Comment Games that have tried to incorporate this (Score 2, Interesting) 159
Very interesting observations, and quite correct, there aren't many games I have played lately that incorporate an element of loss.
The one exception that springs to mind is, surprisingly, EverQuest 2; there are a couple of quests/events where I feel the SOE team have actually incorporated losing into the storyline very effectively.
The first I can think of is a more minor one - if your character chooses to betray his home city of Freeport to go and live in Qeynos (or vice versa) you embark on a quest series that leads you into sabotage work against the city you wish to leave. The spying/sabotage missions ultimately culminate in your inevitable capture by the city guard. Your companions are killed and you are left for dead, eventually smuggled out and revived by sympathizers from your destination city. While not a final defeat, you progress through the increasingly dangerous sabotage missions knowing that eventually your actions will be discovered, and there is no way to complete the betrayal quest without this "failure".
The second quest involving failure was a special limited-time quest that ran last year prior to the Echoes of Faydwer expansion release. The EoF expansion reintroduced the influence of the deities to the game world, and as a foreshadowing of this, there was a limited time quest players could do for the prophets foretelling the return of each god. The quest for Innoruuk (god of Hate) involved a magic spell that sent you back in time to assume control of one of the key figures in an important historical battle during which the forces of good and evil were attempting to capture a particularly important magical scroll. The aim of the quest, you were told, was to alter history and retrieve the scroll for the benefit of Innoruuk. As you entered the quest, your class, level, equipment, everything was altered so that you appeared to be the dark elf shadow knight in the historical battle. The quest involved commanding your troops to attack the enemy, and fighting your way to the member of the "good" side who had the scroll required, and then escaping with the scroll.
The quest, however, was written so that it was impossible to win. It was not possible to alter history. While you could complete the first part of the quest and make your way to your target, reinforcements from the good side (extremely powerful, undefeatable ones) arrived before you could complete the mission. The quest forced you to watch as all your army was decimated by the arrivals, and then you also. Interestingly, one of the "good" gods gave the reverse of this quest, where good aligned players played an ally of the target the evils had to assassinate, and were equally unable to "win" the scenario (although reinforcements arrived, it was not in time to prevent the assassination of the guy with the scroll, etc.)
In these quests the EQ2 designers got around the feeling of personal defeat by setting the quest in a historical "flashback", yet also avoided the setback being entirely cut-scene narrative with no player involvement whatsoever. The resulting quest was very powerful and exciting.
These are just two examples of how current MMO's have incorporated failure scenarios into their play. It's challenging, but clearly possible, and the SOE team at least seem to be aware of the excitement and different perspective that it can bring to a game. I would hope that they will continue to push the boundaries of tradition further, and hopefully other designers will follow also.
The one exception that springs to mind is, surprisingly, EverQuest 2; there are a couple of quests/events where I feel the SOE team have actually incorporated losing into the storyline very effectively.
The first I can think of is a more minor one - if your character chooses to betray his home city of Freeport to go and live in Qeynos (or vice versa) you embark on a quest series that leads you into sabotage work against the city you wish to leave. The spying/sabotage missions ultimately culminate in your inevitable capture by the city guard. Your companions are killed and you are left for dead, eventually smuggled out and revived by sympathizers from your destination city. While not a final defeat, you progress through the increasingly dangerous sabotage missions knowing that eventually your actions will be discovered, and there is no way to complete the betrayal quest without this "failure".
The second quest involving failure was a special limited-time quest that ran last year prior to the Echoes of Faydwer expansion release. The EoF expansion reintroduced the influence of the deities to the game world, and as a foreshadowing of this, there was a limited time quest players could do for the prophets foretelling the return of each god. The quest for Innoruuk (god of Hate) involved a magic spell that sent you back in time to assume control of one of the key figures in an important historical battle during which the forces of good and evil were attempting to capture a particularly important magical scroll. The aim of the quest, you were told, was to alter history and retrieve the scroll for the benefit of Innoruuk. As you entered the quest, your class, level, equipment, everything was altered so that you appeared to be the dark elf shadow knight in the historical battle. The quest involved commanding your troops to attack the enemy, and fighting your way to the member of the "good" side who had the scroll required, and then escaping with the scroll.
The quest, however, was written so that it was impossible to win. It was not possible to alter history. While you could complete the first part of the quest and make your way to your target, reinforcements from the good side (extremely powerful, undefeatable ones) arrived before you could complete the mission. The quest forced you to watch as all your army was decimated by the arrivals, and then you also. Interestingly, one of the "good" gods gave the reverse of this quest, where good aligned players played an ally of the target the evils had to assassinate, and were equally unable to "win" the scenario (although reinforcements arrived, it was not in time to prevent the assassination of the guy with the scroll, etc.)
In these quests the EQ2 designers got around the feeling of personal defeat by setting the quest in a historical "flashback", yet also avoided the setback being entirely cut-scene narrative with no player involvement whatsoever. The resulting quest was very powerful and exciting.
These are just two examples of how current MMO's have incorporated failure scenarios into their play. It's challenging, but clearly possible, and the SOE team at least seem to be aware of the excitement and different perspective that it can bring to a game. I would hope that they will continue to push the boundaries of tradition further, and hopefully other designers will follow also.
