This is a poll. What is the most important part of a game? Is it the story? Good character design? Graphics? Music? Or should you not pay attention to just any one thing?
I'd like to hear your opinions, and I think this will be a good resource for game developers.
As for me, it's probably the character design.
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Well it's a combination of all of the above that makes a truly great game. However I'd say the most important parts of a game are (in order)
1.Plot
2.Characterization
3.Music
4.Dialogue
5.Graphics
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I pretty much agree with diddlysquat - except for the last 3 (which I guess is not "pretty much", but hey)
1.Plot
2.Characterization
3.Graphics
4.Music
5.Dialogue
Story is very important! Graphics will whoo you into checking out, buying, looking up a game, but it's a good story that will make you actually want to play it all the way through - unless the graphics are totally unbelievable.
Poor graphics, however, makes it kind of hard - at least for me - to keep playing a game that's story is not amazing.
My opinion of course! 
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Originally posted by spitfire:
What is the most important part of a game?
Ya know, I actually struggled with this question, believe it or not. I like a wide variety of games, and they all are seemingly so different. But the ones that I keep returning to play have one thread in common: the story.
I grew up on the old Apple)(e games, Zork in particular. And for those who don't recall the original Zork, it was completely text-based. No graphics, no sounds to speak of(or maybe they were, I didn't have speakers. Hah!). Heck, there were only 3 NPCs in the whole game(troll beneath the stairs, the thief, and the cyclops), so the "action" sequences didn't hook me either. The story however I liked. I liked the mystery and the exploration. For some reason it just captivated me, and I've since purchased a Zork-compedium CD that has Zork 1-3, Beyond Zork, and Zork Zero on it(and Zork 1 is the only game I ever play on it, heh. Well, Beyond Zork sometimes, but I didn't care for the rest of the series). I just really liked the story.
Marathon is an excellent series, and in my own world it is the game that all 1st person shooters are judged against. And in my own little world I have yet to find a shooter that beats Marathon. Sure Quake has better graphics, as I'm sure plenty of other shooters do as well. They have better selection of guns, better blood splats, better networkability. But that means squat to me when you compare that to the immersive story of the Marathon series, combined with the humor and action within it. I love playing Marathon, and when expansion sets come out(like Marathon Evil) that continue with the same quality of writing, I'm just all over it.
Myth II:Soulblighter is another game I enjoy. Sure it has a lot of eye-candy in it(who wouldn't like dwarves hurling molotov cocktails or hunting exploding deer with black-powder rifles in an easter egg level?), but the story is fairly well written, each character has a name and a short blurb about him, etc. You also have to utilize a decent amount of strategy, if you plan on keeping your troops alive. It is a fun game that while I've beaten it several times I enjoy loading it up and playing it once in a while.
I also like Alpha Centauri. Granted there is no story immersion in this game, but there is a point to the game. Having a good strategy makes the game more cunning and enjoyable.
So without rambling further, for me it is the story, possibly story combined with strategy/thinking. I've played games like Diablo, Doom, etc, where they have, in my opinion, a weak story combined with a lot of brainless killing. While I don't mind violence in a game(Myth II, Marathon, etc), if it takes the place of a story as opposed to enhancing the story, it just doesn't make me want to come back for more. Sure I liked Diablo, and I have it, but I also haven't returned to play the solo game since I beat it, nor the net games since I grew tired of them. I have no compelling desire to replay them, and for me that drops the game down several notches on my "good game" scale.
Ok, I think I've said enough. Hopefully it answered your question. 
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Originally posted by Klatu:
**I pretty much agree with diddlysquat - except for the last 3 (which I guess is not "pretty much", but hey)
1.Plot
2.Characterization
3.Graphics
4.Music
5.Dialogue
Story is very important! Graphics will whoo you into checking out, buying, looking up a game, but it's a good story that will make you actually want to play it all the way through - unless the graphics are totally unbelievable.
Poor graphics, however, makes it kind of hard - at least for me - to keep playing a game that's story is not amazing.
My opinion of course!
**
I understand that, but poor graphics aren't that big a deal for meI learn to ignore them pretty quickly, and in a lot of cases I just can't tell (I still think the original Escape Velocity graphics were good!).
And with a game like Alice, the music was an integral part (after plot and characterization). If not for that wonderful music, would it have been anywhere near as cool?
And of course dialogue is important for most of the above reasons, just it shows up less often, making it slightly less of a big deal.
But I understand where you're coming from; there have been far to many little games that are just unusable due to their graphics (or lack there of).
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1. Story - gotta have something to do
2. Character Design - it's a R(ole)PG
3. Graphics
4. Music
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I think that its
1.Plot
2.graphics
3.Charecter
4.Dialog
5. Music
The story needs to be good or else its not worth playing the game.No story no game. Graphics are important. I think a game should look its best, not just blobs going on an epic adventure :). Charectorization is also import, like I said about the blobs. Dialog has to be good, again w/ the blobs.(i. e. Mr blob:glub Mrs. Blob: gloob :)) Music might be important for some games, but it is not too important. Im not sure about this list, especially music, but, oh well. Hope I helped.
1. Storyline / Plot
2. Characterisation
3. Dialogue
4. Music
5. Graphics
As a writer I'm probably a bit biased, but still. I won't play a game with fabulous graphics and music if it doesn't have interesting dialogue, characters and an involving plot, or at least, I won't play it for long. Witness Diablo II. Fun game, much loved. But I found it far too boring.
Also, in some ways, my points there are a bit skewed. For me, music sets the atmosphere big time, and is sometimes more important than dialogue, and sometimes, pretty graphics do help get through parts of the plot. For me, the last three can move up an down interchangeably, but the top two have to be as they are. (Although characterisation is really part of the plot and shouldn't be seperated, neither should dialogue. Therefore, my three would be plot, music, graphics, in that order.)
Well, that was confusing.
-Andiyar
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Originally posted by Tarnćlion Andiyarus:
snip!
Amen, brudda! I hate separating characterization and dialogue, as the two are so closely intwined, but I can handle keeping them out of plot. Almost. But my list is identical to Andiyar's, except with char. and dialogue tied.
BTW, I'm back. And I'm staying this time, too.
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"Are you a story-teller, Thomas Covenant?"
"I was, once."
"And you gave it up? That is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
-Stephen Donaldson
