> If you're going to try to get players to emotionally connect to characters and story arcs, I would think that the writer would be the best place to figure out how.

I was fairly attached to WoW while never paying much attention to the superficial stories and quests. I did at first, but it honestly wasn't great from what I remember (the first WoW), and so I just focused on the gameplay and team work rather than the story.

Personally, I read books for the story, and play games for the mechanics.