Ragnar Tornquist is the creative director of the Secret World, and the creator of classic games like The Longest Journey and Anarchy Online. He recently updated the Secret World blog with some passionate thoughts on narrative in massively multiplayer online games, saying that the idea that MMOs can't have story is "quite clearly, complete and utter bollocks."
VG247 spotted the post on the Secret World blog , where Tornquist admits that most MMO stories are player made, but insists that the process of leading players through a storied, lore-driven world provides its own compelling narrative.
"Even in MMOs that have, ostensibly, placed no great emphasis on 'telling' a story, or even acknowledging one, the very idea of a persistent virtual world filled with non-player characters and quests, different breeds of monsters, vibrant cities and ongoing conflicts means that of course there's a story there, and an important one at that."
"These are cold, digital worlds given life through fiction and narrative, and that's not only storytelling; it's effective storytelling."
Tornquists hopes the Secret World's alternative reality setting will be able to tell its own story. "While there are still individual narratives in the game -- and an overarching story mission, different for every secret society -- for players to progress through, we have deliberately taken a multiplayer approach to the storytelling.
"Ours is never a story about The Chosen One, a single hero rising to the occasion and saving the world, but rather about an army of 'heroes', where the player is just one of millions; sleeper agents awakened in these darkest of days to battle the rising tide of darkness."
Check out the video below for a look a the Secret World's vision of an alterative modern planet earth, overrun by demons and protected by three sinister organisations.
