Poll: Do you fail at enjoying story and RP in New MMO's?

SomeHuman · November 2013

Whenever the next big game gets released, I make a promise to myself. This time, I'll read the lore. I'll follow the story lines. I'll immerse myself. The promise never lasts. It happened with Conan, Rift, and GW2 of recent note. I blast through the content, racing to max level. It's like I have two little gamers in my head. One says win, win, WIN! One says pretend, play, enjoy! The win, win kid is a bully and wipes the floor with the other kid. Then the bully gets bored and quits the game.

Are you guys promise breakers when you hit new worlds or return to old worlds?

maplestone · November 2013

I follow my story ... if it happens to have any overlap with what the devs are creating, that's nice

Sky.Falcon · November 2013

I actually havnt RPed in a while. Not that I wouldnt, I actually really enjoy it but its hard to find people in games that enjoy making up stories as much as I do. as for reading the story there will always be fluff that I skim through but I try to read the lore as much as possible.

Ender4 · November 2013

outside of TSW the story based MMORPG has been so awful that I ignore it. That includes such mediocre titles as LOTRO and SWTOR and GW2

DamonVile · November 2013

I don't make a promise, but if it's interesting I follow it. If it's not, I don't.

SWTOR was the last story I followed. most other mmos I just skip the text and go to the mark.

Antiquated · November 2013

When's the last time someone made a game with really deep lore?

Devs know that it's cheaper to skip that part and just make another battleground. Encourage the players to compete, and you've just avoided having to make all that pesky depth.

PVP -- the cheap dates they're courting.

Dalix · November 2013

Just like the dude said

Encephalitis · November 2013

The last game i ever stopped and focused on the story for, was DCUO a few years ago. I've tried to read quests and pay attention to a games lore, but it always ends up with me getting annoyed and just blasting quests because i get sick of having to read an essay about why i need to kill these 6 robot skeletons or whatever.

I've tried to RP, i really have...But good lord...It's sooooo cringe inducing. I almost crack molars cringing so hard because of how cheesy it feels.

Dajag · November 2013

If they would make an MMO where you actually had to think and uncover the story on your own, without interfering with your own personal idea of Role Play for your character.

All mentioned MMOs are on rails, and force feed you a regurgitated homogenized narrative, leaving no freedom to the players.

I would love playing an MMO where I made my own personal story, but could explore and research the worlds mysteries and past.

.

Wizardry · November 2013

I will be perfectly honest,i hate reading.I think it has more to do with it always gives me a headache,also because i should be wearing glasses.In saying that i prefer to read very little,i want to see nice animated cut scenes to portray the story.I guess gaming is a lot like the difference between watching a movie or reading a book,i pick the movie 100% of the time.

If the OP is asking more to find out people actually like a story line,then yes most certainly.

Konfess · November 2013

I play at my own pace, and rarely see end-game. I read the story, but I don't get wrapped up in it either. I usually find the main story no more important than any side quest. Story is but an illusion to give quests a purpose. If you absolutely need story to do quests, then you should be reconsidering your choice in hobbies. Why not consider crocheting?

Homitu · November 2013

Definitely not.

I mean, as my years in WoW dragged on, I completely stopped paying attention to quest text - even though I used to read every one of those as well, because they were just so cool after having played FFXI for a year earlier - but with my last 2 MMOs, GW2 and FFXIV, I got my primary enjoyment by immersing myself in the goings-on of the respective worlds, maybe a bit moreso with GW2 than FFXIV.

FFXIV has a great initial leveling experience if you aren't trying to blast through it (which, like most MMOs, the game and the players unfortunately prod you to do). There is a lot of dialogue, but it's presented in more manageable chat bubbles rather than 1 giant wall of text. The writing was super entertaining as well, making reading the dialogue much more rewarding. That said, over time the pressure to level did get to me in this game a bit. Coupled with the huge quantity of text, I did eventually find myself fast forwarding through many conversations.

GW2 is completely different, however. The story isn't driven by lengthy exposition. Instead, you simply watch the events unfold before you and hear certain audio cues or voice acted dialogue while you're participating in events. You really are never required to pause and read, which players have grown accustomed to fast forwarding through over the years. The game presents the lore and the immersive experience in a much more manageable way. The majority of my time in GW2 is spent just wandering around, soaking in the beautiful world and getting involved in the events that transpire.

Dibdabs · November 2013

I don't make a promise, I'm just no longer interested in the backstory to MMOs. The backstory is just fluff to make the game seem like it has more depth. It's always just junk about some generic Arch-Baddy with too many consonants in their name starting a war between blah-blah and whats-their-name which led to yadda-yadda and the bad guy was banished (like we never saw THAT coming) but centuries later he/she/it HAS RETURNED!!!!! Big yawns.

