What's my motivation?

[Dogg Thang]

This thread comes from the difficulty I'm having with HL2, and going to the thread this morning, it seems I'm not alone. It also was my only real criticism of Halo 3.

I had no idea what was going on.

Where this becomes crucial is in motivating a player to carry out the actions. If you don't know why your character is supposed to be doing what you are told he's supposed to be doing, it can only lead to disconnection. You're just being lead forward by the game rather than thinking, I need to do this, and feeling like you're being proactive.

It was simpler in the old days of gaming - save the Princess! Destroy all invaders! Shoot the other cowboy!

But games seem to be getting much more adventurous and, at the risk of muddying the medium, more cinematic. So there are many more turning points, changes in direction. Your immediate goal isn't always to save the Princess any more. It's the same in film. Character's motivations get very complicated and change from scene to scene and even within the scenes. But if the audience can't answer two questions at any time, they'll be removed from the film and it will die -

a) What is the character doing?
b) Why is he/she doing that?

It's fundamental screenwriting and the reason they are so important for an actor to know is so they can feel the scenes rather than just carrying out the actions blankly. The reason they are important for an audience is so they can empathise and get drawn into the story. And 'if they think hard about it' is not something a screenwriter gets away with even in the most complex movies because the second a viewer has to take time out from the movie, he is removed from the experience. If anything, the viewer needs to arrive at the character's conclusions a split second before the character.

Well, I've recently played a 10 game in which I could answer 'a' most of the time but never had any clue as to 'b'. And the First Play thread was full of similar questions. It got away with it slightly only because the character is a soldier and you could always answer 'b' with - I'm just following orders. I'm currently playing another 10 game in which I couldn't even take a guess as to either 'a' or 'b'. And he doesn't even have the soldier excuse.

That's a serious problem.

In a way, in games, the player becomes both the actor and the audience. So it's all the more important that the stories are told well and players can not just play the game but completely assume the role of the main character.

Games are still relatively new. Games wth 'cinematic' plots are even newer. The films they are trying to emulate are not new and the screenwriting craft has been honed over a hundred years. I can't help feeling that we're at a stage where game devs need to hire proper screenwriters just as many hire proper composers rather than some dude with his C64 in his bedroom. Either that or stick to Zelda-like motivations which are always simple but blindingly clear.

Are these two games the exception, do you think? Does storytelling in games need a kick in the ass? Is it just a recent things with devs reaching beyond their abilities? For example, I can't remember having a problem knowing what I'm doing in an RE game.

What do you think?

[DeathAdder]

I agree with you. Good post, which deserves better replies than this short one.

Obviously not everyone thinks that way, however. In the Final Fantasy Crisis Core first play thread (a game where I would have thought the story was vital to the enjoyment) some contributors said they were having a great time despite not having a clue about the story (which is all in Japanese).

[ItsThere]

Well for one I don't really agree with you but I tend to do a lot of background reading when I am really enjoying a game.

I immersed myself in the Halo novels compeltely and rewatched H1 and H2 cut scenes on ytube in anticipation. It was great.

I read up on the parts of HL2 I didn't understand at the start (no more was needed throughout) because once you are 'in' the world the age old addage applies, the more you put into it the more you get out of it.

Exploration and believability were both done to a high standard in those games for me and, as a HL2 virgin (although I had played the first one and that DID help), I am not suffering from fatigue at all.

I jumped right into Ep one after the end of 2 because I cared about the intrigue and the characters, so many plots left unsolved, the motivation was discovery.

Wich I could answer more coherantly but its monday and I'm supposed to be working but good topic.

Not to be critical but have you tried reading around the subject matter? As a brief example, I didn't know HL2 was set 20 years after the first until I read it but when I did read that, a lot of it made a lot more sense, for one thats why everyone is so surprised to see Dr Freeman.

[charlesr]

Great post and something I've often thought about, but only in passing.

