Post by Morreion on Jun 10, 2010 7:52:09 GMT -5
Giving an MMO Character (Of Course I'll Play It)
Dusty is playing Guild Wars and notices:
Games that provide solid lore and backstories are under-appreciated by many players. With the quest-based model being dominant, the temptation to click through quests without paying attention to them is great, unfortunately.
Dusty is playing Guild Wars and notices:
...ArenaNet does this time and time again with many of their NPC’s. There are even lore books you can acquire that open up quests and allow you to go back in time and assist a notable NPC with should important part of their past. Another great example is Zho. When I first encountered Zho she was first a trainer, and then later an NPC henchman. And at all times, Zho wears an eyepatch. Much later in the game, in Eye of the North, you are allowed to face her in combat, and if you win, you are awarded with a journal. The journal tells a detailed story about how she came to lose the eye, and actually opens up a quest line for obtaining and hatching your own black moa chick.
In all of these places, ArenaNet could have just used nameless or generic NPC’s. And many MMO designers do exactly that, because I think they fail to realize that the world is more that just the sum of its parts. That it’s not just about crafting and abilities and combat and pvp and quests. And it’s easy to say “oh well YEAH we all know story is important!” it’s not just about having story, but by how you present it. Background and lore for your world doesn’t have to be painstakingly spelled out in wall-of-text form through a series of dull quests the player is just going to click through so he can see the “objective” line on the right side of his screen.
By creating characters – and letting players discover the nature and history of those characters, bit by bit, as they progress through the game – then in the end, the players actually do start to feel like they’re doing more than just collecting Murloc Eyes or killing ten rats. In the end, players start to feel like they’re actually helping people get through a difficult time. And ultimately, as a designer, that is the holy grail.
In all of these places, ArenaNet could have just used nameless or generic NPC’s. And many MMO designers do exactly that, because I think they fail to realize that the world is more that just the sum of its parts. That it’s not just about crafting and abilities and combat and pvp and quests. And it’s easy to say “oh well YEAH we all know story is important!” it’s not just about having story, but by how you present it. Background and lore for your world doesn’t have to be painstakingly spelled out in wall-of-text form through a series of dull quests the player is just going to click through so he can see the “objective” line on the right side of his screen.
By creating characters – and letting players discover the nature and history of those characters, bit by bit, as they progress through the game – then in the end, the players actually do start to feel like they’re doing more than just collecting Murloc Eyes or killing ten rats. In the end, players start to feel like they’re actually helping people get through a difficult time. And ultimately, as a designer, that is the holy grail.
Games that provide solid lore and backstories are under-appreciated by many players. With the quest-based model being dominant, the temptation to click through quests without paying attention to them is great, unfortunately.
