Post by Morreion on May 27, 2011 7:46:01 GMT -5
Storyboard: All about the lore train, like it or not (Massively)
In tabletop roleplaying, through all of the various supplements for a given game, there are usually overarching plots, which players could either interact with or ignore....This is not the case in MMOs. The game's lore is not a distant force; it's an oncoming freight train, and if you haven't gotten hit with it yet, you will. I touched on it briefly when I first talked about the strange relationship that roleplaying has to lore, but between patches and expansions, lately I know I've been feeling the pinch of the world changing around me. (Well, around my characters, at least.) So how do you adapt when a game's overarching plot derails a character arc or a group-wide story?
A look at the complications that lore can bring to storylines. I've seen varying amounts of attention to lore in games, ranging from ignoring most of it to readily embracing it. Game lore itself can be weak and inconsistent or strong and compelling. Sometimes it is about player conflicts that game mechanics bring about, such as DAoC's 3-way realm war.
I sometimes wonder if RP would be better off in sandboxes where it could be more free-form...that's a leftover feeling from those tabletop gaming days.
In tabletop roleplaying, through all of the various supplements for a given game, there are usually overarching plots, which players could either interact with or ignore....This is not the case in MMOs. The game's lore is not a distant force; it's an oncoming freight train, and if you haven't gotten hit with it yet, you will. I touched on it briefly when I first talked about the strange relationship that roleplaying has to lore, but between patches and expansions, lately I know I've been feeling the pinch of the world changing around me. (Well, around my characters, at least.) So how do you adapt when a game's overarching plot derails a character arc or a group-wide story?
A look at the complications that lore can bring to storylines. I've seen varying amounts of attention to lore in games, ranging from ignoring most of it to readily embracing it. Game lore itself can be weak and inconsistent or strong and compelling. Sometimes it is about player conflicts that game mechanics bring about, such as DAoC's 3-way realm war.
I sometimes wonder if RP would be better off in sandboxes where it could be more free-form...that's a leftover feeling from those tabletop gaming days.
