STORY

* See also Story Telling
* See also Storytime
* See also Twist
* See also The_plot_says_so
* See also Vague (story details)
* See also MMORPG_Lore and Expanded_Lore_Canon
* See also Know Nothing Artists
Variable-Story-Pathing (Story LEGOs et al)
 'Story' was supposed to be the game element which set "BioShock" BEYOND the typical 'shooter' game. 
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 "WHEN YOU PRETEND TO HAVE A HISTORICAL THEME, AT LEAST PUT SOME EFFORT INTO IT RATHER THAN LOOK IGNORANT AND SLOPPY" - Tom Clancy 
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STORY MATTERS :
If you are NOT just pretending that "story matters", then at least do it RIGHT.
Don't have Story gaffs/plot holes you could 'Fly a Zeppelin Through' ...
Pay more attention to detail. If you claim 'history', don't just shove together some buzzwords/names/events that might be familiar to a fifth grader and assume you 'have it covered'.
Perhaps some intended 'Story' Assets are missing ( assuming that's even the case ) because they were 'Cut' or never added/finish -- Well, that's just some sloppy planning/management/execution problem.
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Fairy Tales Illuminate. 
SO, What great truths does Infinite BS demonstrate ???? 
Don't Fly around trespassing in a big floating 'amusement park', cuz some Maniac Clown will come and kill you ? ( And then don't be surprised when it will never have actually happened at the end anyway ??? ) 
"Chekhovs Gun"No Not star trek Ensign Checkov - Chekhov's gun (Chekhov's rifle) is a dramatic principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Elements should not appear to make "false promises" by never coming into play. : Have only relevant props, and don't obscure the central story.
Of course, with a MMORPG ( more than for Solo games ), you have many Stories and Secondary Activities.
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It IS a game"It is Only a Game" is the last cry of the fanbois when they have no further valid argument about a mention of something Retardedly Stupid in the game's written Plot which they are obstinately defending.: The 'Story' in it really can be little more than a one/two page "Short Story".
Unfortunately, there is all the rest of the game to suck up the effort, time and money required to develop it.
Shit Happens : When the gamemakers decide 'it wont sell as it is', and they start massively rewriting it, and so any previous effort to have a cohesive story is undone, AND THEN the 'Rush' begins to meet the release schedule causing sloppy/incohesive story to be perpetrated.
This happened for BioShock (one) but they were able to push it into shape sufficiently. The Gamewriters were NOT able to do that for Infinite BS, AND IT'S inferiority SHOWS CLEARLY.
The Rapture Reborn MMORPG would have far more time and manpower to put ALL of Rapture's 'story' straight.
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Filling in the Gaps - Rapture's Real Story :
The MMORPG could fill in alot of gaps in Raptures History - The Pre-Fall way Rapture existed ( bit more/better than those few stilted scenes in BaSx ). Law System and Government and the way ordinary people lived , "This Is Rapture" classic documentary style presentations, etc ... What really happened leading up to the 'civil war', and what happened during it ? And far more about all the game-existing characters.
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Building a Plausible World ( The given Game Story ) :
The story's Technical Change is far harder in a Isolated Microcosm game world. Advancements are supposed to be created within it which don't exist elsewhere. It has to fit together and be justified ( process how was it created being part of the story ). Old normal things get mixed with the new - conflicting or complements each other - that interaction itself being 'a story'. 
IN wondrous Columbia, All the new fancy shit had to get there, some how. Was it then made there ?? Unlikely. Was the 'Rest of the World' ALSO advanced from the same 'discoveries' for Columbia to steal neat stuff ?? ( THAT issue was NOT clarified once ). We hear that it was all via 'ideas stolen from the future', and not by items/products/mechanisms being pulled through Tears to get them there.
With only these 'ideas', so much would have to be built - in Comstock's Floatytown. In a modern society that IS ludicrous. That takes materials and tools and knowhow which in reality are gathered from across a country and even The World. We NEVER got that huge missing piece of Columbia's existence explained/resolved.
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Giving Good Story Writing (Sorry Ken ... No Gold Star) :
One thing about basing a story on a (sort of) historic setting is : The Player is supposed to be able to assume that a cohesive ( maybe recognizable ) environment/society is in place. Having most of Society ( of the setting's time ) being still in place and working as expected. A Story is best if it reflects as a mirror of the Player's own World. 
Much of what was presented for Rapture ( modeled on an Urban American cityscape of the late 1940s/early 1950s ) was spotty and vague, with contradictions presented ( from what the real time period was like -- INSTEAD made with/by writers thinking/assuming it was 'like' today ), and having MANY such sloppy assumptions. Rapture was largely a wreck, but that wouldn't change what the the backstory elements reflected.
Game Makers seem to only want 'their scenes', and their Failtopia contexts for mass killing/slaughtering, and don't really care all that much to provide a realistic background ( even if only hinted at ) which SHOULD exist in the game's situational setting. The BioShock games, with more of this element than other games, still 'fell short' of what they should have contained if this element was actually more important.
Rapture WOULD have laws, and it WOULD have authorities to enforce those laws. The Objectivist system the writers purport to base Rapture's society on, requires systems and institutions existing to support a working/coordinated Society ( which the story said existed for more than 10 years by the time of the first game ). Showing even the merest hint/clues/vagaries of their existence would have made for a better presentation ( and would NOT have been that hard to include ).
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 "There are Ten Thousand Stories in The City, This Was Just One Of Them" :
(( An Old 1950s TV show had that as its opening ... ))
Micro stories that Players can follow ... Heard on 'The News', in the papers, gossip from NPCs, sites of Events the Player can actually visit ( stains left on the ground ... ), etc ...
Compelling and Interesting (with a Template/criteria for producing them). The Players gain something by following the story ( useful-knowledge/access/connections/... ).
Part of the Player Asset Creation mechanism of the MMORPG to get lots of them made, and have them improved via Collaboration ( Sorry Fanbois - Please DO NOT have long lost relatives of important Characters in your stories ).
Because of the MMORPG's Content Creation Tool Mechanism/Processes, and having large number of pre-made Building-Blocks (props, scenes, NPC prototypes), Players who want to Create Missions/Quests (integrated with their Stories) would be able to do alot more than is allowed/able on previous-generation MMORPG systems. Such 'Mod' Tools, which (usually not existent) were generally abominable. Lack of good Tools restricted even company employee productivity.
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Ten Thousand Stories ...
Minimal application : Idea used for TV 'upcoming episode' commercials for a TV Series ( if in reruns then justifies them being heard as a cycle/arc ).
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