Posts tagged stories 
Storyboard: You guys must be the party
A couple of weeks back, I wrote an article about dealing with a major ongoing storyline in an MMO. For those of you who neither read the article nor can spare the time to click the link and read it now: It talked about the problems presented by having a storyline and offered a few different ...
Storyboard: Let the gate be
Over the past two weeks, I've been essentially playing politics. That's a bit glib, sure, but if you have a better term for arguing two sides of the same issue over the course of two separate essays, I'd love to hear it. Of course, turning around and arguing the other side of my own points is ...
Storyboard: The gatekeepers of story
There's a notion floating around the MMO mindspace, one that you've no doubt heard over and over again, especially in light of the recent heartbreaking closure of Star Wars Galaxies. It's the idea that creating a capital-S story in an MMO is by definition a flawed enterprise. According to this ...
The joys of scripting the apocalypse: A behind-the-scenes look at Fallen Earth
What's it like to have a post-apocalyptic landscape as your writing canvas? According to Marie Croall, it's pure heaven. Fallen Earth's lead designer opened up to Rock, Paper, Shotgun about the joys of writing and designing the myriad of quests for the game, as well as the free-to-play ...
The Road to Mordor: The 10 most memorable quests in LotRO
I honestly have no idea how many quests we're up to in Lord of the Rings Online at this point. Thousands, for sure. And as with many other facets in life, 90% of these quests are fated to be unmemorable tasks that blur together with all the rest. However, I've always felt that LotRO has a ...
The Soapbox: The battle for story
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. When I was in grad school, one of my favorite classes spent a ...
Storyboard: Navel-gazing cardboard cutouts
When you create a character for roleplaying, most of the time your creation is something of a mess. He or she has a huge pile of issues, regrets, fears, mental blind spots, and possibly even physical ailments that should have a lasting impact on telling stories and creating drama. And your goal ...
Veteran EVE Online pilots share wisdom with new players
If you're looking for an excuse to visit the recently revamped EVE Online official forums, you could do a lot worse than a newbie help thread started by CCP Fallout. Whether you're an actual New Eden rookie or a veteran looking to dispense advice (note we didn't say good advice, since it's EVE), ...
The Daily Grind: What was your favorite experience as a tank?
Maybe you have a sword and shield, maybe you have a really high Dodge rating, maybe you have durable force fields. Whatever your qualifications for the role, you take up the mantle of the tank to keep the rest of your party safe against your enemies, whether they're gang members in DC Universe ...
Engaging the brain: Funcom talks about the immersiveness of story in The Secret World
"No designer could ask for more to draw upon," The Secret World's Joel Bylos says. "This world, our world, is the greatest resource of them all." And so begins a fascinating trip down the dark alleys of storytelling in Funcom's upcoming MMO. In a dev diary posted at MMORPG.com, The Secret ...
