What is more important to you're video gaming experience: the story, or the game play?

Depends on the game (Your vote)

Obviously. I come to Windjammers for something different than I come to Baldur's Gate II for.

Life does seem to suck your soul out of all available orifices

The most immediately memorable part of my favourite games are the stories, but trying to divide the experience into story and gameplay doesn't quite jibe with me.

I find that a big part of an affective video game story is the investment you develop through the gameplay. Even better is the storytelling actually happens through the gameplay. I'm not one to shun cutscenes though. Folks who insist video games aren't movies are not wrong, but the fact that video games are an all-encompassing medium doesn't do much for their implication. You can have cutscenes and passages in addition to your gameplay; the game won't necessarily be lesser for it.

I always care about story and NEVER CARE ABOUT GAMEPLAY EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR

When it comes to third person games or really story based games I could care less about the gameplay nowadays. I am tired of aiming at things and shooting them anyway. But when it comes to games where gameplay is definitely the mainstay (Dota, Lol) as there is no story, then I reckon it's pretty much the opposite.

If the gameplay is shit then the rest is meaningless as I will not be playing the game, so gameplay. I am not a story snob, I can enjoy almost any story.

For example, I stopped playing Heavy Rain because the gameplay was shit to me.

Depends on the game.

Having fun?

I'm gonna say gameplay. In my opinion, there are better media than games for telling a story. Not that there aren't games with good stories, just that storytelling wil most likely always be done better in a book or movie.

And to provoce a little more, I actually can't see how anyone can say that story is more important than gameplay in a game. Gameplay is, after all, what games does that books and movies don't. And gameplay is always connected with input and/or feedback, and as such you can't have (good) gameplay without the two. Therefore I would say that gameplay always comes first, since if the controls and feedback are bad, the story won't matter, since you won't play the game.

In my oppinion :-)

Ideally both, but if the game play isn't enjoyable then I'd rather watch a film. The prime example for me this year was playing Tomb Raider straight after Bioshock Infinite. I loved the visual impact and story presentation of Bioshock, but in stark contrast I found Tomb Raider so much more enjoyable to actually play.

Story is a lousy word, I like to play games with interesting settings and premises, even when the story is pretty bare bones ...

Depends on the game for me. I've played games where the story pushed me through bad gameplay and games where good gameplay pushed me through a bad story.

gameplay and setting are important to me.

also being able to dictate the pace of a game. too much hurrying up, a bad habit of story-based games, is not good.

i can appreciate a good story, and i really appreciate when a developer allows me to craft my own story, but i'm fine with ignoring what we usually get, as long as it's not too in my face, or overly sappy like it can be in jrpg's.

I expect the typical answer to be gameplay. But I think I derive the majority of my enjoyment from a game's story. All my favorite games are story oriented (Telltale's The Walking Dead, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Last of Us, etc) and I usually only see gameplay as some annoying repetitive grind I have to do to get to the next story segment. There's even games where I was really enjoying the characters, story, atmosphere, etc but had to quit because I couldn't stand how boring the gameplay was (Ni No Kuni, Persona).

I would pick in equal measure, but I'd change story out for visual flair or atmosphere. The story can be absolute garbage if it plays and looks good to me.

Totally depends on the game I'm playing and what I'm looking to get out of it.

I used to be all about gameplay mechanics, way back when.

As I got older, though, I started mattering less and less. I enjoy interactive talking more than interactive shooting these days, is the closest thing I have to an answer to your question.

For the most part I'd prioritise gameplay over a storyline. However, to say that I haven't played a game to completion due to the story rather than gameplay would be a lie.

I think the only game where the story kept me in a game when the gameplay was getting tiresome toward the end and I was almost ready to give up is Witcher 2. I ended up bumping down the difficulty to Easy just to power through the end. So I vote gameplay/mechanics.

That said a bit of story or atmosphere/world building helps with "variety" in game mechanics. Justifying the reasons why you need to do an escort mission or a stealth mission helps. I really enjoyed the Quake games back then, which arguably were all gameplay. When Half Life came along and fleshed out the game with some narrative through line, it was a breath of fresh air from "get the blue key". That said, without good mechanics, I wouldn't have been interested.

Both.

Which is why Red Dead and The Last of Us are probably the two games I hold up as the best games of PS3/360 generation. I loved the story and the gameplay in both of them.

I play games to play. I read books for story. If a game has an okay story then bonus, but I will never excuse a game for allowing the gameplay to take a backseat to the story unless that is the whole point of the game design (Walking Dead, Heavy Rain et al.).

I want all elements to mesh well with one another. Ala Dark Souls. That game has a rich world that you can take in if you want to and the gameplay is amazing.

Voted gameplay.

The right answer is "depends" which is why it shouldn't be an option in a poll.

In previous years, solid but iterative mechanics and cool storytelling where all I needed. This year I've been more mechanically interested in games, ever since I got into Persona 4 Arena.

Depends on the game. For some games, its the story that keeps pushing me forwards like Persona or many other JRPG's who have repetitive gameplay but great stories. For others its the exact opposite like Dark Souls. Some games have a little of both like skyrim or dragon age.

Skew heavily toward gameplay. I literally don't need a story in the slightest if the game has exciting mechanics.

Both in equal measure. A game can have wonderful game-play, but grating and outright insulting story can turn me off. Likewise, a great story to a game I'm barely actually playing isn't fun either, which is why I don't play any David Cage games. Honestly, I've always disagreed that story and game-play are mutually exclusive. Even if a story is only told through how a world looks and the questions the environment asks, that's cool.

I am video game experience?

I'd rather play a game with mediocre/acceptable gameplay with a good story than a game with good gameplay and a shit story. "Good story" being a hugely relative term since this is video games we're talking about.

I like gameplay more. Depending on the game it could be worth maybe 2-3 playthrus. Whereas the gameplay could keep me coming back for years

You don't go into Mario expecting a great story, and you don't go into The Walking Dead expecting amazing gameplay. It depends on the game, and I'm surprised that's not everybody's answer.

EDIT: I think the better question would be "Do you prefer games with a great story or fun gameplay?" That way, people could say "I prefer games like The Walking Dead that have a strong narrative."

I like when the gameplay tells a story.

@randyf said:

I think the gameplay of The Walking Dead is considered to be passable. There's no glaring faults about it. The question is, would you play Ride or Die: Retribution with the story of The Walking Dead. I sure wouldn't. Though, I would play something like Bayonetta with the story of Ride or Die (if that would make any sense).

So, in my opinion, a certain quality of gameplay is crucial in every game, where as a bad story could be excused if the game plays well enough. That's why some people think gameplay is the most important in video games, even though a great story is always welcomed.