February 21, 2008 - During the past decade, RPG Vault has had the pleasure of watching the massively multiplayer category grow from a tiny niche to what some now regard as a totally new entertainment medium. We still remember when the entire genre encompassed a mere handful of titles in development and hoping to find a receptive audience. Of course, we know what happened, that every single day, millions log into their favorite online worlds. Naturally, the assortment from which they can choose has expanded greatly; there are hundreds in live service, perhaps more, and no shortage of projects on the way. Qualitatively, there’s also a far wider selection, including casual and quasi-games that reach out to non-traditional users. This is especially true in the Far East, primarily Korea and China. As a consequence, that region as a whole represents the world’s largest market.

To investigate the interesting, sometimes contentious questions, issues and differences of opinion that accompany such diversity, we created a series of Online Worlds Roundtables in which we ask game makers and those associated with them to share their respective knowledge and points of view via a panel format. The members aren’t the same from one session to the next as we attempt to solicit input from as broad a range of sources as possible, and from individuals we know to be particularly close to each subject. As for the nature of the topics, the idea is to address a different one each time. For this feature, we followed our usual procedure, extending invitations to a number of our friends and acquaintances within the development community. The fourth segment of the ensuing exchange of ideas consists of the four contributions below.

Topic: The status and future of storytelling in massively multiplayer games
As the massively multiplayer category continues to expand and evolve, we’re seeing more titles that place greater emphasis on storytelling and related elements. This topic includes but is not limited to the current state of the art, major areas for improvement, the associated obstacles and challenges, how story-driven games can and should be, the balance between authorial and emergent storytelling, and the importance of memorable NPCs that are more than just quest givers, item dispensers and trainers.