The narrative in the second Funcom MMO

The executive producer for Age of Conan, Craig Morrison, has published an interesting article on the use of voice-overs and cut scenes in the MMO, not always say that 'more' means 'better'.

Morrison says that the progression of the characters is always the focus of the gameplay of an MMO and that many players do not like "intrusions" in this simple course of events: you gain experience and level up.

"Sometimes the players just want to move forward with their character, without any external element intervenes to stop, even for brief moments, this process".

"Even the best cut scene in the world would not help to tell a story if the viewer is not willing to follow it carefully, otherwise it would explain why the 'jumps description of the mission' was one of the first changes requested by Blizzard players ".

"Of course this does not mean that all MMO players are not willing to appreciate a good story, told through voiceovers or movies, but most of them prefer a more dynamic and fluid."

"The secret, then, is to put these narrative elements at the right time, when not likely to interrupt interesting phases of the game. Often the best opportunities are before a mission or immediately after its conclusion."

"I enjoyed the inserted sequences in Aion or expansions of World of Warcraft, where the films were inserted when you entered a new area, only to show the features."

Morrison is also convinced that there are "many intelligent and intuitive ways to tell a story without resorting to too many dialogues and scenes from pre-computed, such as pop-up text describing situations and objects and avoid unnecessary travel and to continue the protagonist NPC to another.