Just because I was pondering it today and thought it might spark a little discussion, suppose a producer in the game industry came to you and said, "Hey, great news! We got a guy who's willing to put up funding to make an MMO, he wants it heavier on story than the usual mmo, and he wants you to come up with the story concept! He wants drama, romance, comedy, an immersive virtual world where people will actually roleplay and love the ways they can develop their avatar's identity within the world. And he said there's only 2 restrictions: it can't involve gods and it can't be built around a war or series of wars." So, what technique(s) would you use to come up with the concept, and what would that concept be?

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
Just because I was pondering it today and thought it might spark a little discussion, suppose a producer in the game industry came to you and said, "Hey, great news! We got a guy who's willing to put up funding to make an MMO, he wants it heavier on story than the usual mmo, and he wants you to come up with the story concept! He wants drama, romance, comedy, an immersive virtual world where people will actually roleplay and love the ways they can develop their avatar's identity within the world. And he said there's only 2 restrictions: it can't involve gods and it can't be built around a war or series of wars."

So, what technique(s) would you use to come up with the concept, and what would that concept be?

The first thing that came to mind was a noir setting. First of all, that kind of atmosphere would set the MMO apart from all the other futuristic/medieval ones. The players could be mobsters, private eyes, police detectives, femme fatales, etc.

Adventuring would depend on your class, obviously: mobsters would have to negotiate with, bribe or kill people; private eyes would track down criminals, and so on.

I'm not a noir film expert, but I think the story could be inspired by famous movies. I don't mean to rip off other people's plots, of course, but I see no harm in referencing other works. That would help when creating the expansions as well, right?

The overall plot would be divided evenly among classes, but the objectives to reach the endpoint would very greatly. And similar to the Light Side/Dark Side mechanic of the KOTOR and Jedi Knight games, the player could change class during the game if his/her actions reflected the opposite side's actions.

And to get the full noir experience, the game should allow players to record a set number of minutes of adventuring, so then he/she could export it as a movie file, complete with the players' own narration. That'd be fun and quite immersive, I think.

Oh noir, that's interesting, I would never have thought of that. Exporting a movie of game highlights would definitely be fun. The only thing I don't agree with is airing all the classes at the same game endpoint. I'm playing WoW currently and one of its major failures is that the gameplay and story start out different for each class, merge into only one for each faction around level 20, and then merge into only one for everybody around level 40, such that there's nothing different to do with a second character. Although personally I would make classes something that a character evolves into rather than being chosen at the start of the game, I think the idea of treating classes as corresponding to story roles and/or personality types has a lot of potential.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
The only thing I don't agree with is airing all the classes at the same game endpoint. I'm playing WoW currently and one of its major failures is that the gameplay and story start out different for each class, merge into only one for each faction around level 20, and then merge into only one for everybody around level 40, such that there's nothing different to do with a second character.

Would the opposite be more fun? I mean, the story starts out the same for everyone and, after a certain point, each class gets its own plot to follow.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
Although personally I would make classes something that a character evolves into rather than being chosen at the start of the game, I think the idea of treating classes as corresponding to story roles and/or personality types has a lot of potential.

How about if players begin the game as street urchins, and the actions you take, the place you decide to live in, etc. result in the character adopting a certain class?

Quote: Original post by Eduardo Friedman
Would the opposite be more fun? I mean, the story starts out the same for everyone and, after a certain point, each class gets its own plot to follow.

Well, basically you never want to make the player play the same story segment twice, because it's boring. And if you can't change the outcome it breaks immersion - this is the typical problem with single player rpgs which have a game+ feature, such as CronoTrigger and Vagrant Story.

Quote: How about if players begin the game as street urchins, and the actions you take, the place you decide to live in, etc. result in the character adopting a certain class?

Yes that's the kind of thing I was thinking of. All the players start as children, or teenagers entering a military academy, or a regular person randomly sucked into a strange world, or an amnesiac after some sort of apocalyptic event, or a newborn fantasy creature or alien or artificial intelligence... then the choices the player makes send them down one of several different paths while establishing their avatar's personality/philosophy, such that the paths through the game could be considered descriptive classes (as opposed to the usual prescriptive ones) and could also be considered the same as becoming aligned with a faction and building enmity with their opposing faction.

