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MMORPG.COM News: "Stories", Editorial by Tim Dale
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Guest Writer Tim Dale has written a nice editorial on stories in MMORPGs. The article traces the evolution of this medium and his opinions on where it is headed.
;) The quest; the force that drives all great sagas, the opening problem that cries out for resolution. All great stories in the grand fantasy tradition revolve around the heroic deed, the overcoming of great obstacles and threats to the happy world and life of the hero - indeed, often it is the quest against the great enemy that creates and defines the hero of the piece, which in turn defines and invigorates the story - without a challenge, or a conflict against adversity, there is very little left to call a story at all.
The Lord of The Rings, above, is a classic example of the traditional high fantasy epic - an overpowering enemy stands poised to take over the world, and only an unlikely hero undertaking a perilous journey can stop it. Reading the book, and others in the genre, we can tag along for the ride, share in the perils of Frodo and companions, and watch as they are finally triumphant. |
You can read the full article here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Well done, Tim; a most well thought-out editorial on the "state of affairs" in MMORPGs. However, it certainly seems that the article was written from the viewpoint of a RPG advocate. There are some players, myself included, who hope the future of MMOGs will evolve into the kind of character evolution and realization that you predict. On the other hand, there are likely many players of MMOGs who simply play because they enjoy the mechanics of the games; that is, a new setting, new interface and new graphics for PvP and/or PvE combat. There is not clear "line" between the two camps, but there are certainly a good number firmly within each who view the other camp as detrimental to their style of play. It's anyone's guess as to where the majority of players fall between each extreme.
As for game companies, I see many more possible shortfalls than potential successes in the future when producing new MMORPGs. A game designed with less (or even "token") story content, created strictly for the PvE/PvP aspects could seem "mindless" to many. One designed specifically to cater to RPers may devolve into a graphical MUD. A "jack of all trades" game, created for everyone, always runs a great risk of favoring one aspect of the game more than another, sometimes driven by the highly opinionated MMOGers. Additionally, such a game would require a tremendous amount of staffing to adequately meet the needs of all types of players. On top of that, the larger the player base, the less opportunity for uniqueness of players, deeds and story lines.
Only time will tell what direction MMOGs will take, but I expect to see many different approaches by developers to appeal to a either a wide array of players or to a more specialized "niche"-type of game.
Amazing article, and insightful comment umgedreht.
While there are many of us who honestly just want things to be back to the old table top, story matters, style of play, it seems that no one has found a way to keep your own personalized story moving, without pulling you out of the "world" so to speak. As was mentioned, the most immerse way to make players feel they were important to the story, was insancing. While this is very good story wise, it pulls you out of the massively multiplayer aspect, as was also mentioned. Those of us who played guild wars, while most liked it, a lot did not. I felt it was well catered to the PvPers, and yet, the story still only help loosely together in the insancing. Not to mention that you never really felt like a part of the community as a whole, as you were always off in your private instance.
I have pondered many a time how to fully integrate a meaningful story, and an impact from your own journey, and thus far have not found an efficient way, that still keeps you as part of the community as a whole. The article was a much needed writeup, and hopefully when people read this, they will realize how much the MMO aspect has changed how we percieve our RPGs as of late, and push people to want more than just a good system, or good graphics, but to really want what we all loved in the golden days of RPGs... story. I cant imagine what it would be like, starting out in my tavern, and just wandering into some dungeon with no purpose... and yet, people do it every day in the MMORPG world. Think back to the D&D days, when EVERYTHING you did had a purpose (even if it was only to see if the DM would allow you to do it
). Every person held an important role in your quest, all the time. I want to see an end to the mindless slaughtering of mobs, and a start to dungeon questing, and more party oriented combat.
Anyways... enough ranting. Great editorial, I loved it. It pulled me in, and didnt let me go until I reached the end, and then I couldnt let it go, so I had to come to the comments section
Keep up the good editorials guys, youve really put out some winners the past few months, and I think you will start making the populous think more before accepting the old cut and paste RPGs anymore.
