Flameseeker Chronicles: Why is the lore of Guild Wars so important?

Enter the kodan and someone call for more crowd control!

ArenaNet set the Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 communities on their collective ear last week with the introduction of the kodan race. I think it's safe to say that the Guild Wars wing of the internet exploded with speculation, discussion, arguments, and sheer excitement.

Lore is huge in Guild Wars, but that's not a new thing. We might be all excited about the kodan right now, but think about it for a moment. This excitement didn't happen in a vacuum; as fans we've grown to feel this strongly about all of the lore of Guild Wars. Where did it all come from? Today I'm taking a look at some of the highlights of why we are so fascinated by the kodan and by Tyria overall.

Read on, then share your own thoughts at the end!

First, I want to clarify that I realize that this sort of passion isn't restricted to just lore. People are serious about their favorite MMOs, and they hold tightly to their opinions and preferences no matter what the subject. Too often there is very real anger and offense when a dev or another player does something that the person does not like or agree with. So while passion applies to every aspect of MMO gaming, it's the lore of Guild Wars 2 that's really fascinating me this week, for several reasons.

With regard to the kodan specifically, I think several reasons have come together to make the kodan introduction and lore so fascinating for us. The first and most obvious reason is that we are starved for new information. It's not that we want proof that the game is still under development and is not becoming vaporware, because we all know by now that the possibility of vaporware is completely off the table. This game is going to happen without a shadow of a doubt, but with ArenaNet maintaining radio silence on development for so long, every bit of information seems huge and exciting -- maybe more than it is.

However, that's far from the only factor. We're not anxious enough as a fanbase to make a big deal out of worthless news -- there's definitely something in this latest reveal to get excited about. If you're at all familiar with Guild Wars 1, you know that the lore has been there from the very beginning and developed well over time. Of course, every good MMO needs a storyline, some sort of basic background. We got ours from the word go: "The last day dawns on the kingdom of Ascalon...". Guild Wars gave us a beautiful, idyllic land to fall in love with then blew it to smithereens. If you're at all interested in lore, you were probably pretty ticked off. What is this burned crater? Where did pre-searing go? Who did this?

The entire foundation of the game is built on a world that could be beautiful and peaceful again -- if we would only step in as heroes. We've learned over the years to care about Tyria and its inhabitants, and even though that might seem like such old news that it's not even worth mentioning, it's played a big part in bringing us where we are as fans today. We're invested in the denizens of Tyria, so a completely new race brings a pile of questions and fascination from us. We need to know who they are, what they want, and how they fit into "our" world.

There's another factor, too: the quality of the storytelling. Most of you have probably played an MMO with truly bad storytelling and rolled your eyes at how cheesy it was. You simply can't get invested in fictional characters if they're presented badly. ArenaNet has the advantage of some truly gifted writers on staff, writers who have fine-tuned this world and their presentation of it over the years

There's also a sort of community-discussion feedback-loop within all of this, and it helps to create interest. We're excited about this news because we're interested in the stories and races of Tyria, and it's such fun to have a whole forum community that is just as excited about it. It's a large group of people with a common interest -- a way to bounce ideas and suggestions off of one another, put details together from other facts and build on the information we have, share speculation, and even argue about the various interpretations. I know they can be a little crazy sometimes and that there's a certain negative element, but on the whole the community forums are a real blessing for this sort of thing. They really are a huge and important part of Guild Wars lore.

I want to explore one last point regarding why this new lore is so interesting to us: religion. Any sort of discussion regarding religion or spirituality is automatically a little more contentious than most. It's a plain fact that religious discussions are more interesting and heated because they make for such a personal topic. The kodan lore centers largely around the race's spiritual beliefs, and the community picked up on that and immediately began drawing parallels to several real-life belief systems. It's not overt, and nobody is crossing the line into bashing real belief systems that I've seen, but the subject definitely adds another layer of interest to the whole thing.

Hopefully we'll have another lesser race reveal in the near future -- I can't wait to hear all about the beliefs and heirarchies of the krait! Until then, I'll see you all next week!

Rubi is a longtime Guild Wars player and the writer of Flameseeker Chronicles here at Massively. The column keeps a close eye on all the events in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, and anything bridging the two. It's also the home of a weekly summary of the travels of [MVOP], Massively's Guild Wars guild. Email Rubi at rubi@massively.com.