Star Wars MMO lead discusses the weaknesses at the heart of the genre: "If open-world is the enemy of storytelling, multiplayer is the arch-villain"
Oct. 10, 2023Telling an epic story in a shared world is far from easy says Star Wars: The Old Republic dev James Ohlen
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James Ohlen believes that multiplayer is the “arch villain” of storytelling, and he should know - he was, after all, game director for the massively multiplayer online title Star Wars: The Old Republic.
In an interview withRock Paper Shotgun, Ohlen, who during his 22 years atBioWarealso lent his talents to many of the studio’s classics, including Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age Origins, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, spoke of the difficulty of trying to tell an epic and immersive story in a large-scale shared world. “If open-world is the enemy of storytelling, multiplayer is the arch-villain,” Ohlen says.
In 2007, having helped set up BioWare’s then-new studio in Austin, Texas, Ohlen was put in charge of creative development on The Old Republic, a hugely ambitious MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe. The game featured eight classes, each with its own story campaign, complete with BioWare’s signature dialogue options. Gameplay-wise, it was equally as expansive, featuring dungeons, raids and a plethora of planets to explore.
But, looking back, Ohlen believes that the focus should have been on creating a more tight-knit experience rather than trying to make it everything all at once. He says, “If I was to go back in time to give my 2006 self some advice it would be, ‘Don’t try to make the game so long that you can fill up 200 hours. Instead, keep it shorter.'”
He continues, “Everyone wanted Knights of the Old Republic Online, and it felt more like World Of Warcraft with Star Wars spray-painted on it and some BioWare juice thrown in. Even though the Metacritic was pretty good, it wasn’t new enough to really take off.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ohlen revealed that20,000 hours of D&D practiceprepared him for his role as designer and writer on Baldur’s Gate.
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