-Rob
Excellent stuff.
Love to see editorials inspiring thoughts from the fans. Developers and MMORPG investors would be wise to bookmark MMORPG.COM!!!!!
My two cents concerning the topic:
Stories of the major mmorpgs always focus on the single player. How many game boxes, game movies, and marketing media focus on raids? Focus on a party? The developers want the you the buyer to become the hero (or nemesis) and put up a picture of a uber geared up macho guy or scantily clad hot mama.
Buy me and become this legend!! Watch this story and become a part of it!
IHO, in the major mmorpgs at least, the storyline always seems to get lost. You get an awesome intro cinematic when you pre-order or buy the retail, but when you make a character, you quickly become overwhelmed in the "Lets go level!" or "LFG " or "Party needs Cleric/Healer for Caves" or "Buff me!" Blah, blah blah.
You get sent on some intro quests/missions and maybe for the first few hours, you actually feel like you are moving somewhere in the direction of the storyline, but as the editor eloquently states, there is no winning or endgame.
Endgame is usually defined as mega mobs that take hours and hours of raid gaming to take down that uber mob for that uber drop you have a chance in hell of receiving as a prize. So you wait in line to give it another go ..
So what is the answer to this issue?
Maybe it is modules or "adventure packs". A subscriber buys his/her own story to become the hero or villian. (How immersive are you in the storyline when you and your party pass five different camped spawn point areas in a dungeon that "needs to be explored" acording to your quest log?
The mmorpg world perhaps should still be a large backdrop for players to explore culture, train, craft, Places to meet up, bars to share adventure stories, GM events, PVP, recruiting for guilds ( for guild or raid modules like battlegrounds adventures?), housing etc. However, for players intent on following a storyline, pay a premium and enjoy.
No doubt this is much more difficult from developers sense, instead of creating the same quest for everyone with little or no overall impact of the storyline, now many missions have to catered to a prospective player. Also that dampens the effect of expansions sales.
It could be done. My Epic Quest right now is to find such a game and be a part of it.
Nice article.
To be honest most MMOPRGs feel like the super low level game in a typical PnP campaign. You can have some interesting adventures, but nothing you do will ever really alter the world at large very much.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
Great article, really hits the nail on the head!
I love these games, otherwise spending time on this website would be futile and just plain silly; however, way back after the initial thrill of Everquest wore off, (too late to get the girlfriends back that I neglected during that glorious time) I was stuck with the fact that when I typed in /played I found out how many days of my life were consumed with no apparent reward.
We can look at video games like that, or we can look at the fact that the journey itself, the adventure, whether it ended in heroism, frustration, mediocrity, loneliness, etc., was what we wanted and what made it all worthwhile. MMOG's now concentrate on the short-term rewards, the advancement through the levels and the "rare" item drops. But after one has been there and done that in a few of these games, what have we to look forward to in the next MMOG?
For me, it won't be amazing graphics, those are ubiquitous nowadays. It won't be the ability to make it all the way to level 500. It definitely won't be a big-name company's claims of future expansions or adventure packs that I will be so fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase. I want IMMERSION. I want roleplay. I want a real, original storyline that I can get involved in. Maybe several storylines in the same game, different for everyone, perhaps. How about getting back to the journey, the adventure, instead of meaningless quests to gather 10 tails from rabid rodents and 5 red bandit sashes, etc.?
The potential is out there, but the truly creative minds rarely have the opportunity to really squeeze the ideas out of their cranial sponges.
-Cyriss - Eugene, OR, USA
-My system: P4 3.0 GHz, ATI 9600xt, 1 GB PC3200 DDR, SB Live, Cable connection
-My current game: (No MMO's right now)
My past MMOG's: EQ 1 - 2.5 yrs, EQ2 - 7 months, CoH - 1 month (too redundant =( ), AC2 - tried it, couldn't really get into it, Neocron 2 - beta tested it, way too buggy but a great idea that had a lot of potential
Amazing Article and it touches on what gets me most saddened by modern day MMO's. Where the involvement, whats the story telling and role playing, as it says in the article, "where are our hero's?".
