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What if MMOs played much like your favorite drama...
ladyattis
Member Posts: 1,273
Would it be a good game? I ask the question after watching a copy of the second episode of the current season of Doctor Who and I have to wonder: why the hell don't developers of MMOs have similar vision in regards to story telling? I know it's hard to have multiple 'hats (disciplines)' in respect to developing any game or product, but sometimes I think many times developers forget what they're making isn't just a quick buck, it's a piece of art. And like all art it should reflect the best of one's ability in all that it attempts to express: values, skill, imagination, and heart. It seems that anymore developers in the MMO space of game development are just literally heartless or can't seem to put their heart into it in a fashion that some writers do for series like Doctor Who or any other fiction on TV or any other medium (Heinlein for Friday, Gibson for Neuromancer, Homer for the Iliad, and so on). In this light, I think developers really do need to think about their games as holistic things, where the code aides the story and the story follows from the code, and so on. Plus, I think if they thought in this manner I suspect that games in the MMO market would evolve to be on par or possibly leading the pack of game development in story telling, game mechanics, and even graphics (within reason to each). Sometimes, I think the lowest hanging fruit is the most sour, maybe they need to think similarly. *shrugs*
-- Brede
Comments
My favorite drama right now is that involving the hip hop Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, and the gangsta hit on a stripper, lies, sex, corruption, cronyism, obstruction of justice, etc.
I'm looking foreward to the 2009 release of F2P MMORPG Crime Craft from Vogster. Hopefully they're watching the Kwame story play out for some quest lines....
This thread inspired me to stay up an hour and a half past my bedtime writing a blog.
www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Lustmord/052008/Six-Months-of-Lies-Deception-and-Betrayal-The-best-time-I-ever-had-in-a-game
In short, early UO played out very much like a drama.
I do not think it is a case of them not wanting to use such elements in their games, but one of adaption.
After all many of current generation MMorpg's companies have done multiple single player games and some of those had very good stories, so the companies do have the writers that could create such things.
The problem is that even a drama-filled story lose something when presented in a real-time environment where you know you are NOT the hero and this exact quest will be done by everyone else of your companions.
The fact most of it is also given trough static text does not help much with the dramacity of the story. True sometimes you do get visual effects and little shows in MMorpgs, but they tend to be the exception more than the rule.
The other problem is continuos repetition. A story lose its drama if you look it twice, thrice or more. Like that episode of Doctor WHO would not be so good if you just watched it 5 times in a row.... by the fifth time you would know all the actions and have a very good idea of what is being said and by who just by looking at the picture and not listening to what is happening.
Maybe for this factors, MMorpg developers do not give more attention to the story angle, but this could change. Dramatic stories are present in current mmorpgs, for one, they are just not very widespread. Upcoming MMorpgs promise to push the envelop a bit further, for example WAR elves areas promise to recreate a "Saving private Ryan" normandy's scenes with giant black arks and elves battling, how good the story actually is, I can't say.
BioWare have always been considered some of the best storytellers this side of the media universe and their MMorpg is also upcoming. Considering they are experimenting new ways of interactive stories in DragonAge, that is supposed to offer you a custom experience depending on your character background and profession, it is not hard to think they will use such experience in their MMorpg as well.
The future will tell.
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
Even Eve has its bits of drama from which I get from friends who still play. I never could play that part of social interactions as I'm very mechanical in thought when I play with others, but as a person behind the scenes left designing things I tend to be at my most natural.
The other reason why I pose the question here is that I just began playing FFXI as an examination as to what is the fundamental flaw(s) is (or are) in MMOs. Contrasting FFXI with other titles such as CoX, EQ2, EVE, AC1, AC2, DDO, SB, DAOC, and many MUDs I've come to the conclusion that really MMOs outside of players creating their own "new features" haven't changed since the first developments found in the mid-to-late 1990s. The DPS, class/profession progression, PVP, PVE/Questing, and other such features have existed for over twenty years prior to that point and only have been 'polished' in the last ten. 'Polished' should be a word stricken from the buzzwords that MMO developers use, because it's that word that a few hide behind as a means to avoid thinking outside of the conventional and to consider the unintuitive. It's 'polished' that seems to arrested development of new key features either for end-users to experience or developers themselves to use to make better games for the last decade. It's a scary thought, really, because even though drama is something that humans do, the fact that some games do not provide an outlet for it by introducing features like content contribution, socialization systems (systems that allow guilds, friends, and random acquaintances to interact in various ways), non-linear game progression (outside of crafting or instanced housing...), and other such ideas to bring people together. Bringing players together without forcing them with 'carrots' of raids and expansion packs is far better since it broadens the possible set of human responses beyond that of the classical 'achievement' based response.
I'm sorry for the digression, but I believe it bears stating since the only drama I ever seem to find is my own surrounding my dislike at the current trends in MMOs. Maybe it's time for me to put my effort in words into effort of action.
-- Brede
I think that's the thing here there's two ways to generate drama for players: let them do it themselves or do it in regular installments. The latter is something developers are finally grasping by creating content 'frameworks' in which their game masters and life-time development team can continue to introduce more content at regular intervals as to keep that drama growing. An example of this would be the continual reintroduction of the gods in EQ2 or the foreshadowing of the inevitable war in EVE (Empyrean Age).
The former is harder to grasp because most games in which player generated drama ever exists it's often an accident that it happens regularly (as found even in WoW on some servers or regularly on EVE). I believe that the introduction of non-linear persistent gameplay across all possible playstyles (from economics to combat, and even socialization) will make such drama possible. Why? Because such gameplay mechanisms often are designed to produce conflicts which only the players can choose how to resolve them (with in-game mechanics for that as well). Some might decide violence is an answer, some might decide covert means are better, and some might learn to get along and drink together. In the end, this part is partly up to players to use, but the other half is still up to developers to make. I believe the first step is to create NPC AI capable of being tricked, manipulated, and used by players for their own ends (Along with producing systems that generate new sorts of NPC AI that can replace the 'dead' ones.). If developers work toward that end I believe MMOs and singleplayer games will be better off in respect to producing such non-linear gameplay.
-- Brede
I wholeheartedly agree with your original post, ladyattis.
With my favourite drama being Babylon 5...oh goodness...yes, such an MMO would be awe-inspiringly good as long as implementations were chosen well and tuned well.
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
There is some good storytelling out there.
You mention EvE's story elements. I would also add LOTRO which has a great storytelling line
The new MMO on the block, AoC has storylines that rival those of LOTRO. I wrote a review about AoC which includes this topic specifically. Read it HERE
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
Maybe in future other MMO's we'll see storylines like drama series, i guess they already think about this they just probably thinking a good way to do such thing
With so many story telling games out there I have become immune to them. I am tired of linear games and want games that allow me to decide what I want to do. I do not watch cinnematics, I could care less about their beautifully drawn worlds, I skip past npc dialog as fast as I can just to get it over with. I am a power player I do everything as fast as I can in game in the hopes that there will be something actually fun to do in the game once I have accomplished everything. I am goal oriented, but I want it to be my own golas not ones that are decided for me. I have my own mind I want to be able to apply it to the game instead of the game treating me like I am unable to think and make decsions myself. I play for rewards not stories, If I want a story I can read a good book. If I want fun, competition, and rewards I play a game.