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Story first, World first, Social first, or Gameplay first?
TheHavok
Member UncommonPosts: 2,423
So what is the main draw for you? Story, World, Social, or Gameplay?
We play MMOs, and video games in general, for different reasons. Some of us love the story and the epicness of watching it unfold. Some of us love being a part of a world besides our own and exploring it. Some of us love being with a group of friends and accomplishing feats together. And some of us just love controlling a character and demolishing everything in its path.
However, it does seem like MMOs, and some studios in general, try to specialize in one category over another. SWTOR, by many accounts, had a great story and decent social experience, but was lacking in gameplay and world development.
Likewise, Eve Online has a fantastic World, a great social experience, but mediocre gameplay and not much story.
What aspect do you care about the most?
Comments
Anyway , if it come from chose game , then gameplay and world , story come latter (sometime i don't care about story of poor farmer)
Social come from gameplay so it will set last.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I would say, for me playing MMOs, Gameplay is #1. If the controls suck, if the movement is clunky, if the abilities aren't properly sync to the global cooldown, its a total buzz kill and I will pretty much stop playing the game on the spot.
Second is definitely world. Do I like the environment? Can I roam that mountain in the distance or is there an invisible wall blocking me? Are the zones exciting or just the same old copy and paste but with a splash of new paint?
Third is social. A good environment, with lots of people playing and opportunities, will keep me around much longer.
Last is story. I don't care much about story in my MMOs. Its always nice if there is cool lore, but at the end of the day, I stick around for the other three things.
Depends what you want to achieve as a developer:
Inital box sales -> story first
Sell your engine by creating a nice demo -> world first
Long lasting subscriber numbers -> social first
Free to play cash shop -> gameplay first
I personally prefer social first, but that's just an opinion, of course.
Currently playing: EverQuest
Waiting for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
Depends a bit what you take out from the word "world" but the way I see it it's the well world ofcourse but also it's inhabitants the feel, animations etc..
If that sucks or doesn't fit your taste at all it doesn't matter about the rest, you just can't get attached to it, well I can't.
I tried to pick one, but couldn't. This poll is sort of like asking what we like better about movies: The video or the sound. They are both important. I suppose if you asked it differently, and asked which one item is least important, I would say story.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
To me, if you don't have a world, it's a different genre. You can have great story games. You can have great social games. You can have great gameplay. All those are fun. But this is the genre which is about worlds, about how all the pieces fit together and come alive.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Check out my Blog for MMO News, Rants & Fun!
http://MMO-Elitist.blogger.com
I agree. There was a time in the past when the social aspect was a much higher priority personally, but an older me looks at the difference between what's considered a social community and an asocial community boils down to whether or not people have their conversations in private channels or take those conversations into public ones.
All things considered, I'd rather focus on the world.
for me its World >Social=gameplay>story.
Story isnt Lore i think Lore is what makes the world Story is what your doing on it wich is ussually on rails i want to make my own story.
So World/Lore first give me a breathing breathtaking world wich feels alive. Where there are countless thing to just go out towards and explore no hand holding. just get out there and do stuff.
Then comes social/gameplay. you cant really create a social world unless you incorperate it into your gameplay imo. Make grouping more viable then solo play and your community will come forth on its own. (be a dick and it will haunt you) Gameplay is very very broad. i geus we are talking about combat and how mechanics work? i like traditional old school combat. all this active combat nonesense has no place in mmo's if you ask me.
And last story. like i said above i consider story to be story and not lore. Lore is what makes the world and story is trying to get you active with the lore. But story as we have seen it is all on rails and i like my freedom.
EVE's gameplay is far from mediocre. To me all the features that make EVE EVE are gameplay. World is only the fact that you have unlimited boundries, everything else is gameplay.
Gameplay is greater than all as that is what keeps players playing. World is closely tied to gameplay as it affects it greatly. Social is what you make of it and story is really just fuff in a game as story should have no real relevence in an MMO. I play MMOs for playing with others, NOT for a story. If I want to play a game for story then I wouldn't be in an MMO in the first place.
Depends on the game.
I just want a game that makes my lips numb, too much to ask?
OP, I'm not sure you're asking the right questions but here goes:
To even try out the game, the hook is features then story.
If I like the try then what keeps me playing and paying is story and social.
And long after the features and story and gameplay have run out, social will be why I still log in.
World first. That's the immersion.
Gameplay second. That's how we interact with the world.
Social third. When people are comfortable interacting with a world, they'll have an easier time interacting with each other.
Story fourth. When people socialize, stories happen.
Voted Gameplay is first.
If the game isn't fun to play on a day to day basis there is no point in even looking at anything else. This why I don't play EVE even though I really like the concept of the open sandbox world. Bottom line is I don't want to be spaceship. Vindictus has been my main "go to" game for the last few years because the game play is awesome. Evey time I go to play something else the clunky game play and unresponsive controls just ruin it and I run back to playing Vindictus.
Gameplay is ALWAYS the most important factor when involving any game.
That's just common knowledge, if your gameplay is a heaping pile of shit so will your game be.
Gameplay is to game as story is to book. Impossible to have without.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
*shuffles the positions of "game", "chat", "world" to see if the argument sounds any different*
This.
How do you have a good game without good gameplay? The story can be fantastic. But I don't walk away from a game going, "Oh man, that was the best story I've ever heard. Too bad the game was crap." Likewise for the world. One does not state, "Oh man, that was such a beautiful world. Too bad the game was utter trash." The social can... No, you have Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, MMORPG, etc, if you place the Social aspect above the gameplay aspect in a game. If games are not fun, which is what gameplay directly correlates to, regardless of how great the story, social aspect or world may be, it will not be a good game.
Case in point: Pong. Or even Tetris.
I voted gameplay, but social is tied into gameplay quite a bit, socialising changes the gampley and game play thats important to me if the one that you socialise in aswell so kinda both those are my vote, world is a short 2nd for me. Story im not to bothered about but lore on the other hand i am which also ties into gameplay.
Prob with most devs nowadays is when they focus on gameplay they just think thats combat but realy gameplay ties in heavily with Social/Lore and the world and if a company focuses on gameplay as a whole and not a fragment of what it is they be on a successful game i reckon. Alot of the older games focus on gameplay as a whole it seems to me rather than a fragment of it.
I'm not quite sure I understand this point. These don't seem like very good MMOs to me.