I don't have to a be a hero, and I don't think that everyone has to be one also, but rather I think everyone needs to know that it can be done, I have to be able to look up and see Danreth Brooder the famous Guardian who slay the mighty Quarzert the evil Wizard and think to myself, "Wow, maybe one day I can be just like him or her!".
I hope some day, some game developer will pay attention to something like this and give us poor un-guided MMO players some point to playing other then leveling.
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Good article. Though I you make one point I don't agree with, that being that MMO's can't have an end game. A Tale in The Desert has an end game. There is also no reason why a game can't have a set life. Saga of Ryzom is set to run for 8 years for example.
What about games where the world "re-sets"? I think that may be the first step. Pirates of the Burning Sea, and I think the WWII Online re-release will do that. The players do have an effect, on the world as a whole, and the more prodigiously they wipe out the enemy and blow stuff up, the faster the balance will tip to their side. And then, after some months or a year, it all resets - which, granted may make it seem kind of futile, but if a player then tries the other side, could be a year or more of gameplay.
I think beyond that, the worlds need to be made bigger and bigger, so that local or regional changes CAN be made, but it won't necessarily affect the experience of others far away. I am waiting to see how this plays in Roma Victor, which is supposed to be all of Western Europe, and no warping for travel, if I understand their website correctly.
Wow, so there really are people who feel the same way about storyline as I do?!
Personally, I have yet to play an MMOG that has more than a small trace of storyline in it. When I play a game, I want to be a warrior helping in the effort to fight back the onslaught of orcish legions from their otherworld portals, valiantly battling against the odds in an epic tale that I am allowed to interact with...I don't want to be the "Lvl 23 WAR/Scout" running around fighting obsolete monsters that are there for the sole purpose of allowing me to experience an awful levelling grind for little enjoyment.
Out of all my experiences in MMORPGs, my greatest ones (and some of the few that offered any good measure of fun) have been the adventures me and my buddies created for ourselves. We'd say "Screw levelling, we're going to go raid the Tauren", and me and a guild friend gathered a fierce group of fighters, and took a long, treacherous journey into Mulgore and lead a heroic assault on the Tauren village. Carving our own epic experiences is where the real fun was. The game itself didn't have anything to offer us.
Needless to say, I didn't bother to buy World of Warcraft after beta. It was no different from any other MMORPG out there...had no depth and the only thing you were expected to do was run around to do the same old quests like "Kill seven blue gorillas, and bring me back the purple broadswords that they somehow magically drop upon death. Then you will recieve experience. So that you may take up the challenge of killing...PINK GORILLAS!"
Very well written article, my compliments.
My mind harkens back to the days where Ultima Online was the only game in town. I like others, had tremendous fun playing UO in the early days before Trammel; as well as having much fun after but it is the pre-Trammel days I liked most.
There was no real story to speak of, just a world. NPC's didn't give quests, the graphics weren't anything special really although they did the job just fine. The stories within the game were the stories of the people playing the game. PvP was a big part of the game but it wasn't the only part. There were dungeons to explore and beasts of mythic grandeur to defeat and skills to master. Were there heroes? Heck yes there were! But their stories weren't sung by NPC bards or talked of by NPC's in taverns. The heroes were normal people doing extraordinary things. Be it teaming up to slay the first dragon, or diligently honing your skills to be the first to tame a dragon!
PK clans banded together to create chaos and fear wherever they travelled. And heroic fighters of justice likewise teamed up to track murderous players down to restore peace to their beloved villages and towns. Thieves and pickpockets snuck around banks and honed their skills fattening their purses, while bandits and brigands hid near roadsides awaiting an unwary traveller to relieve him of his possessions and possibly his very life!
It was a world where your actions truly did outline your future. Talk smack to the wrong person and you might not live to regret it. Riding out into the forest without being properly outfitted and you could lose what little possessions you did have. Making friends and finding like minded adventurers could mean the difference between progress in a few short days, or weeks or even months of desperate stagnation.
