Halo, the Latin epic

"...perchance a central plot is required in story-driven games in order to give the wandering avatar an initial feeling of purpose"

Of course it is. A story-driven game with no plot would be lifeless, dull and ultimately pointless.

Y'know, in today's age, calling it a Roman epic would fit more than a "latin" epic, seeing as latin now can specify anyone from South/central america or even spain...

Interesting. I did something similar, but a little bit more sophisticated, by looking at Mega Man X from a Neitzschian perspective. There are a lot of similarities to be found there!
The link is http://zacharyvladamir.vox.com/library/post/man-is-a-rope-stretched-between-the-animal-and-the-mega-man.html

I think that this sort of discussion is important, for reasons I've pointed out in the linked blog, but I think it also needs to go above "Lol the stories are the same!". There's a literary theory that there are only about 11 stories that can be told, so of course you're going to get some of the same stories. It's much more important to look at how and why games are constructed, and what they can tell us.

Asheron's Call, from my experience, is probably the closest a game has come to having users involve themselves in the storyline. If you haven't played it, events happen around the world that players can participate in and earn themselves a name. So, even though Big Mega Olthoi Overlord is scripted to die to players sometime, which players do it (and how they go about it) is up to the playerbase. It was very fun seeing "Your name has defeated the infestation in the South!" all over the server

Completely user-driven content I don't see happening too well. Just look at the basic pen & paper RPG- while the sessions itself is a creation of all the players, there's one player who dictates where the action goes- the GM. There is a set story, and the other players choose their destiny in the 'confines' of that story


But yes, it should be obvious that you need a story in a story-driven game :) In terms of a MMORPG, you can give players the freedom to change some aspects of the world/involve themselves in it, but ultimatley the 'key' points get decided by the writers. Someone has to be in charge to move things along and make sure the story is interesting in the first place!

Thank you, DocWho...we all cheer you for entering a thoughtful topic and filling it with mindless drivel.

Zach,

Have you read "Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell? It focuses on how universal stories are. George Lucas actually openly credits Campbell for influencing Star Wars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_With_a_Thousand_Faces

I think there is a need for, if not an overarching plot, at least story hooks in single player games. Preferably story hooks that provide significant challenge for the player.

I think Oblivion is a good example of a failure in this respect (NOTE, I LOVE THIS GAME!). When you first start the game, you're immediately presented with the largest story hook in the game (the quest to seal the Oblivion gates). Admittedly, some players exit the sewers and immediately get lost in the large world potential of the game, but the hooks are there, and you'll find pretty substantial challenges if you follow that main story.

You have other secondary hooks that are also presented to you in the process of completing the main quest (unless you stumble onto them first), particularly the various guild questlines, but also some of the quests required to deal with the various governors.

However: After you complete the main quest, sealing the Oblivion gates, there really aren't that many (if any) major challenges left in the game. Most of the most difficult enemies in the game disappear, and the steady stream of hooks goes away completely. But up to that point, you really can create your own adventure, choosing to participate or not participate in the various quests and potentially ignore them entirely, while still meeting up with challenging enemies.

In a multiplayer game, you have more potential for user generated story. An idea that I'd like to see would be that players above a moderate level would be able to kill other players, but only those who are tagged as killable (similar to the Book of Blood concept from MUDs, but automated so that when you reach a very high level, you're always going to be potentially killable by other players).

By that point, high level characters are generally going to be real movers and shakers in the game world, with massive amounts of gold, high level items, and allies / influence. This would provide the high level characters with a steady stream of would-be heroes or villains attempting to take them down using large group tactics, and would provide challenging targets for lower level characters, and the opportunity to collect very large amounts of treasure. The key would be keeping it fresh, but I think that, to some degree, we've learned that MMOs really don't need to be fresh to keep people playing them, for the most part. They tend to create a self-perpetuating group of social players who won't leave unless their friends do.

Thank you Joseph Campbell.

Halo is very similar to Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" (book, not the movie). Powered armor, drop ships, adaptive weaponry (Morita), Skinnies, Bugs, etc.

Not that I've played it but the closest "game" I can think of is Second Life. There an emergent society exists at the whims of its playerbase. Of course, that has it's inevitable highs and lows (like griefers and their replicating "goo" recently).

Again, for players to craft an interesting "story" by themselves, they would need to be gifted and creative writers to some degree. And most of the world just cannot invent a compelling story out of thin air. That's why I don't mind scripted stories...they can be really cool without me having to do so much work.

(p.s. don't feed the trolls people)

pandlcg,

It's nice to see that there are literary people on Joystiq. I was actually recommended that book by my professor in my Science Fiction class (Eng 116 @UCLA). I never bothered picking it up, because it made total sense to me that when we label someone a "hero," it is because they do things that are "heroic."

Essentially, every hero story will be telling the same story over and over. You can see this in books, movies and, yes, video games. I love when people complain about always saving the world, when, really, what else is there for a hero to do?

At least games have expanded to include, as main characters, anti-heroes, villains, the anonymous soldier, etc.

Here's a question:

Is there an RPG where you DON'T save the world? I'm not an avid RPG guy, but every single one that I can remember involved saving some realm of space-time.

I think the Halo franchise benefits from drawing on Mythical/Biblical sources, it gives the player (or me at least) a feeling that the game is more than futuristic and sci-fi.. something more significant.

Without goals it isn't a game, it's a toy or an activity. But not a game.

I already have an undirected open-endd activity with no endin sight -- it's called my real life. When I play a game, or for that matter read a book or watch a movie, I want story and richness of experience coupled to tangible achievements and goals (either by me or by the character I identify with in the fiction). Humans are deeply programmed for story and patterns. If you create a big virtual world with nothing much to do in it and no pre-defined goals of play elements, if youc an conveinve people to come into it they will soon be creating their own games and structure and even mythos.

The term game has been mostly irrelevant since the first game with a storyline in it.

True open ended games won't work until the next console generations with bigger hard-drives, and much more RAM and processor speeds, due to the level of AI that would be required.

A fascinating read and I rather like the way it's presented on that site. Right now, my only minor quibble is the repeated assertion that Master Chief is a Marine. He's not, at least, not from what I've read. In the book series, he's a member of the Navy and the friction between him and a Marine underlies much of Dietz's novelization of the first game. Oh well.

I can definately see some games as new extensions of classics, and I think some have reached the level of art in many thematic areas.

HALO IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

Rocket-launcher toting zombie aliens...in space! It's a like the Bond of movies. If you take Halo 2 into account, it has more merit (maybe), but it's all just a hokey setup for the action.

Halo as The Aeneid - I thought for sure that Vlad had posted this one.