The sandbox concept allows players to create their own narratives

Oct 30, 2012 20:31 GMT  ·  By

Matthew Woodward, one of the game designers working on EVE Online, says that the structure of the MMO genre does not allow for narrative driven elements and sees no future for those developers who insist on mixing the two.

The developer tells Gamasutra that, “It seems to me, from my very EVE-centric perspective, that there’s a lot of value in narrative gameplay, and there’s a lot of value in MMOs. It’s not crystal clear to me how merging those two things together is the best possible way to enhance them both.”

EVE Online is famous for the fact that developer CCP introduces no actual stories into its game, with the players free to group together and then create their own narratives, based on their action and choices.

The EVE Online universe does have an extensive backstory that allows players to add immersion to their own in-game actions.

Woodward adds, “I wonder whether what kind of compromises you’re making when you’re trying to get those to mesh together nicely are worth what you’re trying to achieve.”

The CCP designer has not mentioned any names but he is probably talking about the Blizzard created World of Warcraft, which introduces more story elements with each new expansion, and about the BioWare made Star Wars: The Old Republic, which leverages the power of the unique universe on which it is based.

EVE Online is a single-shard MMO, which means that the entire player base shares the exact same game world and there’s no instancing.

In March 2012, the game reaches more than 400,000 subscribers, most of which are actively playing the game.

World of Warcraft recently received the Mists of Pandaria expansion, which helped push players numbers back up over the 10 million mark.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will go free-to-play before the end of the year.