I can’t stand open worlds with no clear goals, the shine quickly wears off the world itself and I’m just left wondering what I would even want to do it. Mile wide, inch deep content deserts just switch me off immediately.

I play games to escape the purposelessness of life, not simulate it.

I find a gameplay goal more important than a story goal. Sandbox games like Luanti are tricky for me, because I need to decide what to do with no real reason to do anything. But if a roguelike tells me “There’s an artifact at the bottom of this dungeon. Good luck!”, that’s already more story motivation than I need, because the gameplay goal is straightforward.

I also find lots of story motivations terrible to begin with, though, when it’s basically “You’re the hero! Go save the world!” and then the gameplay is just genocide. I don’t care, if we’re violencing pixels, but specifically the attempt to justify this violence, is almost always distasteful.

Now that you mention it - I don’t believe I’ve ever stopped playing a game for lack of story. I’m ok with a game just spawning me in and having me figure out what I’m supposed to do if it plays well.

On the other hand, I can’t think of any game I powered through mediocre gameplay to see what the plot was.

If I’m not playing something fun in a few minutes, I’m probably going to bounce off. I’m not here to watch a movie.

I don’t want to watch a long intro. I don’t want a lot of cut scenes and exposition up front.

The dark souls games have a little cut scene that you can skip, and then you’re off to playing. Perfect.

Depends on the genre:

RPGs: Strong writing and/or world building is a must. I prefer when both are done well, but just strong world building with ok writing works too (more often than not writing us weaker). For me the point of an RPG is to explore a world and try different playstyles, factions and narrative. I enjoy reading in-game texts that provide lore backgrounds, but also minor clues and subtle opportunities to define your strategy.

Strategy/Tycoon/City-builder:

Story and writing are not needed. These are sandbox games, the point is to try different strategies, build your own designs and so on.

I usually don’t bother with campaigns for these types of games and just pick the largest map possible in sandbox. I did like the Cities in Motion 1 campaign though.

In 30 years of being a huge fan of these genres, I can’t really think of a Tycoon or Economic Strategy where the story was memorable.

One caveat is that if the game is set in a fantasy/sci-fi setting, sometimes strong world building is important, but it depends on the details of the gameplay.

In some cases, the most generic space/fantasy setting is fine, in other cases like with Vagrus, a trading game x RPG hybrid, the relatively unique grimdark fantasy world is a key part of what makes the game great.

I made a similar argument about this a few days ago and got lambasted. I personally think payoff is important. As an adult I have a lot less time for games. To just “do” something when there are so many things to do and even other games to play has to mean something. Not just a “stat” boost. I don’t need another fetch quest. I don’t need a pointless collectible. If I’m doing something I want to be rewarded for it. A bit of lore actually acted out or even better yet new gameplay I didn’t have before.

I’m not saying an arcade type game can’t be fun or worth time. But that gameplay loop in itself has to feel rewarding to me. And in a growing list of games feeling the game the gameplay loop itself holds less value. As 10 of the last 15 releases on Steam have that same damn loop.

This is clearly a subjective thing but I’ll say personally I need to feel some intrinsic value for my time. And lately I haven’t been feeling reward. As a result I am playing less and less games these days …

It depends on the game. Some games may build up a world before putting you in, others lets you discover over time. Take Final Fantasy 7 in example (I’m actually talking about the original Playstation release in 1997). Game is heavily story and character based. You start a mission without knowing characters or the story. You are right in the action and details are explained along the way or afterwards. I really really like this. Having a slow start is not wrong either, its just different. Fallout 3 on the other hand has a much slower start. One start the game as baby even, learn the world you are in and so on. And both styles are appealing, as long as not all games have one style only. If not executed well, both styles can be boring or uninteresting.

Story based motivators mean almost nothing to me, esspecially when told through non-gameplay means. Having an “intro” cutscene is almost akin to a text crawl/card in a movie - technically it works, and it can be an efficient way to give extra context, but its also likely to disrupt pacing or disorient - basically makes me want to watch less, rather than more. In the same way, I can’t think of any games where story played a significant part in motivation to continue. If I want to keep playing, its because the game is good, not because it told me I should.

