And it’s a good point about the 99.9% of games having stories. My guess is this is a direct result of players being more attracted to games that have at least one story bullet point on the back of the box (or website in Fizzwhizle’s case). Stories help sell games.

Thanks, gnome!

EDIT: And thanks Eric, who posted as I wrote this. I know it’s not the best written treatise on the subject as I pumped each one out in thirty minutes or so (while playing poker), but I’m glad you enjoyed it.

I really like the idea of lots of different possibilities because it also lends itself to replayability. Diablo claimed they had great replayability because of random dungeon layouts and a few random quests. But honestly, did that really make you want to play it again? I’d play the game a few times if I knew I had a genuinely different experience to look forward to based on my choices. So, I don’t think the extra development effort would necessarily be wasted. I think it’d add greatly to the game’s appeal.

Vince, definitely a good treatise on stories in games.

Anyway.

I just wanted to add something I recently realized. 99.9% of video games do have some kind of (even rudimentary) story, or at least some allusion to a story. Minesweeper’s title for example is just a hint, but it does evoke players’ imaginations, and it drags them on in an implied and admitedly almost non-existent story.

DOOM also has a story, Prof. Fizzwhizle does, Arkanoid did, even some versions of Tetris had one. see? Stories are everywhere, as it seems that humans tend to crave them… They give context to action…

(Didn’t come out exactly as I meant it too, but I hope you get what I mean.)

Cheers!