[quote]The very fact that they can even conceive of taking story out of it suggests that it's worth considering what it means to have story in it at all.[/quote]
Because it is impossible to have repeatables in a world that doesn't have a beginning and an end, or a definite sense of linear progression. You cannot simply remove the concept of progression and still have people moving in any direction. What is the gain? What is the incentive to continue or do a parallel world?
MMORPGs that try to parse out a linear story while allowing a repeatable experience are exactly where we are right now. The answer is to just consider the *first* time you do a story and all the rest are the video-game repetition fodder - that don't make sense.
Whenever the story has attempted to justify the mode of experiencing the story in a MMORPG, it has an unsuccessful dissonance: "Yes, you didn't actually kill us, uh, you killed our weakened forms so that's why we respawn. Oh and you go back in time now... except, well, you keep all the treasures. Uh... yeah!"
You can't possibly consider that every bit of content in the game would only be visited once (as it is only relevant to a storyline the first time, unless you are unlocking content on each visit, say, like a Molten Core progression where you cannot win until you have a certain amount of faction, ie, clears up to a certain point needed to summon one of the end bosses).
Even in a "parallel universe" system of MMORPG narrative / progression, there is definitely a beginning (when you start playing), middle (when you are going through everything the first time) and end (when everything in the game is pure repetition).
Doesn't matter if its a progressive level lurch, or if you have no levels... you simply gain experience with the game and when content runs out you are at "the end" of the storyline.
In WoW right now, beat everything once and you're at the end. In "Parallel World Traveler" MMORPG, visit every Parallel World once and you're at the end.
Re: Worlds traveler: "gated content"
[quote]The very fact that they can even conceive of taking story out of it suggests that it's worth considering what it means to have story in it at all.[/quote]
Because it is impossible to have repeatables in a world that doesn't have a beginning and an end, or a definite sense of linear progression. You cannot simply remove the concept of progression and still have people moving in any direction. What is the gain? What is the incentive to continue or do a parallel world?
MMORPGs that try to parse out a linear story while allowing a repeatable experience are exactly where we are right now. The answer is to just consider the *first* time you do a story and all the rest are the video-game repetition fodder - that don't make sense.
Whenever the story has attempted to justify the mode of experiencing the story in a MMORPG, it has an unsuccessful dissonance: "Yes, you didn't actually kill us, uh, you killed our weakened forms so that's why we respawn. Oh and you go back in time now... except, well, you keep all the treasures. Uh... yeah!"
You can't possibly consider that every bit of content in the game would only be visited once (as it is only relevant to a storyline the first time, unless you are unlocking content on each visit, say, like a Molten Core progression where you cannot win until you have a certain amount of faction, ie, clears up to a certain point needed to summon one of the end bosses).
Even in a "parallel universe" system of MMORPG narrative / progression, there is definitely a beginning (when you start playing), middle (when you are going through everything the first time) and end (when everything in the game is pure repetition).
Doesn't matter if its a progressive level lurch, or if you have no levels... you simply gain experience with the game and when content runs out you are at "the end" of the storyline.
In WoW right now, beat everything once and you're at the end. In "Parallel World Traveler" MMORPG, visit every Parallel World once and you're at the end.