Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The Three-Act Structure does exist in MMOs, and as a player you will
encounter it again and again, but on a much smaller scale.
Approach any quest-giver in any MMO and you'll find it. The quest-giver
describes a conflict that needs addressing, and will ask you if you want to
try to resolve it. Act I.
If you accept the quest, you then engage in gameplay that challenges
you as you try to resolve the conflict. You might even have to succeed at
multiple, “chained” quests of increasing difficulty before your work is done.
Act II.
Once you complete all the quest requirements, you return to the quest-
giver, who will confirm your success and grant you a reward of some kind
(experience points, an item, etc.). Act III.
Not only are MMO quests clearly aligned with the traditional Three-Act
Structure, but in these scenarios you are inarguably the Hero. Only
you
can resolve this conflict! (Even if out of the corner of your eye you see
other players busy working away on their personal versions of the same
quest.)
Many MMOs also feature “instanced dungeons” (even if they are not truly
dungeons), which take you and a limited number of other players into your
own private version of a more lengthy adventure. These, too, very clearly
feature the hallmarks of the Three-Act Structure.
Other nontraditional formats also feature the Three-Act Structure at a
smaller scale. World-building social games such as
FarmVille
and
Clash of
Clans
establish conflicts and challenge the player to overcome them to
advance the games' admittedly light narratives. Episodic titles such as
those developed by Telltale Games
—The Walking Dead
and so forth—are
structured more like television dramas, with season-long arcs comprised
of episodes each containing their own, smaller-scale conflict setup/con-
frontation/resolution cycles.
Final Thoughts on the Three-Act Structure
The Three-Act Structure dominates and defines the most popular stories
told across the ages, and is sure to do so for the foreseeable future.
Games are no exception to this rule. Of course, the scale and length of the
Three-Act Structure within story-centric games may vary, but if there is in-
