Why do people don't care about the history?

[str4wberrypanic]

I was thinking about this recently, and i think that a lot of people who likes custom storys don't actually care about the history. That's because i've never seen any feedback about how good the history was, and the way people read memos in videos. I've realized this when i was reading the comments of " Followed by Death " in Moddb. Everyone says " oh, it was scary " or " nice scripts " or something like that, but never " oh, i really liked the history line ". It has a cool story and everything, but people don't care... I mean... for me, Amnesia was scary because of the history. The more i knew, the more i feared it.
But i don't know, it looks like people see a memo and just feel too lazy to read it. I think i've taken more time thinking about a cool history than making it, but it seems that all who people care is about the script level. And when i think about it, i don't feel animated to make a hard story, since people will only read the memo if it's part of a puzzle or something, and this is really bad. :l
What do you guys think?

[Traggey]

This forum is all about good stories!

One could say most of the users on here have become quite elitist.

Moddb and random ''lets play'' fans out there tend to not care quite as much, personally the story is the most important thing to me.

[Earthykiller127]

i think that a lot of people who likes custom storys don't actually care about the history.

Mind your own business

[crisosphinx]

This forum is all about good stories!

One could say most of the users on here have become quite elitist.

Moddb and random ''lets play'' fans out there tend to not care quite as much, personally the story is the most important thing to me.

Agreed. I cannot stand most mods with a bad story, it is by far the most important element of a mod for me, followed by level and game design.

Depends on the history and story for me. If it's intentional that it's not a work of documentation, the story should at least have history in it (fiction or not). I haven't played a story yet where there is no history included. However, if it's a documentation, the history better be damn accurate or it's going to make me confused.

Level design is the second most important thing to me, nearly tying with history. Doom had little story, no history, but the level design was so good that it was a damn puzzle to just get around. I like that in a game. It gives its own story.

[str4wberrypanic]

This forum is all about good stories!

One could say most of the users on here have become quite elitist.

Moddb and random ''lets play'' fans out there tend to not care quite as much, personally the story is the most important thing to me.

It's pretty cool that people in this forum thinks that the story is actually the most important thing about a mod. I should then make mods thinking about these people, and not for the ones who don't care. I was afraid of thinking too much in a story and people just pass by it, but thank you.

i think that a lot of people who likes custom storys don't actually care about the history.

Mind your own business

If you aren't here to discuss, go play your PewDiePie's stories instead of bothering people.

This forum is all about good stories!



One could say most of the users on here have become quite elitist.



Moddb and random ''lets play'' fans out there tend to not care quite as much, personally the story is the most important thing to me.

Agreed. I cannot stand most mods with a bad story, it is by far the most important element of a mod for me, followed by level and game design.

Depends on the history and story for me. If it's intentional that it's not a work of documentation, the story should at least have history in it (fiction or not). I haven't played a story yet where there is no history included. However, if it's a documentation, the history better be damn accurate or it's going to make me confused.



Level design is the second most important thing to me, nearly tying with history. Doom had little story, no history, but the level design was so good that it was a damn puzzle to just get around. I like that in a game. It gives its own story.

So you think the history should be more... objective? What is important in a history for you?

[crisosphinx]

Str4berrypanic, what is important to me with history is that it is the basis for which all our stories come from. Fiction, lore, stories of land, sea and air monsters, etc. All of these have come from history. Dragons are fake, yet we have a ton of research into them. They are part of our history, whether they are real or not. The more of a monster we make them, the scarier they are (hopefully).

This is fictitious-history. Yet, it is actually factual-history due to it being so prevalent in our lore.


What bugs me is if someone gets documentational history wrong. The stuff that people get wrong and they do it because they believe it's correct, is making Abraham Lincoln a Vampire Slayer. It's funny, but it's not good unless they were trying to make it funny.

So, instead of using that example, let's use "Twilight". The lore behind a vampire is that you can kill it with a stake and if it's in sunlight, it burns up and dies. In Twilight, the vampires can only be killed by other vampires, can love and sparkle in sunlight. They took it seriously. THAT... THAT pisses me off.

This same idea can happen in games and custom stories. If someone gets history wrong, it's annoying and bad. Otherwise it can be objective, as it can portray humor, depth and intrigue. I feel history is important, otherwise you look like a fool and sound like a dumbass (excuse my language).

[failedALIAS]

So you think the history should be more... objective? What is important in a history for you?

An example of objective history, or rather, lore may be found in various instances of the campaign, for example;

When you are in the caved-off area after experiencing your vivid flashback of the encounter with the orb (you also get caved in there, too; odd), in the room past the weakened wall there is a document in one of the three glass pedestals. The document contains articles detailing the many superstitions of the people of Brennenburg. There is the strange account of Agrippa, the fearful Gatherers, and the Immortal Baron. These are all fine examples of lore -- playing ominously to the myriad of mysteries surrounding the castle, and the strange happenings around it.

It all serves to thicken the atmosphere of the world around you.

[ClayPigeon]

For me actually, the history and the storyline are the most important parts.
It takes me the longest to actually just think of a proper story, and then split it into acts, and "tweak" it.
I try using literature settings like motives, climax, conflicts, etc.
And that is what makes the storyline the hardest part to make, so yeah, it is a pretty big deal for me too
And I always appreciate a good storyline and not some "go into the room and there will be 13012,341 grunts spawned around you".

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Umm... is everyone here meaning the same thing when he/she's saying "history"? Because I'm a bit confused after reading through the posted posts...

Are we talking about a believable backstory for characters, places etc., about environmental storytelling, about drawing inspiration from existing lore, or about historical accuracy in terms of "was this kind of lamp already invented in 18th century Prussia?" (or about all of those? )

Anyway, there's at least this one thing I can reply to:

it looks like people see a memo and just feel too lazy to read it. I think i've taken more time thinking about a cool history than making it, but it seems that all who people care is about the script level.

Short "flavour" - notes or the occasional letter or diary are fine, but I admit , I often get tired of reading long notes, memos and especially introduction texts. Not because I don't care about backstory - I do very much! - but because it's such a stilted, old-fashioned and kinda lazy way of storytelling. Why make a game in the first place if you just have the player read long texts all the time?

Games have a few big strengths that no other medium has, and that are first and foremost interactivity and a strong sense of presence for the player. So, show, don't tell - or even better, make the player experience instead of telling him stuff. Now, I'm of course not saying that all texts should be forever banished from games! But when even the most engaged and interested players start to get annoyed by the walls of text thrown at them it's definitely time to explore more interactive, organic ways of storytelling.

[crisosphinx]

Umm... is everyone here meaning the same thing when he/she's saying "history"? Because I'm a bit confused after reading through the posted posts...

I thought it was history as in historical information put towards story telling. I am the confused as well.