My fave game so far this year is Skate. You always know exactly why you are doing someonthing. The underlying plot is simple and you know you've progressed though it because you get voicemails of congratulations and invites to the next thing. When you ride around the other skaters you meet say hi and mention recent events which reinforces the immersion. When you go into the shops the staff all talk about the magazine shoots and stuff. Excellent.

With the expansive believeable environments being created in today's games, you need a believeable frame of reference to go with it and the normal reference points in real life are other people. Be it in cutscenes or in real time, interaction is with the other characters is becoming increasingly important, especially as the game changes as you go along. In Dropzone/Defender you knew that all that would happen is that aliens would arrive and take your guys and you had to rescue them. This would never change so there was no need to inform you as to how the game was changing.

[Mayhem]

Shadow of the Collosus. Never have your motivations and reasons for doing what you are doing been so called into question..?

[Dogg Thang]

I guess the thing about Collosus was that the motivation was very clear. But, yes, the fact that I actively disagreed with that motivation was a problem for me which I'm sure I said in its First Play thread. Nevertheless, the motivation was clear and, whether we agreed with it, we could understand it. Just like Mr.Freeze in Batman - we may not want to be a super villain ourselves but the understanding of it makes all the difference.

And Blair, no I haven't read about the subject matter. I have no doubt that Halo 3 would have been much clearer if I remembered all the details of Halo 1, played Halo 2 and read the novels. But I would see it as a serious failure in storytelling for that to be a necessity. A film wouldn't stand a chance in hell of getting funded if audiences had to read several books before they had a hope of understanding the basic motivations of the main character. That you were missing such crucial pieces of information about HL2 until you read up on them is a problem with the game, not your research.

There should also be a clear distinction here between story, backstory and setting. It's often very easy to accept a world as it is presented to us. Do we need to know who the aliens are? Do we need to know how this invasion happened? Do we need to know who started the resistance or what they're exact goals are? No, not really. And you could say that you'd get more out of it by learning more about those things elsewhere. These are all setting and backstory. Do we need to know what the main character is doing and why? Yes. Every single moment. This is story.

Children of Men isn't actually a bad example of this. In CoM, we had no clue why the world was the way it was. We didn't know why people weren't having babies. We didn't know how one girl managed it. We didn't get any birth issues resolution. This threw a few people but not many. This was setting.

The story was Clive Owen's journey. His motivations were clear every step of the way. This brought most viewers into the story. Had we not been able to follow what he was doing, the film would have been a shambles.

[copperband]

This is a very good post and one I have often found myself thinking.
The problem as I see it is that the 30 somethings that include myelf in have been brought up on less complex games with clear strategies and objective. Te first game I remeber being quite complicated was Resident Evil - remeer running out of Ammo nd then having to spend age trying to find more which lead me to wande aimlessly roundfor hours (or so it felt).
Luckily we now have Gamefaqs which is an invaluable resource which for me is always a last resort but if I hadn't had ta in the past I would have given up on a lot of games.
There does seem to be a huge desire though my more expienced gamers and younger gamersto go for the fully immersed gaming experience - they want to xplore every nook and cranny of a level to find the hidden "x" I did this a bit in Condemed as it was compact enough a playing area to do it but I didn't spend too much time looking if Icouldn't find something.

I find I never go back and play games either once I've finished them, erhaps there is a link there too, I like to play through agame on normal difficuty level and move on o the next game, others have more time or choose to play though several times? One of the reasons my achievement score is so low is my lack of desire to "replay"

[dogen]

It was simpler in the old days of gaming - save the Princess! Destroy all invaders! Shoot the other cowboy!

I take it this statement suggests that it was more simple, thus more fun and user friendly.

Is it not enough then to adopt a mindset such as 'save earth and stop combine' in Half Life2?

