Story-Driven MMOs: The Devolution of the Genre

If there is one thing I have believed since the time I first played an MMO, it is that story should not be the foundation of the genre. 

Now, before you start screaming about how story drives the progression of the game, let me clarify.  I’m not talking about story in the general sense.  Instead, I’m referring to story manufactured and presented by the developer of the MMO.  A story that has already been fabricated, that is already set in stone, regardless of whether there are 2, 10, or 100 optional paths, is a foolish way to deliver an MMO experience.  In fact, the only way such an idea could work is if the developer was able to create a truly unique and individualistic story for every player they have playing the game, which is an undeniable impossibility.

This year’s E3 has brought about a lot of news in the MMO genre.  There are a bunch of MMOFPSs (currently being heralded as Persistent World Shooters (PWS)) and an even larger number of traditional MMORPGs in development.  One of the most popular of these is Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMORPG based being developed by Bioware, the creators of the widely successful single-player RPG, Knights of the Old Republic games.

This latest Ten Ton Hammer story features a video interview with the developers of The Old Repbulic MMORPG.  The interview discusses the topic of story-driven gameplay and the need to tell a great story.  It’s a lie.

Even if stories are varied by class or race, it still means that thousands of players will experience the exact same story.  I’ve always found that sharing a single plot line with thousands of people tends to really ruin it for me.  In the interview, one of the developers makes a comparison of a good story in an MMORPG to that of a good story in a comic book.  Frankly, I find the comparison a bit simplistic and skimpy on the facts.

Instead, imagine you’re reading the comic book with the great story.  Everything is great and you are compelled.  Suddenly, you’re in a room with 30 people, all reading outloud the same comic book.  Some might be at different spots in the story, but they’re all reading aloud.  Not only would it be distracting, but it would ruin the experience.

It’s the same thing with MMORPGs.  You might be at a certain spot in the story while others are just starting or further ahead.  Nevertheless, you’re forced down the same avenues while also bumping into each other along the way.  Say you’re next part of the story requires you to kill a special enemy.  You go to that area and someone else, slightly ahead of you, is already killing the enemy.  Then, you see the enemy die and have to wait for him to respawn.  The fact that you have to watch someone else complete that part of the story ahead of you is game-breaking.  How can your story be immersive and compelling if you’re watching it repeat over and over again?  Sure, the use of instances greatly reduces these types of occurrences, but then the world seems stagnant and boring, further reducing the immersion.

It doesn’t matter how you spell it out, developer-created stories just don’t work in MMOs.  Quests are finite, and when players run out of quests to complete (typically referred to as the “end game”) they get bored because the “story” has halted or stalled.  Then it’s the developer’s responsibility to create more quests to continue their story.  It’s just way too much for the developer to handle without having breaks in the story.  MMOs go months before additional quests are added, thus continuing the story.  If the book you were reading suddenly stopped on a certain page, and you had to wait 4 months before you could continue reading, would you enjoy it? 

What developers should be focusing on is creating MMO worlds that are truly dynamic and interesting.  Instead of planning conflict, just create the means for conflict to occur.  Instead of designating factions for players to opt-in to at the start, give them the tools to create their own factions.

MMOs need to be reshaped in the way they are developed.  Instead of building the world completely, including cities, quests, scripted story, just build the world and then give the players the tools and features they need to fill it up!  For example, let the players be the ones determining what’s important, where the big cities are built, and how the story developes.  EVE Online, despite my many problems with its boring combat and gameplay mechanics, gets this part right.  At most, MMOs should have  a premise, but then leave the story in the hands of the players.

Think about all the time wasted on creating quests and determining story arcs.  Why not let the players determine their own stories and conflicts?  MMOs are supposed to be ever-changing games that NEVER END, yet developer-created stories only stretch as far as they are developed, forcing players to continue through old story arcs until new ones are released, if ever.  Meanwhile, stories traditionally, and by nature, have a beginning and end, so unless they are constantly changing and progressing, they are in stark contrast with the very notion of the MMO.  Unless of course the players are the ones writing the story.