Same with quests - why read two or three paragraphs of blurb when you know it's going to be just another of the usual 5 or 6 stereotypical MMO quests. Oh and personal backstory quests? Pffft, me and a few hundred thousands of others are on the identical quest chain. Nothing special to see here, kindly move on.

We need more interesting game mechanics, not a cosmetic spraypaint job. As Homitu says above my post, GW2 does the best job of it so far, and that's bearing in mind I wouldn't class myself as a GW2 fan.

Loktofeit · November 2013

I pay attention to the story up until the point that it starts being irrelevant to my character. In most EQ/WOW-style MMOs, that's usually about the third or fourth quest. In GW2, it was up until the point where the story was about some dude i was stuck doing storyline with and some sword.

Arglebargle · November 2013

Originally posted by Loktofeit
I pay attention to the story up until the point that it starts being irrelevant to my character. In most EQ/WOW-style MMOs, that's usually about the third or fourth quest. In GW2, it was up until the point where the story was about some dude i was stuck doing storyline with and some sword.

You played a human, didn't you??!

Vermillion_Raventhal · November 2013

SWTOR because its pretty good sometimes. Most others it starts becoming a road block and usually quit. I have enough task in real life to be forced to do mundane crap in games. Sad when MMORPGs become equivalent to my girl asking me to get a dozen eggs from the store.

Arglebargle · November 2013

I always read the story. Always. Otherwise you might as well be playing tic tac toe. Or crocheting.

However, it is a valid point to note that many so called game 'writers' couldn't write themselves out of a wet paper bag. When they do a terribly poor job of story and scene, they just invite the TL:DR set. I usually just quit playing at that point, unless the gameplay is just tremendously fun on its base.

Wicoa · November 2013

I will follow a class story especially if it is well written. I won't follow village quests it usually follows a similar pattern in everygame and is quite boring to read.

Loktofeit · November 2013

Originally posted by Arglebargle
Originally posted by Loktofeit
I pay attention to the story up until the point that it starts being irrelevant to my character. In most EQ/WOW-style MMOs, that's usually about the third or fourth quest. In GW2, it was up until the point where the story was about some dude i was stuck doing storyline with and some sword.

You played a human, didn't you??!

LOL Yes.

Vermillion_Raventhal · November 2013

It gets to a point of how much do you want to progress your character vs. how much do you care what this wall of texts/words say that tells the back story of why your doing one of 7 task types? Since you've done task like it before and reading and listening isn't needed most skip it.

WhiteLantern · November 2013

I never race. I always take my time and drink it all in. If the lore grabs me, I stick around. If not, its on to a new world to explore.

NodboN · November 2013

if a game had more choices when talking to a NPC to get a quest, like a small list of sentences to choose from. even if they are generic answers that just represent how you feel towards the NPC's quest he's been giving you or his faction. the fist answer positive, the second neutral, and the third is disagreeable. those could change the story line of the quest chain, maybe open new doors or shut others. that maybe get more people back into reading text

Now Lore is another matter, doing a quest involving lore is like guessing every major plot point and the end of a movie, that you've seen 5 times before it's even released. iv never had a quest in an mmo that made me think whoa good twist. well maybe Neverwinter in the foundry, but that's player created stories, some of those have created quest using lore backgrounds.

Iselin · November 2013

I hold RPG games to the same standards as books, TV and movies. So yes, I follow it closely. And it has to be credible and consistent. I find sloppy, goofy or just plain bad stories a big turn off.

I can only think of one exception and it's not an MMO. I followed (and still do) True Blood despite its goofy story lines. They pull it off by not taking themselves too seriously and just having fun with their campy vampire + rednecks world... and doing it well.

RogueTroopa · November 2013

I'd rather watch paint dry than read a boring 'you are the hero ' story. Lore is boring as ....

SomeHuman · November 2013

Well, I actually read all the responses. I'm not totally surprised by the results. I think my longing for immersion into story comes from my DnD days, which was a perfect balance of creating your story and hack n'slash. It seems the RPG part of mmorpg has always been a placeholder just because it sounds good. Thinking of games like Trove (guessing) and Minecraft and Darkfall to some extent , I'd say the fewer scripted quests and story lines leads to more immersive role-play. It requires you to build a name for yourself

Sovrath · November 2013

Originally posted by Iselin
I hold RPG games to the same standards as books, TV and movies. So yes, I follow it closely. And it has to be credible and consistent. I find sloppy, goofy or just plain bad stories a big turn off.

I can only think of one exception and it's not an MMO. I followed (and still do) True Blood despite its goofy story lines. They pull it off by not taking themselves too seriously and just having fun with their campy vampire + rednecks world... and doing it well.

+1

Howdy, Stranger!

Poll: Do you fail at enjoying story and RP in New MMO's?

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Poll: Do you fail at enjoying story and RP in New MMO's?

Comments