This week in class we discussed story and some of the unique ways that develops of games try to tell a story. I would like to take this moment to complain about some of the unnecessary use of storytelling in games.
I feel like the biggest waste of storytelling is in MOBA like games such as Dota 2 or League of Legends. These games have a hundred heroes who the developers spent some time making back stories for each one. As a person who has spent a lot of times playing these types of games most players do not care about the story of each hero. Most players would rather spend their time mastering the mechanics of these games instead of focusing on the story of each hero. The use of story in these kinds of games don’t impact the game at all nor do they keep the player invested on playing the game. The story could be omitted and not have any impact on the game. The time that the developers spent on creating these back stories could have been spent on improving the game. Also, to even access these stories you must search through game menus or you must search online to find them.
I feel like many games that are solely made for multiplayer don’t need a story at all. Games like Overwatch and Titanfall could do without the story and those games would still have the same addicting gameplay that make people want to play them. The little bit of story that is in those games feel more like a gimmick than a concept that keeps the game going.
I agree with some of the comments here. Stories are for someone that either just like stories, or for some fans that’re really into the game and they additionally like stories as well, like they can go nerdy about stuff. I can see stories weigh less like in the league of legend since it doesn’t give a story in the beginning, so what’s the point of giving mini-stories throughout the game. But for a lot of MMO I feel they’re a add to the games.
I highly disagree with the idea that multiplayer game don’t need storytelling. Yes, some players don’t care for the lore of these games, but i enjoy learning why my character is doing what they are. It gives me more purpose to player the game and connection with my characters. Maybe they don’t need to create extremely elaborate ones for certain multiplayer games, but when they do, they are trying to reach different audiences.
You say it would have no impact on the gameplay, but I disagree. Storytelling isn’t just in the written work that you have to read. It is in the art, the character designs, each character’s mechanics, etc. Why are elfin characters often good with archery? it is not because the designer was just like, “Eh, someone’s got to be,” but because they know players tend to identify elfin characters as archers, from previous storytelling. You need storytelling to explain some of the logic behind the gameplay and mechanics. Without it, you’d have characters with no purpose but to fight, and with no explanation on the choice of weapon or how they work on the field.
Personally I enjoyed reading the lore for the League of Legends champions when they had them. I found it as a way to immerse myself deeper into the game by giving myself a sort of “deeper” knowledge in the game. However some games I feel do have useless stories in them and thus should not even have lores or stories. That being said, I believe there will always be a group of players in a game who care about story or lore even if it is not a huge part of it. Some people like to look past the initial gameplay .
I agree in certain game styles the stories created are useless. But at the same time the game needs substance. For instance imagine if you were playing “TitanFall” and no little trace of the story is involved. You would probably say to yourself “what is the point of playing this game?”. I believe the story is more than a gimmick, it is a backdrop to give the player a sense of going on, instead of just dropping a player in an environment and saying go fight the enemy. As for MOBA, I feel the complete opposite, the stories for each individual character are trash. Players want to learn and experience characters on there own, not from what a paragraph that says what they should expect while playing as a desired character.
This is a very interesting topic to talk about as we try to place video games into their own “category”. My first instinct is to compare a game to a movie, there is a beginning middle and end and the story holds it together. Perhaps the TRUE aim of the movie is to shoehorn in some good fight sequences in, but to omit the story all together would make the entire piece un-watchable (or in this case playable). However, video games are not movies, if we compare the video game in question to soccer then you are correct and the game does not require a story at all, it is simply soccer. To come back to this example we see in sports the fans inventing stories based on the teams who play these games (we assign underdogs, and make ‘rivalries’, when in reality these may or may not be the case). I wonder why people are so attuned to turning everything into a story.
This is an interesting topic, and I can’t say I have a fully formed opinion on it but I am not sure I agree 100% on stories being useless in certain games. I agree that some of these games you mentioned(like Overwatch and Titanfall) could do just fine without a story. However, I think as long as these games that could do without stories are not pouring a significant percentage of their resources into storytelling, then stories can only help their success.
There are a decent number of people who love the story telling aspect of games, and if you do not give them a cohesive story they will likely lose interest in the game quicker. For others, a story just adds a little more interest by giving life to their favorite characters and enhancing their investment in these characters and in the game overall. Even if the story is not critical to the game, as long as it doesn’t bother players or take up a huge portion of the budget then I feel like it is a worthwhile feature to have.