre or the overall theme of the game. If it''s an action platformer, I guess you could have a story but no one is really gonna care. But if you have an RPG and don''t piece the story together properly most people aren''t going to like it.

Not all types need a story but I it''s always nice to have even if people don''t read it, there is usually someone who will.

I don''t know excatly how well I''ve expressed myself here cause it all is a little confusing to me but just try to make the best of whatever I type.

Hrmm...

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People who play my game and enjoy it will talk to other people about how they are a leader of a community there, how they battle for success, what relations they have with the other community leaders, who''s the most powerfull, and a myriad of other things.

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I don''t understand how this is limited to games that don''t have a story. Why should the presence of a story eliminate this effect?

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There will pop-up incredibly dynamic worlds that everyone wants to experience. They will be like a virtual world where you come back and back.

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Again, is this not possible in games with storylines as well? Sure, there have been games that force linear gameplay in order to progress the story, but this seems more about the developers'' decision on how best to incorporate the story into the game. Surely the presence of a storyline does not restrict a game to a linear gameplay style, does it?

If you want a GOOD story, play Thief:The Dark Project and/or Thief II:The Metal Age. IMO, the first one was better, but the backstories of both of them go WAY above every other FPS out there.

-TheThief

P.S. Guess why my username is TheThief?

Story provides a purpose and direction for events within the game. The story is another tool in the presentation and orginization of events.

Gobramantis, when you have a story in it, the world can''t develop that free anymore. Let''s say the stroy is about some characters and some communities and some events that have happened now how are you going to incorporate all that in an open-ended massive multiplayer world?

We have an intresting example here Star Wars Galaxies. Now what are the problems whit building your world onto a story:

-the lead characters from the story

Everybody wants to be luke skywalker or han solo, this isn''t possbile so they become npc''s. Probably everybody want''s to become a jedi too because that''s the ideal that is being discribed by the story too.

In virtual worlds you yourself are the lead character and you want to be unique and special, there is no need for a background story there.

What I would like is that after some time the players start to tell stories about the world to other players simply because they know the history of the world, they were there when it happened. Those stories are real and indeed valuable to the player.

What I find interesting when you build on a storyworld like star wars for instance is the visualization and phantasy setting that has been done yet and maybe the big lines too of the conflict. (But then the further you go the less flexible your world will be, in star wars galaxies it won''t be possible to destroy the rebels completely as that would finish the game, though I want that depth otherwise you play for nothing (if you play on that level).

So a story restrics the freedom in which your world can evolve. You should concentrate on the characteristics and possibilities your world allows and the stories will be created. The deeper your world, the deeper your stories. Our challenge as GAMEdesigners is to create that depth in our world, in our game, not in the story! The depth in our game will decide on what gameplay dynamics there will be and how intense they will be. This is what you should design, not a story or background story.

I understand that some people like to get immersed in the world through the story, I would like to see it emerge from the players themselves that they atract new players by telling stories about the world. This will immediately immerse and get yourself interested in the world. You will here about big evil empires ruled by some asshole, you will here about the crazy disco whith handsome chicks in it and when you enter the world that will indeed be the case. That evil empire will be there and ruled by that asshole. Now you can start to think how to destroy that empire or how to seduce those chicks in that disco (maybe buy some flippy clothes and some special dance moves?)

This all will be there when you create deep worlds, games. When you concentrate on the creation of a story or backgroundstory you won''t get there.

Marc

Some day, somebody will create a game world with such a rich setting, compelling characters, and engaging storyline, that it will forever change the way people view games. Then we will all look back to these days and say, "why didn''t we realize the importance of better storytelling in games back then, when all we cared about was the visceral and the fleeting?".

Hey, I can dream, can''t I?

A good story can add to a game, but story isn''t really necessary. There are even some good RPGs (nethack, diablo, everquest, etc.) that don''t really have much of storyline. In my opinion, if a game has a good storyline, but the gameplay doesn''t measure up, the case with a lot of Final Fantasy games, the game suffers. Games aren''t really a narrative media, even though they''re becoming that way, and gameplay should always come first. I don''t think a game needs a storyline to be good, same way a game doesn''t need good graphics or artwork to be good, but these things definitely help. I personally think developers should work on creating more complex interactions, AI and different types of gameplay rather than elaborate prescripted storylines.

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Original post by MarcDM
Gobramantis, when you have a story in it, the world can''t develop that free anymore. Let''s say the stroy is about some characters and some communities and some events that have happened now how are you going to incorporate all that in an open-ended massive multiplayer world?

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You''re talking about MMORPG''s. Who said they NEEDED to have a storyline? MMORPG''s are VERY different from traditional RPGs.

Any decent MMORPG has a basic environment, with a small story attached, to provide a background for it, and that is usually it. Examples: Diablo or Dungeon Siege. If there was no backdrop, what would be the point of the game?

MMORPG''s don''t require extensive storylines, because the point of MMORPG''s is not to complete a storyline! It''s purpose is to open a wide world that people can participate in, and will never end. There is no finish to massively multiplayer games. They keep going on until the games die out.

I''m baffled as to why you seem to think that because an MMORPG doesn''t require a storyline, that all games shouldn''t. There are different genres, buddy. Not every single one has to have a story. But to say all games do not need one is ridiculous.

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Original post by munkie
Any decent MMORPG has a basic environment, with a small story attached, to provide a background for it, and that is usually it. Examples: Diablo or Dungeon Siege. If there was no backdrop, what would be the point of the game?

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Uh, the point is to have fun? Hello - it''s a game. Personally, I got annoyed that they even tried to put a story in Diablo. Why should I be forced to move along this artificial progression just to face tougher opponents? What if I never wanted to leave the desert? I got plenty of pleasure just making my character cooler and cooler. I still play Roguelikes for this very reason.

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MMORPG''s don''t require extensive storylines, because the point of MMORPG''s is not to complete a storyline! It''s purpose is to open a wide world that people can participate in, and will never end. There is no finish to massively multiplayer games. They keep going on until the games die out.

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Nor should there be a finish to a "traditional RPG"...why should this role that I''ve invested so much of my time in suddenly be over? How unfair is that? Story based games drive you to a sense of closure that I can''t say I always appreciate.

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I''m baffled as to why you seem to think that because an MMORPG doesn''t require a storyline, that all games shouldn''t. There are different genres, buddy. Not every single one has to have a story. But to say all games do not need one is ridiculous.

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Pot. Kettle. etc.