Until I read this article I think I had forgotten what a truly story filled game UO was without having a single NPC tell you about his missing daughter or shipment of mead. The stories were created by the people who played the game and players had a daily impact on the experiences of others.
All that having been said, I somehow enjoyed Everquest even more. I enjoyed accomplishing tasks and camping Crushbone and dodging trains and forming groups and guilds. A 72 person raid performing like a well-oiled machine to defeat the Zek brothers is an amazing thing to behold and you can't really comprehend it until you have participated in it. The level of co-operation between that many different personalities leaves you with a very satisfied feeling for your hours of hard work.
I think the experience of MMORPG's is truly what you make of it. If you just want to be unhappy and complain about things then you could sit and bitch about ANY game endlessly. If you don't like a game just don't play it and shut up about it and do us all a favor. But how you choose to be is how you are. If you like a game you can always find a way to be happy despite problems no matter how big. Start your own story and invent your own quest and decide on your own prize and accomplish it. Make friends or enemies, it matters not. What matters is that you participate in the world and that you keep part of you excited about the tasks at hand.
Ultima Online managed to be an amazing experience without a single quest or storyline. Everquest managed the same with countless quests and stories and without PvP. The future of MMORPG's is as wide open as the big blue sky. I really can't wait to see how they handle the hero aspect and quests and changing the world around you in future games. But it gives me satisfaction to remember in my heart how UO managed to do this without really trying.
Personaly i dont want to be the "hero", but i do agree that having more of a global effect in your actions would be nice.
The types of games that iv seen this in are games like WWII Online, Planet Side, and hopfully if i understand it right Dark and Light. In thease games your actions or at least your teams actions have an effect to the world.
In my days of playing MMORPG's i have injoyed the ones that you levaled and geared to PVP and where the PVP wasent just random killing but where there was a goal and you felt the success or failer at the end of the battel with the gain or loss of ground.
but maybe thats just me.
I m absolutely agree with you about this point. The main problem with most modern MMORPGS is what they trying to build worlds which will satisfy everyone. Worlds which is friendly to newbies and guarantee an progression in game regardless of your personal skills. Can you imagine in modern game what someone will steal a key to your own ship just using ingame skill? Without any exploits and scaming. It was ONLY in UO. And it was great. I remember pvp fights in UO. Of course skills matters but 50% of fight was a psychological duel. Is anyone remember the smell of fear? If you feel it in your opponent - you won!
So everything new is good forgotten old. I hope Old UO is a future of mmorpgs
I think EVE online and may be Saga of Ryzom already did steps in right direction. And actually i think what WoW and GW is formed a new mmorpg genre - somethink which can be named "candy mmorpg" so looking on ratings table im actually splitting it in two separate tables.
Candy mmorpgs
1. Guildwars
2. WOW
And sandbox mmorpgs
1. EVE
2. Ryzom
My personal love is sandbox games...
Interesting article, personally I agree that the story element is woefully lacking.
Consider if in Everquest upon killing quarm your character was entered into the pantheon of the gods and a little game over screen showed up. A final reward for the years and years you had put in to the game.
Since your character is a god he can no longer be played, doesn't mean you stop playing everquest just means that the story of that character comes to an end. Or.... you make a new expansion for the people who have completed the immortality quest only where they start as a level one immortal. Or... this unlocks an 'epic' class/race. The options are endless.
Instead they roll out another expansion, and another, and another where the rewards are increasingly small and the efforts are increasingly large.
There is a balance before which aimless wandering is fun and after which the mathematics of progression make it tedious.
For me the question is not whether a story should have and end (it quite plainly should) but at what point that end should be. Some of you may disagree.