Edit: Maybe to help clairify, good plot can be a motivator, but the character’s motivation is not my motivation. Whats important is that the plot is good, not that the protagonist’s goal is just.

My thought is that if one of the main appeals of the game is (meant to be) the story, the story better be both good and well-told (which I learnt is not the same, see Genshin). For games where the main appeal is the gameplay, I’m more inclined to tolerate a barebones or trope-fest story.

What are some games you bounced off of, that you think may have been because they were missing motivation?

I think I only experienced this in point & click adventure games, where the story must be good to prop up the enjoyment value along the more lightweight gameplay.

What games found you putting up with a mediocre gameplay experience because you were invested in the given story turnout?

I think it’s usually the other way around for me lol, where I put up with a below-mediocre story bc the gameplay is fun. Usually if the story is so well-written that I really want to see how it ends, the devs put effort into making the game’s other aspects good too, so I haven’t seen the kind of imbalance you speak of in the genres I play. Maybe if I played shooters or platformers, it would be more prevalent 🤷

I could never get into The Witcher knowing he was a mercenary. Same for Assassin’s Creed. Elex and Chernobylite are two that I really enjoyed even though they had their graphical limitations. These days I mostly just play Portal 2 community maps as a way to destress after a working day.

Some people enjoy sandboxes that allow you to roleplay and give yourself your own motivations. Crimson Desert is the most recent example of this. Sure, the story and stuff is mediocre and there is no real reason to engage with it but the rest of the world is dense and vibrant, full of things to occupy your time and roleplay as a person who lives in that world. Kingdom Come Deliverance is another like this.

Not every game needs a prescribed motivation for the player character. Sometimes they leave it up to the player to create their own fun while just giving you all the tools needed to do so, and that’s perfectly valid.

I don’t finish any many games but something like the Mass Effect **trilogy was, by the end, a bit of a chore but I just wanted to finish off the storyline.

Thomas Was Alone, I’ll be damned if I wasn’t getting those rectangles to freedom :D

I like being able to make my character the way I want and an go where I want so Im a bit more motivated by open world than the story itself. I like the world to have a story. Being able to build and play my character in the way I want is the biggest thing for me in a game though. Like elden ring is the type of game I would (think I would) hate but because I could make my character like I wanted and use the playstyle I wanted I was able to get through the game.

Yes, very much so. I bounce off games quick if I don’t feel like I’m working towards something, even if I think it’s fun. I know many people get ticked off by games nowadays withholding content, but I have to admit I’m part of the problem. I need some sort of progression system, even if it’s a battlepass.

But I prefer something like what modern roguelikes tend to do, where you gradually work towards upgrades that make you stronger like Hades or sidegrades that get added to the pool like Risk of Rain or Slay the Spire. And typically these also unlock higher difficulties to keep the challenge on.

Another good example is Minecraft. I used to fall off of after “solving” the basic problems of building a base and getting better tools/armor, since the sandbox aspect couldn’t hold my interest. But I played a big modpack with friends that gave us all kinds of things to do, and I really liked the progression systems they added. You could build machines that required different fuels but could be used to make ore refinement progressively more efficient, or make a mecha suit with upgrade modules, or learn a spellcasting system, or build a remote-accessed inventory system with upgradable storage, or make a nuclear reactor for massive power. And many things were quality of life improvements that solved problems I wouldn’t have thought of, like adding a crafting table interface to item storage or auto-stepping over small ledges. It felt like there was always something to learn and improve on. It was perfect for someone who chases the sense of satisfaction from a goal being completed.

Most of the comments so far are in the negative for external motivation but I would like to say that if it’s done well, I appreciate some backstory and some flavor text (like you mentioned with DOOM). Sometimes it’s nice to make your character’s background and therefore motivations up but other times it’s cool to enjoy a more crafted experience. I still want to be able to play the game though and not be locked into doing pushups or whatever happened with that new dragon’s age. Otherwise I might as well just watch an actual movie or even a gameplay movie lol.