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
Just because I was pondering it today and thought it might spark a little discussion, suppose a producer in the game industry came to you and said, "Hey, great news! We got a guy who's willing to put up funding to make an MMO, he wants it heavier on story than the usual mmo, and he wants you to come up with the story concept! He wants drama, romance, comedy, an immersive virtual world where people will actually roleplay and love the ways they can develop their avatar's identity within the world. And he said there's only 2 restrictions: it can't involve gods and it can't be built around a war or series of wars."

So, what technique(s) would you use to come up with the concept, and what would that concept be?

Well first of all I have no techniques since stories pop into my head randomly :P

I'd probably make the idea center around a new unexplored land. The beginning would be that some pilgrims, fed up with the warring, politics, etc, sail west across the ocean and discover a new land that nobody had ever been to before. Think of it as a fantasy take on what happened with America.

This new land, however, turns out to be much more ancient than the "old world", with dungeons that run deep and ruins that speak of different civilizations. What does the strange language written on the ancient stone walls say? What happened to the people that once lived there? It seems the players would have to find clues to begin to understand.

And what secrets lie within the deep sprawling dungeons? The monsters and demons that inhabit these labyrinths seem countless, where did they come from? And what are they guarding? The demons, in particular, seem to revere and guard the secrets of a once great king. Who was he? Do the demons seem to be trying to revive him via dark magic?

But most people don't care about these things, do they? The players are characters who come from the old land to make something new of themselves in the new world. There's houses and villages to be built and equipment and items to be made in the lush and varied lands, not to mention a thriving new economy to enjoy. But will there be those brave enough to traverse the mazes below? Is anyone paying attention to the dark happenings brewing in the deepest areas? Is anybody exploring and searching the land for clues to the past that could potentially alter the dark times ahead? Well...Only the players know that. They ultimately decide the outcome of the lands through their choices.

Ok, sorry, long winded and probably dumb. Like I said, story ideas come to me randomly

Gold Rush, I would set the game during a gold rush. Characters would go out into the dangerous wilderness to search for their fortunes. Monsters, bandits and possible starvation await, but so does the mother load. Or characters could stay in the mining town to make their fortunes selling shovels and starting saloons. Between claim jumpers and desperate failed prospectors the mining town might be more dangerous.

I'd have magic, because I enjoy settings with magic and guns. Classes would be done away with entirely. Players could distribute points between ability scores and skills however they wanted. When players had raised their skills enough level would go up increasing health and every few levels ability scores.

Years ago there was a great event. It was so profound that no one is allowed to talk about it. Everyone is tight lipped, and it was a major turning event. Problem is, you never remember it and everyone else seems to be quiet.

You start to imagine you're trapped in some cage or area and at last want to break free but the journey will not be easy.

I'd make a western with very subtle fantastic/steampunk elements. Like maybe it'd be magical realism. Yeah, this is like the gold rush idea and the colonize America ideas, but I think it encompasses both. I was talking to a friend about this a few weeks ago and we think a western is both perfect for an MMO - it being the 'wild west' and all - and it's an idea which hasn't been done yet.

The small scale stuff can involve mining, gold rushes, homesteading farmers, gambling (think of the minigames!), boozin', ranching/herding (and cattle rustlin'), robbing banks, hunting bandits, trading goods, escorting/guiding settlers. For factions you have the US Army, wayward Confederate holdouts, the natives, and various land speculators Rail/Mining industry Barons from out east.

Uberplots could involve the large scale movement of the frontier, the progress of the railroads, settlement, and the spread (or decline) of lawℴ / the "civilizing" of the wild land and what is lost in that process. Or something epic, you know, not explicitly based around the wars, but more how the society is transformed (which would be interesting to see, and to figure out how game mechanics can interact with social mechanics, considering how anarchic MMO players can be).

Plus, from a marketing standpoint (not that I really know anything about it) the cowboy thing might appeal to the Deer Hunter/ older type of gamer who sees the usual Fantasy/SF fare as too involved or nerdy or something.
And for some reason Germans love cowboys.

[edited because I forget to put stuff in]