Thoughtful Storytelling = Better Entertainment

Buried in a marketing email the nice people sent out about WoW this last week was a link to a story about the design process for the starting area and dungeon of the next expansion: Wrath of the Lich King.

One of the things that struck me (and gives me hope and a small sense of excitement about the game as I and so many others are burning out on it) was this statement:

When you finally do enter Utgarde Keep, we want you to feel as if that assault is the logical conclusion to the events that led you there. You and your fellow adventurers will venture in with steely resolve, there to make things right -- armed with sword, spell, and most importantly, a sense of purpose.

I really think this is critical to the success of Wrath and the future success of World of Warcraft, or any of its potential spin-off games. What gives WoW so much of its strength and its richness of play, is its lore. It's the story that you see in fragments, then suddenly coming together in small or big ways, that ties the game together and makes it much more than an endless series of "Gather 12 talbuk hooves" quests. It's the larger narrative that (just like in real life) holds it all together for days, weeks, or months while you play the game. It's feeling a part of something much bigger — and isn't that one of the basic human needs? a sense of purpose and belonging? — that's much more rewarding than the epic that you finally get or the cash you hoard. Remember the first time you saw the cavern at the end of the Deadmines, or discovering who Onyxia really was?

Being part of something much bigger is, of course, part of the social aspect of the game (hello! the biggest part!), but without a narrative that is well-considered and deftly woven throughout the experience, the world falls apart and becomes a series of disjointed fantasy fiats. The lore is sacred to WoW, and many of its players, and that's why so many fans get bent out of shape when the game's larger narratives and history are altered in any way (hello Blood Elves!).

And this is true of most entertainment. Without thoughtful storytelling, what's the point? It can be a movie or a TV series or a novel. Narrative is the core way in which we define the world (days have beginnings, middles and ends after all), and when it's thoughtful, when it's feels like a whole and not a series of disjointed parts, when it has surprise and logical resolution, it's very, very satisfying. Just look at the outrage over the end of the Sopranos vs. the satisfaction over the end of the Harry Potter series (and for the record: I loved the way the Sopranos ended. It was fitting and perfect.)

So read the article anyway if you care about the game. It's interesting to see Blizzard learning from their mistakes or missteps in the past. I sincerely hope that Wrath brings with it a much, much stronger sense of narrative. I'll take that over daily quests, PvP and rep grind any day.