Super Fantastic Poll 3: Episode X

[jiisu]

Well hello again! I know I promised every two weeks, but I'm a sucker for real life.

Anyways, I see our community has exploded since my last poll post, so I want to say welcome to all you hip youngsters and thank you for joining the Kaos War forums. We encourage open discussion here, so any point you'd like to raise, please do. It makes conversation that much more interesting when we see opinions of a topic that would otherwise be lost.

Without futher ado, whats up with this Episodic Content stuff? Is it here to stay? Is it a good idea? The real meat of this topic... Is Episodic Content the right way to deliver a gaming experience or does it deliver that false sense of excitement and drama that some TV shows elicit and never deliver upon? Does paying for "same game, different part" interest you or do you feel it's best to do things the old fashion way and tell a great tale within one masterpiece rather than spread it out amongst possibly lackluster parts?

Hmm? Yes... Discuss!

edit: sorry to offend any of you Lost fans :p

[Hotapplepie]

No I couldnt see that being any good. And Lost rules so shut your mouth.

[Finn MacCool]

erase "sodi" up there and you get a big yes ;D

[Moloch]

I think the real promise of episodic content will come when a game designer allows the in-game actions of the community to determine in some way the nature of future content. It may be as simple as there being three branches planned for an episode and the actions of players determine which of those branches comes into 'reality'.

The example (non-computer game) that stands out in my mind comes from Legend of the Five Rings (http://l5r.alderac.com/introduction.html) when (in August 1997) it put the future of Legend’s story arc into the hands of its fans. The allegiance of the winner of the Day of Thunder tournament decided who won (http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1999/01/15sidebar.html) the battle between good and evil.