[ezee ryder]

And Blair, no I haven't read about the subject matter. I have no doubt that Halo 3 would have been much clearer if I remembered all the details of Halo 1, played Halo 2 and read the novels. But I would see it as a serious failure in storytelling for that to be a necessity. A film wouldn't stand a chance in hell of getting funded if audiences had to read several books before they had a hope of understanding the basic motivations of the main character. That you were missing such crucial pieces of information about HL2 until you read up on them is a problem with the game, not your research.

Surely the Halo film would be targeted at fans of the game, the people who have immersed themselves in the Halo universe and I have a feeling there are quite a few of these people out there. You have a good point about HL2 though, sometimes I don't know why I am doing something and it just feels like I am doing it just for the sake of progressing the game.

[Brad]

Totally agree with the OP. This has just happened in Metroid Prime 3. This is game of the year for me easily but what happened to me last night really highlights the problem.

I'll try to write this without spoilers:

I'm told I need to get thing A but to do it I may need something else?

I wander around for 10 minutes looking for wahatever this other thing is when another messages comes in:

"The thing you're looking for Samus may not be on this planet. It might be on another planet you've already visited"

Now, I know how metroid games work and I'd got at least 2 upgrades since arriving on this planet so I knew I needed to backtrack but that doesn't really excuse it does it?
You need thing A but probably need something else first and that other thing might be here or it might not. not very helpful!

[Gerry Helmet]

I see where your coming from to some degree when talking about a one off game no sequels no story arc etc.

However I would slap someone walking in the 3rd Lord of the rings without seeing the prior instalments asking about what is that ring all about why are they taking it somewhere etc etc etc.

[112]

I think my motivation for games at the moment is muddled........ a part of me gets excited when i read what others are experiencing in game that it makes me want to join in and see what i am missing; another part of me want to relive the part of my youth where every new game i got was like xmas and i enjoyed it regardless of how uninspiring it was. Maybe that motivation is a part of me that is chasing something that has been missing in my gaming habit of late.

If i think about it, there is only one game that i can fully place my hand on heart in saying i am looking forward to, and that is biohazard 5. Having said this though i think the part of me motivated enough to want Biohazard 5 is simply to relive the initial buzz i have associated my self with the series. Therefore it leaves the question, is my motivation something that is quite possibly unobtainable now?

112

[ItsThere]

I have been thinking about this and surely the key difference betwen films and cinematic games is this...

With a film it is all presented for you complete. There is no obvious need for interaction and you don't HAVE to involve yourself in the story other than through listening and watching.

With games there is the NEED to explore, to become the character and to involve yourself in the whole game world. This is because while everything is usually presented for your amusement, to get the most out of it you need to look outside the ordinary, go the extra mile for your own curiosity and 'be' that character.

[DeathAdder]

I see where your coming from to some degree when talking about a one off game no sequels no story arc etc.

However I would slap someone walking in the 3rd Lord of the rings without seeing the prior instalments asking about what is that ring all about why are they taking it somewhere etc etc etc.

I agree completely about the Lord of the Rings comment, but one of the reasons I think the plots and scripts in Phoenix Wright are so good is that the second and third games can stand on their own perfectly well if you haven't played the earlier games. However, they make just a bit more sense if you have played the prequels.

Haven't played Halo 2 or 3, so don't know how much this applies to those games.

[Dirty Sanchez]

I agree that prpoer screenwriters are an ever growing essential to a dev team.

I found Gears to be totally absorbing, the pace was pretty much perfect, set pieces well timed and in context. Halo 3 at times didn't have the same perfet pacing but the envrionment was totally different, much more expansive leaving more choice to the player how to execute the goal.

I played HL to death on the PC, downloading mods again and again. I skipped HL2 altogether as my PC spec dropped for a while when I went all console. Even missed HL2 on XBox. Picking up the Orange Box I've started HL2 and it really is a step back in time, the pacing and set pieces just don't compare to the best of the games available today. I'm enjoying it but it doesn't have the special edge it did in the past.