So basically what you’re saying is the only good games out there are the ones being most played on steam?
Or are you saying that’s what the public wants?
You’re missing out on quite a lot.
Wtf? No. That’s putting words in my mouth.
The OP is claiming that story / narrative is the most important aspect of a game. This obviously isn’t the case, as (at the time of posting this post), the ten currently most populated games on Steam are all games with no narrative content. According to Steam Charts, there are 1,597,190 players online and these top ten game account for 1,078,837 of those players.
If story is so important, why are more than 2/3rds of players on Steam playing games that don’t have one (and 1.5 million people is a pretty good sample size)?
I love a good narrative in a game, but I think it’s very wrong to say story is the most important aspect of it. Story is only important if the game is trying to convey a narrative in the first place. So many games do perfectly well without really bothering at all (Unreal Tournament, anyone?).
wow… This thread is going down the drain fast.
Why can’t everyone just see that we truly need both to make a GREAT game.
A good game can be made of one or the other.
Here are some examples:
Pacman is a good game without a story… and it has stood the test of time… But doesn’t it get boring with no mental stimulation?
Dear esther is a good game without gameplay… Isn’t it quite the journey? But it sadly doesn’t have much going for it gameplay wise… Thus is becomes no more than a movie. You usually only watch a movie a few times
Skyrim is another good example. There is a overarching story… But you don’t need to follow it all the time. But, doesn’t it become boring once the story is gone? You run out of drive to continue playing.
Thief (1998!) is an example of a great game. It has the gameplay, and the story. And that combination keeps me coming back! The story is still interesting, the gameplay is top notch. Thus making it a great game.
And! the game is still remembered almost 16 years after it was made. (Graphics are the only thing holding it back…) (This game can also be subsituted with System shock 2.)
Now do you get my point?
This is just my 2cents though…
Those 2 cents aren’t just from you.
You stated that better than I ever could.
The concept of “A good game” is only a subjective experiance. A good game has had no story and great story,****** story and moderate.So to say “*Why can’t everyone just see that we truly need both to make a GREAT game.
A good game can be made of one or the other. *” is like saying why cant everyone think like I do. I thank God we all have different likes and understand the term “good” in seperate forms. Not all agree on what classifys as a good game. I was just stating at the start of this post that I personally enjoy and spend time on games with massive storylines like all Bethesdas games. Like many here also have corrected me in reminding me of “good” games with ****** stories or non at all.
Before I begin I’m kindly asking you to back off and get rid of your antagonistic attitude.
If you don’t like what he said, fine…but don’t attack him.
Just, simply, disagree and attempt to prove your opinion.
94 was basically stating that games that are generally considered “great” tend to involve both a themail story and good gameplay.
Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear Solid come to mind.
That’s simply because the narrative for those games, the players are building themselves.
The story of “how did I climb to the top” on ‘eSports’ these days is the hottest story of the moment;
But that doesn’t exactly mean these games have no narrative or that story will last forever in people’s mind.
Pacman does have a story. It’s the same story of Super Mario’s, Legend of Zelda, etc. It’s just presented on a limited manner.
Dota2 has story.
LoL has story, very long multiple stories.
Counter Strike have a plot too.
etc…
Those my friend are backstories.
Not the story in the sense I was using them.
As the story must push the game on or progress with the game. You don’t think of who Pacman is when you are playing it… Do you?
I only gave my opinion… There is no need for such aggresion.
I’m not mad at you or anything… Just calm down a bit. everyone will be happy. 
But I was only saying that it really takes both together to make a great game.
We can all agree and disagree on this matter all day.
But enough of this matter. It only divides the community and causes problems.
All of those games definitely have a plot.
DEFINITELY!
However, not all of them have a story.
They’re not really about anything…they’re just about doing something.
If you get my drift…
It’s important not to confuse ‘setting’ with ‘story’; they are not the same thing. Games like DOTA 2 and Counterstrike have a setting, as do nearly all games, but the game itself contains no story at all. Arguing that players create the narrative is also a bit weak; everything can be construed as a created narrative in that sense. Consider “this is how I made toast this morning” - that’s a user created narrative, but I wouldn’t say my toaster is presenting me with a story.
I love story based games, as I said before, but it’s honestly not that important when framed against good game mechanics and there are many popular and enduring games that survive perfectly well without them.
Someone said that people don’t play Skyrim after they finish the story. I don’t think that that statement is correct, and I’m sure there are many players who have racked up literally thousands, in some cases possibly tens of thousands of hours in that game. With regards to Dear Esther - I would contest that this is kind of an edge case and is not really a game, but an interactive narrative. Games by their nature need to present some kind of objective that is met be overcoming a challenge, but Dear Esther doesn’t do this.
i agree, its been the core of all my games so far
for me, games with endless cut scenes and minimal gameplay are not worth playing.
interactive films are not my thing, for some people they are, takes all sorts i guess.
But a game doesn’t need to have long/drawn out cutscenes or minimal gameplay to tell a story.
Just look at Half-Life or the Silent Hill series.
I suggest Thief.
It only gave you a mission breifeing and only had 3 real cutscenes.
All other story was given to you by eavesdropping and finding books and journels.
And I can totally see why you don’t like it… Cutscenes are so boring sometimes.
I really liked the story exposition in Unreal. All the bits and pieces via tranlator messages.
Return to Na Pali hat narrative between the levels. It didnt slow down gameplay too much, so it was bearable, but RTNP would have been equally good without it…
Some games just dont need a lot of unfolding plot or backstory. There is no plot or story arch in Tetris 
What I dont like are the scripted sequences in the gameplay. Press E to make the character do a lot of stuff for a while before gameplay continues… It feels more like a pseudo flash game… I was a bit disappointed by “The Last of Us” on the PS3…
Well said sir.
Agreed with everything you said.
CoD4 has a good story, in fact they broke allot of FPS traditions which are now pretty much standard these days. It also redefined Multiplayer FPS games (for good or bad).
Sure it is Sir!
I just created one:
Blocki the alien from blockorus, who came on earth to form up with other blockish aliens, to build roadblocks that their buddys could rob a bank.
They need the money to buy drugs, they have translation problems(like me) and are still thinking, they could “fly” back to motherplanet with enough drugs consumed…