Stories and videogames

Recently I watched a Casual Connect video of a talk by the master of indie RPG, the one and only: Jeff Vogel.
He talks of the importance of having a good story and what makes (to him) a good story.
Gaming, for many people (Me included) is declining... Why? I'll make a post later about that, but for naw, suffice to say that one of the reasons is that developers (ok, not devs, just the big boys in suits) DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT THE STORY!
And why is that? Because kids don't read...I won't talk about that, but it is a fact. Kids won't read anything longer than 1 and a half page... A pity... As the saying goes... The youth is wasted in the young...
However there is a catch here! Many don't care about a story... UNLESS THERE IS NO STORY!
As Jeff my idol Vogel said: "Gamers will forgive you for having a good story, as long as you allow them to ignore it".

I wont say a word of what makes a story good, or how to write one. Jeff says it perfectly in the video (Today's cookie hint). What i will say is that good stories are important.

Personally i need to feel part of the game, part of it's world. I remember spending hours in Morrowind just reading the in-game books, and playing the main quest. The story was so good! SPOILER ALERT! How it unfolded before you, how your character turned from a lowlife prisoner, to royal spy, to fake prophesy announced hero (Needed by politics) and then it turned out to be true, and that your character indeed was the Nerevarine! Also the lore was so profound that you could easily make a story for your character WITH NO EFFORT, and that was not part of the game per se ;)

To continue reading and to eat this day's cookie, click "Read more" below.


And lets not forget the endings, a good story means nothing if you have a poor ending (FUCK YOU MASS EFFECT 3). So you've got a great giant world, an epic story, the player feels part of the world, the player loves it, he feels part of it. And then, you hit him in the face and burn the world he has come to love... WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?

So you have a great story, the player ends it... What's next? A DLC? (Fuck them) an expansion? (Love them). You can get years of replayability if you create a side-story aka LORE and side-quest that are connected to that lore. Lets accept it, Oblivion main story-line was at it's best mediocre (Compared to Morrowind it was shit) and yet i personally kept going to Cyrodiil, why? I kept going to kill in the name of the night mother, to fight for the fighters guild, to defeat Mannimarco, to explore an alternate reality inside a painting. And they were all connected to the lore of the world.

Still not convinced stories are important? Just look at the sales! Games with great stories get a lot of sales. Not just because they appeal to us, but because if we enjoy the story we will tell our friends.
Oh! Before i finish i have a message for the suits: DON'T FUCKING RUSH THE DEVS! When will you learn that rushed games sale poorly, and gets your company a nasty fame? WE LIKE COMPLETED GAMES! I don't want an incomplete game and then have to buy a DLC with a quest you fuckers didn't let the devs finish because you are greedy, i don't want to pay extra money so i can get a bug fixed. FUCK YOU SUITS! You are the ones tearing this industry apart, not piracy!

Now it is cookie time! This is the speech i told you about in the start of the post ;)
CLICK HERE!