We all remember the comment,
Traditionally MMOs are built on three pillars; Exploration, Combat, and Progression. We at BioWare and LucasArts believe there is a fourth pillar: Story. Our mission is to create the best story-driven games in the world.
It’s as though MMOs to date haven’t had storylines, or something.
Now, patently, this is untrue. Most MMOs have at least a rudimentary overview of the game world, and an ongoing quest series that tells a story. Some MMOs go way deeper than that. LotRO, off the top of my head, has a very deep storyline for players to take part in (via Book Quests), that aren’t just ripped out of the Tolkien books, but are all-new.
So for BioWare to make this claim (which is rather massive when you really think about what it might mean), that it’s essentially inventing a whole new “pillar” for the temple of MMOs, do you think:
(i) It’s basically a marketing gimmick and, essentially, there will be no more story going on than in games like, for example, LotRO.
(ii) The devs feel that their storyline will be so far advanced from other MMOs that they feel justified in making the claim.
And if you believe it’s (ii), let me ask, in what way do you think the storyline, or the telling of the story, can be enhanced in an MMO to the extent we are talking about here?
Because if this is creating a whole new “pillar” for the genre, it had better be pretty damn special…