What's Wrong (I Think) With Destiny's Story? (Destiny)

by BeardFade , Portland, OR, Friday, July 31, 2015, 16:58 (3639 days ago) @ narcogen

Excellent criticism. I don't have a long history of playing Bungie games, so I can't offer much in terms of agreeing or disagreeing with the progression. I think what you were saying around the 15 min mark, where MMO's largely don't require much story to keep people playing and Bungie is doling out story, is probably accurate. But I have some thoughts to add.

I think the lack of story is somewhat the result of making a game that mimics everyday life (to some degree, I hope you'll oblige my explanation). Your guardian exists in an ever-present, on-going universe that has a time schedule equivalent with our days (the resets). Our day-to-day lives generally lack the common elements of telling a narrative. Our lives in general lack the precise story structure we've come to know of as introduction, conflict, resolution. This is not to say there are not beginnings, middles, and ends; we all are born, we all will die, if we are lucky, we do some thing in between, but in general, our lives do not play out in chapters and episodes. Making a game that requires you to participate in many activities that are similar to our own lives (going on patrol is the Guardian equivalent of commuting to the office and doing your job), I think taps into this angst of our (possibly) Sisyphus-ean lives.

I know my thoughts are a bit philosophical, perhaps too much for a video game; but I do think, when you try and make a game that you're intended to play every day, with no clear end, you're going to end up feeling some of the same feelings you would feel with your daily life; which I assume for most of us, is a large mixture of contentedness, frustration, disappointment, and joy.