I agree with djpearce: there must be an ending, a goal other than trying to get to the highest level. The level grind doesn't have to go away, it just needs to be fun again. And why must they make it so darn slow to level in the higher levels? If there is an ending, like many have recommended, who cares if you get there a little faster? Remember the days of dying in EQ when you got into the higher levels and you thought, "NO!!! NOW I HAVE TO LEVEL GRIND FOR 6 HOURS TO GET BACK THAT XP!!" (shouted aloud as you slam your hands down on the keyboard repeatedly to express your frustration).
I haven't bought an MMOG since EQ2, and I don't plan on buying one again soon. They're all the same game with a different type of flare as far as I can tell: You start out at level one, you do tedious repetitive quests to get xp, you get to the next level, rinse & repeat...
-Cyriss - Eugene, OR, USA
-My system: P4 3.0 GHz, ATI 9600xt, 1 GB PC3200 DDR, SB Live, Cable connection
-My current game: (No MMO's right now)
My past MMOG's: EQ 1 - 2.5 yrs, EQ2 - 7 months, CoH - 1 month (too redundant =( ), AC2 - tried it, couldn't really get into it, Neocron 2 - beta tested it, way too buggy but a great idea that had a lot of potential
Candy mmorpgs
1. Guildwars
2. WOW
And sandbox mmorpgs
1. EVE
2. Ryzom
My personal love is sandbox games...
Mr Dale - Excellent article! "Lack of Story/Content" is the biggest lament heard in the MMORPGs I've played [Reggy - agree with you about the sandbox games! Love 'em both! Did drop out of both after about 6 months though...] Perhaps a solution to the problem of one side overwhelming the other(s) would be to have the AI beef up the "losing" side(s) by adding guard-type NPCs. Perhaps the leveling treadmill could change slope depending upon the number of players at level X on side A vs side B?
I also noticed a trend in a previous poster's sig:
-My current game: (No MMO's right now)
My past MMOG's: EQ 1 - 2.5 yrs, EQ2 - 7 months, CoH - 1 month (too redundant =( ), AC2 - tried it, couldn't really get into it, Neocron 2 - beta tested it, way too buggy but a great idea that had a lot of potential
I too have followed that trend - 2yrs on AC, 1 on DAoC, 9 months Ryzom [3 in open beta], 6 months EVE, 3 months* AO [1 month played - still listed as it is a free year's sub]
It seems that player retention is a serious problem for many MMORPGs...
Mr Dale, have you any insights into "fixing" that problem or do you think that it is there mainly because of the lack of player affect on the world?
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
Great article, touches on a lot of issues that are indeed more and more a problem for new MMOs, completely agree with the statement that graphics and representation of the games out there has become more and more important (probably due to marketing drives), but that the essence of the games themselves has been lost in the fray.
Keeping my hopes up tho
Well written article, i've been thinking about this subject a lot lately myself.
Myself have only recently started playing MMOs, and i've gradually learnt to
hate the term. Whilst i understand some people enjoy the leveling mechanics,
all it does is create a divide between players so that one can say he is better
than another. Playing with friends becomes horrible if you weren't able to play
for a few days, and they were, and are now many levels above you, making you
cannon fodder to your enemies.
Personally, i think something revolutionary must be developed to enable MMO
and RPG to exist how we'd all love it. The day a company solves that problem,
is the day stories become important again in our online gaming, i hope and pray
that that day comes. Maybe it means we give up the Massive for a smaller scale
experience, maybe even an online game with a limited number of player slots
available (bad for business though). Blizzard have said that they can't make
'epic' world events that are GM acted because of the shear number of servers
that would require such an event to be simultaneously acted upon. WoW's own
popularity is hurting it's story and lore, which is mostly being ignored, meaning
in this particular discussion bigger is not necessarily better. Grats bliz on the
3.5million though, it's an achievement, even if it doesn't give us what we really
want.
I have no idea what the solution would be, the person who figures it out should
be a rich rich man/women.
Very well written article, really touches on what a good mmorpg is about for me.
Uncus, that trend you mentioned, I followed the exact same path. I thought I had deja vu for a moment.
