Story driven vs freedom of action
All of us that where or still are gamers remember at least one of those games that where like embarking on a mad train, those kind of games that push you violently along a dramatic storyline, build up the pressure on you, make you think you just escaped this trap right on time (the typical indana jones movie example would be how he always manage to roll past the stone door, right before it crushes him).
Those storytelling systems are very powerful and heart pounding for the player, however they have a really hard time (in my opinion) working in an online setting.
Sure it might still work in a solo or a cooperative game, but the high replayability required by persistent online worlds kind of kill those scripted yet thrilling events.
Now here is my question, the more you give freedome to the players to shape the universe they play in, the less triggered events seems possible. But can players create by themselve a storyline as entertaining as one written for them?
A lot of peoples seems not to immerse themselve enough into the game to see past the feel that “this player fucked up my character! i hate him”
There seems to be a certain detachment in many players who refuse to put their head into the game, instead of being a mere pupetter.
Maybe it’s only my feeling but when the game backstab them to make the story bounce back they seems to accept it and enjoy it in a way (emotions, hate against the evil arch nemesis who killed the woman their character love) and kind of use it as a way to drive them into the path for revenge (that we have setup as part of the storyline).
Hell, i know i caught myself crying on a good epic story with a dramatic resolution.
But can the players create this by themselve? Does anybody has some experience in the domain of “players spontaneously create an epic storyline” ?
