Online Worlds Roundtable #16, Part Two
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As storytelling in MMOs differs depending on the specifics of the title in question, I'll focus on how we handle it and the challenges we find with it in Dungeons & Dragons: Online. Our game seeks to re-create, in an online setting, the experience of playing tabletop D&D with your friends around the kitchen table. Many elements of the gameplay that made it so popular are the same ones that make a lot of games popular - a fantastic setting, an epic adventure and storyline, and awesome character abilities. Compelling storytelling is a critical part of this; a successful D&D game relies on having a Dungeon Master who can craft a fun, engaging experience for his friends.
In bringing the tabletop game to life, we've focused on making sure the attention to detail that a DM would normally bring to a game is present in every adventure, which means we make sure the story is strong and tightly woven into the adventure. We use our story to define the monster diversity in a space, the environmental assets used to create the look and feel of the dungeon or landscape, and the way the dungeon is laid out. For example, in the Twilight Forge module, players must enter the training ground of the Ogre army to stop the Mindflayers' plans, and not only combat the ogres and their minions, but avoid the traps and challenges of the training obstacle courses.
We find that the richer the story is, and the more strongly the gameplay elements tie into it, the more compelling the individual adventure is, and so the more rewarding from a player's perspective (in combination with loot and XP, of course). Because of DDO's use of instances, it plays more like a level-based console or PC game than a traditional seamless open world MMO. Therefore, we learn from the very successful story-driven games how to weave gameplay and story more intricately together, and continue to make our moment to moment gameplay more satisfying to our players. We hear from them that the first time a party of friends plays through a dungeon, it is some of the best story and gameplay in MMOs today... rich, exciting and fun.
