Comments on: Writing vs. Storytelling

By: Game Design Grab Bag « Tish Tosh Tesh

Game Design Grab Bag « Tish Tosh Tesh — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:34:08 +0000

[...] Writing vs. Storytelling by Mobhunter [...]

By: B. Kaveh

B. Kaveh — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:53:22 +0000

I fully agree with you in that we are not using all the tools available to us when narrating stories in MMOs, but considering how much you have to spend on creating an interesting cut-scene, within a beautiful environment, with long animation sequences to narrate an event visually (the way most would like to see it done) and comparing that to a single written sentence, with a time/capital cost of less that 1/100 of the first choice, I can understand why many developers are forced to pick the second option, and the fact that we go for the cheaper options despite knowing that player crave for great visuals and epic scenery is a growing problem in the entire game industry. Game companies nowadays are made up of a small number of managers who care mostly about costs, and who have little understanding for narrative aesthetics, and a large number of “real” developers, who are either too junior to have developed that sense, or who wield too little power to actually turn their highest ideals into realities. In MMO development, the sheer volume of work is so great, that focusing on the quality of each single part/quest simply becomes unfeasible from a cost point of view. Sad but true: we are mass-producing games nowadays, and just like any other mass-produced product, quality and at some point, variety will suffer.

By: The Wandering Rogue » My Ideal MMO Pt. 9: An Evolved Questing System

The Wandering Rogue » My Ideal MMO Pt. 9: An Evolved Questing System — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:10:51 +0000

[...] back, Moorgard wrote an excellent post wherein he discussed the difference between writing vs. storytelling, and how most quests in MMOs [...]

By: Ryan Henson Creighton

Ryan Henson Creighton — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:14:21 +0000

Guilty as charged here too – i’m too wordy. But let me say this: since when does a good writer use more words? i’d say that a really strong writer can convey more content in fewer words. That’s what the editing process is all about. See: Hemingway.

By: Owlchick

Owlchick — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:08:35 +0000

I just wish I were technically proficient enough to bring to life things I want to show rather than tell. It’s a drawback, probably for lots of writers, but definitely an issue for me.

By: Zythen

Zythen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:06:46 +0000

I fully agree getting to the action quicker for me is a major + I dont need a 20 min worded tale of the lost and forgotten castle of Tersist who 500 years ago was some crazed ruler that is sayed to haunt the place still…. ( if its so lost and forgotten why do you know so freaking much about it. )

By: Design Collaboration in MMO’s « MMOre Insight

Design Collaboration in MMO’s « MMOre Insight — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:13:03 +0000

[...] under: MMO Design, Quest Writing | I just read an excellent post on Moorgard’s blog about writing vs. storytelling. If you haven’t gotten the chance to read it, I highly recommend it since it has some [...]

By: Myrix

Myrix — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:34:40 +0000

Interesting post, Moorgard.

I’ve recently come to a similar realization, not necessarily about MMOs, but about Pen and Paper games as well.

I’m sure you know the 4th Edition of D&D was released not long ago, and I’ve since been working on a new campaign for my friends to run through using my own world. While I had written plenty of material on the world and its inhabitants before, I found that when preparing a campaign to be played through you are really quite limited when it came to using actual words – you don’t want to bore your players to death reading excessive descriptions and narrative. I quickly adapted to this new style of storytelling using the same methods you mentioned: dungeon details, environmental clues, monster visuals and personalities, and item drops all became tools I had to use to slowly ease in the overall theme and message of the area.

That being said, I completely agree with your assessment that MMORPG writers need to be able to do more than weave together fancy sentences which most players wont read anyway. Coming up with ways to blanket an entire area or zone in the lore you are trying to get across is much more effective.

By: SmakenDahed

SmakenDahed — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:46:32 +0000

Which EQ2 zone was it? Just curious…

By: Tachevert

Tachevert — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:11:50 +0000

I really have to agree. The later Elder Scrolls games also fell victim to the “walls of text” phenomenon, featuring screen after screen of text in books, letters, etc that was used to flesh out the lore of the world — but was oh-so-boring to play though.

I think that the classic “Out of this World” was a great example of storytelling — and nobody spoke at all (at least, not in a language one could understand)!