It occurred to me yesterday that out of my collection of 25 pins, only 4 have what I would call [EDIT:] Story Modes. I define Story Modes to mean "a linear progression of prescribed shots with a story line, usually with a dedicated playfield insert or indicator". LOTR, RFM, JM and Dirty Harry have lots of Story Modes. Metallica, IM, Congo and POTC don't, or they only have a few. And of course all of my older pins are completely mode-less. It's hard to tell a story without a DMD.
I've noticed that I spend a lot more time on games with few or no Story Modes. The games I like, people tend to call "shallow" (like IM). But the way I look at it, these games go "wide" instead of deep. At any moment, there are many different strategies in front of you. The joy of playing these games is to learn all of these strategies, and see which one works best.
What's the future of pinball? Is it deep storytelling via modes (like ST and LOTR), or is it "wide" games like IM and GOT? Do you prefer one style over the other?