Yeah I know what you mean, it seems to me at the moment games are going backwards earlier versions being better and more playable than the ones now. I remember when games were on tapes and only 2.99. The main reasons we have to pay so much for new consoles and games now is for the new super pixels able to display slightly richer red.

Anyway back on course, to give some examples, a way of making dynamic variable stories without actually doing anything drastic could be: You have a game with a number of cut scenes and the player is able to skip them if they so wish. Later on in the game you come across the bad guy and its time for his cliched plan revealing monologue, now the game detected that you skipped most of the cut scenes before and so shortens this one for you, letting the bad guy perhaps say one thing, then gets straight on with plan and the actual gameplay.

Back to the point about the rat, I do think that is something to do with the story because when it doesnt allow you to do anything else then it doesnt let you actually make any impact on the story. Its given me a puzzle within the story which is just really pointless. If the game is just going to force me to read the developers minds and not let the story even at least slightly play out my way then I might as well not bother.

I do think people are starting to get fed up with most games now, Indie games do seem to be getting popular. Its just theirs not much choice at the moment. Of course the main problem is figuring out how to get a story to adapt and change to the player(and money versus developement time).

Its good to know as an author the back story of your game/book/film, but you don't neccissarely need to tellyour audience. I personally find exposition to be one of the worst possible strategies to communicate narrative information. It slows down the process of actually enjoying the story because you need some sort of secret information. You should be able to understand the basic premis of the story right from the start.

I think in games the story should really come first, and provide the motivation for contiuing to play the game, or that the playing of the game itself should be a tool for the player to create their own story. Even though movies are perhaps predictable, look at some of the ways that they draw you into the story world and provide you with the information you need to know to udnerstand the story.

There are many ways and attempts to make stories that adapt to players actions, often. One of the primary problems with this, however, is that in the end you need to program too many if statements. The better solution is create a limited number of scenarios that you create as logical choices for the players to make as the protaganists of stories. In this way it becomes almost a reverse of aristotilian narrative...rather than be able to look back and understand why each event happens, you have to figure out how to position the player to realize the action they must initatie to cause the event.

I really dont think stories are the most important, for games. The Sims one of the best selling and played mostly by women arguably doesnt have a story, well only that the player creates. I'm sure that most people couldnt really care about any story that would be attached to it, because mostly their more concerned with furnishing the house or getting their sims to do things. My mom actually plays games mostly puzzle games which I never thought she would (always moaning at me when I played mine) she doesnt play the games for the story but for the challenges that they give. Would anyone care about a story in a football game.

Stories really should be adjutant to the gameplay. That seems to be a commmon theme get a crap game and add a mediocre story and you have a winner. Dont get me wrong though I do think stories in games can be good I just think they should be told in a different way. With a little feedback and input from the player.

Ah, yes the problem of the ifs. What about not using them at all. Create object (somehow) with their own rules and actions. You surely cant predict all the possible outcomes. Although if you want the story to lead certain places and have a purpose maybe you would need some ifs. Its an interesting conundrum but surely not impossible to do, a story that is both structured and yet freeform to an extent.

I think one of the most interesting possiblities for story telling in games is to allow users to help generate their own stories. Second Life approaches this, but unfortuantely doesn't create a stringent enough frame work for people to create a cohesive narrative. It could be interesting to have an MMOG that was had a precise history, and each action that players did directly impacted the story world permanently. No-respwans or anything. Allow players to create the villains and their own plots of whatever magnitutde, even if it is to simply be left alone.

Their are some MMORPGs like what you suggest Eve online in that you can do anything you want as long as its either mining npcing or pvp, but anyway it has 0.0 space where places are able to make and do with it what they want, although you arent able to impact the actual story that its built upon. Saga of Ryzom is going to allow players to build their own content with the new expansion released for it. A new to be released game Archlord will allow players to be king of the server for a month.

There may be a problem with these free reign stories though which they encountered with Oblivion, the game before Morrowind allowed you to do anything in it even if it resulted in you breaking the game and not being able to complete quests, after all the moaning they recieved from players about it they decided not to allow the player to break the game by killing anyone. Its like players want total freedom but they do not want responsibility of it.

I doubt it would work in an MMORPG, to many people vying for things to be their way, in the struggle you might end up with one big unholy mess.

I would ahve to agree wtih you there. I think the population of people who want to take responsbility for their actions in a virtual world is very small. (the players of second life do a pretty good job though). I actually kind of liked the fact taht you could "break the chain of destiny" in morrowind. It added some flair to the game. I find Oblivion kind of uninspired in comparison, heavily watered down in terms of its story telling ability.