But don't be forgetting the VIDEO in the video game
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Games are meant to be fun, interactive stories are some of the best kind, but games dont' necessarily need to have a story.
Everything in life tells a story, the life you live, do things, act is a story that is writing. RPGs are very specifically story driven games that tell the story of an adventure, one who's path you get to determine rather than it being fixed. The idea is that you jump into the role of a wizard or a dwarf or proton blaster warrior and take on the evil person.
It's okay for games to have different objectives, but Warcraft from the very first game was story driven, this is what set it apart from other RTSs, it mattered that it was a good game, but it also mattered that it told a story.
Warcraft story has jumped genre, not everyone jumped with it, but it gained a much wider audience in the jump, all audeiinces, both RTS and MMORPG have been captivated at one point or another with teh story, even if they don't read any of the quests.
From the moment you step into the role of your race/class you're engaging in a story, the quests you follow are all about that, every activity has a reason and is part of a narrative. You can determine waht you can do or do not, but once you do there is only one outcome, the game is not designed or hasn't introduced multiple options like SWTOR does.
Yet, the game is might fun still, and the story engages far many more people, because the fantasy is to roleplay . You basically playing a storybook or movie, it's no longer the actor that's the hero, it's you, and you can get to a certain amount of liberty.
Whiles you can esport this game all you want, this is why it's an MMORPG - rpg can esport as well, but it tells a story, and blizzard have until recently only been telling that story using text boxes.. most of us are 100% use to full speech and video in our games today, we've been doing that since late 90s/early 00s, so having the story in text box, knowing most kids' phobia to reading (do that enough in school) caused alot to ignore, but the game was still enjoyable because it was addictive, roleplaying is quite appealing and the strong social element, but kept playing.
Never presume that the story isn't relevant because they didn't or you didn't pay much attention to it. Watch the difference if every quest was voiced out, and presented like Legion was presented, you'd find a new reason to really be into wow that you hadn't even realized was under your nose.
If you like movies, and series, books too, you'd love wow alot with a spoken story, it's exactly up the Shannara Chronicles, Shadowhunters, Game of Thrones etc alley. you love lord of the rings, the Hobbit, Harry Potter, Sci-fi stuff, make believe stuff you'd like it.
you may not think it was as great as them, but it would definitely improve your experience, dunno if you play games like Witcher, SWTOR, Dragon Age, nearly every other modern tittle, FFXIV etc, and enjoy the plot they weave... well wow's the same thing, one of the most engaging ones too, it just sucks cos you have to read it, and the others present it, which makes their story a lot more enjoyable to play through, even though wow's is good, but with the snag of having to read it.