Week Eight:Storytelling

We are compelled by stories and everything in media will follow a storyline in one sense or another. Since games are becoming a lot like movies, albeit a lot longer, the storytelling part of a game is important as it shapes the experience that you have playing a game
Some games don’t need a overly detailed story to drive them player to play, if the game play is satisfying enough; Games like Tetris had addicting game play and due to the nature of the game didn’t need a plot, the same can be said for racing, sports and fighting games; since the game play is the focus and selling point a detailed storyline is not needed nor is a writer required.
Now for the part about games that actually do need storylines. Good idea’s , game play and plot would hopefully make a enjoyable game, perhaps not the best experience ever but an experience non the less. Games such as Halo, Psychonauts , Silent hill etc are all genres that need to offer something else then good game play and let the story pull the player in and keep them interested. Since these games could be viewed at like interactive movies then all aspects of the story are important such as character development, atmosphere and plot development. In Tim Schafer’s Psychonaut’s the player was treated to a beautiful environment, compelling characters and a witty and interesting script – yet even with all these factors it had poor sales.
With MMO’s such as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft the storyline takes a backseat to the online experience, I barely take notice of the storyline when I play because the storyline is slightly concealed and vague, ask me the name of any npc in WOW and I wouldn’t have a clue because the storyline is a primary factor in MMO’s such as WOW.
However I’ve also bee playing the predecessor to WOW , Blizzard’s Warcraft 3. Since it’s an RTS and the objectives centre around the part of the story that you are playing it is much more easy to take notice what’s happening in the story along with who’s involved.
I don’t agree that all game require a storyline, however the games that do I would want a character that I could relate to, if something happened to them I would actually care. The problem with some games, is that developers have realised storylines that work the best and then continue to reproduce similar games. The amount of urban gangster type games that have tried to gain the success of GTA is a good example..

I guess what I’m trying to say is that originality with good writing and game play makes a game worthwhile I’m starting to ramble so I’ll stop here for now.