Talk:Quest (video games)/Archive 1

Escorting Quests and Narrative in video games

I do not see escorting or protecting type quests in there. Escorting and protect this NPC quests are staples in the MMO world. Also I see little reference to the affect of quests upon the game narrative. There was some reference to it in the side quests section but I think there should be a narrative section in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dondbui (talk • contribs) 05:20, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

another type of computer gaming quests

What about quests like The Day of The Tentacle and Kings Quest? In Israel we refer to this kind of games genre as "quests", is it only an Israeli thing?

I think the more widely used term for that genre is adventure game. Stillnotelf 01:13, 2 October 2005 (UTC)

It's referred to as quest in Bulgaria too. I suppose some call them "adventure games" only because it's more descriptive to the (English-speaking) general public?Krum Stanoev 20:14, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Original research?

Does the term "collect the pieces plot" qualify as original research? It appears to define a new term; I can find no references to the term on Google, excluding Wikipedia and its mirrors. --Muchness 09:52, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

It's not a new term, it's a description of something that lacks an 'official' name. Which is not that important to ever have an official name. Pictureuploader 09:05, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Agree, it's a description not a term. But it's presented and formatted the same as Fetch and Fedex quests, which are both commonly used terms. I'm curious whether the article in its current state could be construed to imply that it's a pre-existing term. --Muchness 09:52, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, if I was to talk about this quest, the only way I could name it, would be 'collect-the-pieces' quest, and the 'term' doesn't look unfamiliar at all, making me think that I have used this name, and encountered it previous times as well. Not necessarily in 'official' online documents, but in discussions, walkthroughs etc. Even so, I don't think that this subject is that important (politics, science, art, business) so as to examine the article so strictly and consider it a 'violation'. Pictureuploader 11:06, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough, no arguments here. I just wanted to clarify that we're not inadvertently coining phrases. --Muchness 12:25, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

fedex quest

discussion moved from talk:fedex quest:

I'd be interested in a list of quest types here (e.g. in a See Also section) so that we can contrast the Fedex with other types. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Are there any? "FedEx quests" (capitalization of the article is off, by the way) are very common because they're so easy to implement while taking up arbitrary amounts of player time (which is why bad games overuse them so). But other types of quests are not as recognizable or not as distinctive, and don't have names. "Door is locked, go find the key", for example, is a type of "puzzle" that's ubiquitous in many games and widely known, yet it has no catchy name. In a first-person shooter it just means you have to explore the level in a particular way; in an RPG it means you're going to be bored for the next few minutes at least doing something pointless to overcome a redundant obstacle (it never involves using your skills or your wits, the things you play an RPG for in the first place).

"Lord of the Rings" is an excellent example of a FedEx quest that would work, even in a game, because getting that ring to Mount Doom is known to be a challenging affair from the start: it's a plot device, but not a time waster. (Of course, plot-wise you still get embarrassing questions like "why didn't the deus ex machina Eagles take it in the first place".)

While most RPGs and especially MMORPGs have "standard" quests ("kill big monster", "find hidden item", "gather parts of item to assemble") these are well-recognized but nameless archetypes, and there's nothing much of interest to tell about them. FedEx quests are the exception because they're universally loathed, ranging from just pointless to downright insultingly annoying when you can't opt out. (In MMORPGs, this is less felt since ultimately any quest has the goal of earning XP, and even FedEx quests do that. In RPGs, players expect more to keep them interested.)

Incidentally, in Planescape: Torment, a series of FedEx quests for seemingly pointless objects is deliberately used to annoy and discourage the player from completing them all. But if they do, the quest assigner explains that demonstrating patience with seemingly arbitrary tasks was the point all along, and agrees to teach the use of magic to the player. This is one of the few deliberate uses I've seen, and it just barely works. :-) 69.57.152.27 01:50, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Links removed

I removed the external links section, since all the links were to MMORPG-portal type sites, and not specifically related to this article (a relevant link would be a discussion of quests, or perhaps a quest-listing site like Allakazam). I also removed the Everquest catergory, since it's too specific for this article. --Bob Mellish 16:35, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

This article needs help

While not a bad idea for an article, it is in BAD need of work. There's far too much original research, weasel words (ex: "some gamers", "in some games"), and other such problems. It would go a long way to do something as simple as link a few RPG reviews or cite gaming articles from websites or magazines that use the popular terms like "fetch quest" and point out some of their strengths/flaws. As it stands now, the article is pretty much based on popular belief. King Zeal 15:13, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Reliable source for these categories?

I'm concerned that the sources may use thee terms, but that's different from a reliable source saying that these are the common ways that quests are categorised. It's actually synthesis to gather these uses of the word up in this way. Unless I missed a ref? - Aaron Brenneman (talk) 00:54, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

It might be original research (true "original research", nonetheless, from what I've seen), but I'm not sure I agree that it is synthesis. Can you clarify? --Izno (talk) 01:16, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

I was thinking of the "Do not combine material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any of the sources." line, but really it's semantics. While I agree that it's Truthy, I'd like a (probably nonexistant) source that discussed the whole concept and categories. The Marie-Laure Ryan and David Freeman sources are the only ones that aren't game-specific. I'll see if I can I get ahold of a copy of either of those. - Aaron Brenneman (talk) 02:27, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Article Review

This is a great simple article for someone to use to help gain a general knowledge of the different sort of quests in video games. I would think, however, that side-quests should be worthy enough of its own section in the “Types of Quests” list, as opposed to hiding out in the overview section. It may also strengthen the article if real video game examples were added to each type of quest. For example, guiding NPCs from town to town in Guild Wars 2108.47.237.5 (talk) 03:55, 23 October 2015 (UTC) for the “Escort Quests” section.