Ahh yes, hehe That is what i loved so much about Asherons call 2 on the Darktide full open pvp server, the quests were more to break the grind and gain exp - but the fun of the game came from the PVP with it being full open pvp you can slaughter your guildie just because you wanted to - but thats not what happened (95% of the time anyway :P )
The lower levels jobs were to quest and gain exp - and battle those around there level, however once they reached the high levels around 45 then the game really began. Guilds allied together to either create havock - and spread there darkness - then you have the Anti-random player killers - that would step up to face them, that alone created more involvement and guild patriotism then in any game I have played to date. That in its self created our own stories and reason to be.
Im not a big quester type person, im more for the community (sad im stuck in WoW till something better comes along >.< --looking forward to HJ ) I would rather manage my guild and help the lowbies with in the guild - and bad together and face off the enemy --
Ideal fantasy mmorpg for me would take the full open PVP system from AC2 -- get rid of quests but a good bounty system would be great! Make the game about the community and the players contribution to the community and complete run player economy -- make the crafting system worth doing - all items in the game let it be crafted with the ocational rare item and unique items. In addition to PVP system, make every town - every city subject to take over -- let it be sieged!
If your a noob level 10 and your town is iced, well then if your in a guild - follow your guild to seek out a new home --- or if your not in a guild, either join the town owners or seek out new refuge and town to level.
Make it the players resonsibility to defend there home - let guilds purchase NPC's to assist in protecting there home... and let the attacker have siege weapons to assist in taking over the towns - let the armies clash in battle to aquire new land or defend there home! Forget levels just have a massive skill tree that you can pick and choose your own skills to raise!
Anyone should be able to use any type of armor! its stupid to think its impossible for a mage to not be able to put on a set of chain mail -- but if he does well that will effect his ability to cast spells -- let that warrior put on cloth for boost in agility and dextarity (may not be ideal for tanking but would be ideal when he just needs to deal perciseive blows and it would increase his dodgeability)
Let the guilds communitly research upgrades for there town and guild abilities - let us band together and fight off the evil or good in the world!
Let us be rich and be able to show were rich! We dont need levels to show our prestige! let us show it by our dress, by our weapons, by our abilities and trophies and influence over the community.
Let there be light!
Let there be dark!
Let us decided our one story and lives with in the community and let us decide the games story.
Let there be a guild system were every level has there own abilities and responsiblities to the guild and community - let the guilds have an aligment system that shows each guild they come into contact with as friendly or fow depending on your guilds encounters.
let there be smart AI's that act like guilds and fight with player abilities, that take and hold land and are as defeatable as the rest!
Get rid of world chat! no more regional chat! make it guild chat and say chat to the people around you.. of course keep the tell's and party chats but get rid of the un-need annoying chats like general chat!
If theres a town under attack let runners goto the town crier and pick up a message to take to other town criers in near by towns and guilds to alert of the invasion.
<panting>
If I was younger, I would go back and learn the skills to develop my own game :P I guess ill keep writting my idea's and drawing the concepts and who knows what the future will bring :P
Tatz
Tatsit
Tantus Games
COO/Game Director
Nice article Tim,
"players must feel ownership in the game"
Some guy named Raf (UO and Star Wars fame) said that years ago, I think it has always applied just never been implemented completely.
Personally I think peeps need to be contained a little but not to the extent of instancing.
If you have played the board game Risk, you can see my direction.
Everyone should be forced one way or another into a click, a gang, household, guild, brigade, militia, militant sect, army or even a poltical party....but with clear and attainable goals for the group and the individuals within a group.
There can even be an end game, ie the game is only persistant until a group or consolidated group has conquered the majority of the world, then re-set and do it again but with new maps and more educated and determined foes, or at this point even allow the world into a bigger game like Eve and your characters can evolve with science as well as swords.
Last but not least no matter what game is played, arms control needs to be instituted. The weapons turn into hand held nukes in some cases. The gaps between the levels of new players and old is so great that no interaction even occurs anymore. Enough with the "make your own god" games, its time to move on.
Ryld