Video Game Narratives

[Matt]

There are plenty of great films that show it can be done.

However, you may well have a point. The video game crowd is fickle and very cynical. Maybe it's just easier to accept a passive form of entertainment rather than an interactive one?

[Stormtec]

I was just thinking of the thing where movies of videogames seem to be inherently crap. I mean, people say the RE films are crap films but just how sophisticated do you think the source material is? It's almost like we accept a certain narrative in one form and not another, right?

I also think part of the rebellion against supposed sophistication in game narratives is due to the fact that we're somehow conditioned to the fact that this is how it is. We enjoy the games we play, even though the stories aren't particularly great, so that imprints onto us the way that things "ought to be" for games, on some subconscious level, perhaps. In short: We actually like it to be a little cheesy.

[Matt]

There's certainly place for Cheese in games - there are lots of action films I love coated in Cheese

I think the tricky thing for video games, at least at the moment, is creating a true connection between player and character that allows a mature narrative to seem natural. After all, despite all the advances in graphics, video characters don't look believable human. Once true photo-realism is achieved, maybe only then will mature narratives work - we won't be constantly reminded it's a game by the graphics.

Can we really emotionally connect with an avatar onscreen we ourselves are controlling? I think it's possible, and in something like Ico I felt very protective of my little guy Maybe that layer of abstraction, that Ico wasn't based in a real world like ours but a dream-like approximation, helped.

It also doesn't help that video games are primarily an action driven experience. Future AI advances will allow us to diverge from that and, say, play a detective actually questioning people, speaking to life-like characters on screen and getting realistic responses. Right now the ability for a player to "talk" to another character in a game world is shockingly simplistic.

I think it would help the discussion if we first choose a game / gametype that we feel could support a mature narrative. Games are so varied, I think we'll have trouble nailing down any key points by thinking on such a broad scale.

[Matt]

I was just thinking of the thing where movies of videogames seem to be inherently crap. I mean, people say the RE films are crap films but just how sophisticated do you think the source material is? It's almost like we accept a certain narrative in one form and not another, right?

A quick aside, there's plenty of story in something like the RE series for a great film. In this case, the handling of the films was sub par - ignoring the game origins, it's a poor film in it's own right.

However, the complete RE video game storyline soon becomes tiresome because, as most video games do, they cover the same ground in endless sequels without really moving forward. There is a huge immaturity in videogame writing, and I think you are right - many games both accept it, and have come to expect it. Something like RE4 may break the mold from the gameplay and setting perspective, but narratively it's not really different to any of the previous stories.

[dotoko]

The reason it "is how it is" is because great drama is life without the boring bits and although that works for cinema if you were to remove mundane acts like driving or walking from video games you'd end up with some halfway-house interactive movie that would be too fragmented, too short and would remove the player from the experience to such an extent that it'd be totally unplayable.

[cutmymilk]

I enjoyed Killzone, and I enjoy Gears of War. I couldn't explain the story to anyone, though!

[Stormtec]

snip

Well, not necessarily cheese specifically. What I meant was that we're quite used to narratives being not-so-stellar. And I actually disagree about RE having plot worthy of a good film. I think it's very nonsensical and not at all consistent, least of all in it's cast of characters (RE2 Leon vs. RE4 Leon? And I'm pretty sure Wesker is a different person in every RE game he appears in). But that is just me XD

Also, characters don't need to look life-like or photo-realistic for a player to form an emotional connection though? I mean, you said yourself that you felt protective of Ico, and he's hardly a photo-realistic human. I think game characters are avatars for us as players to impose ourselves upon, in that sense, and it currently works much better the less it accurately resembles a real person (while still sort of looking like a person, if that makes sense). You know, uncanny valley and all that?

Dotoko: You mean point-and-click adventures? =P

As an aside, I thought the story of Kaim's life as an immortal was quite compelling. The big main game-driving plot was typical JRG fare, but the exploration of a life that doesn't end, and the experiences attached to that, were pretty well told, I think. I also think the game mechanic where immortals in your party could only learn new skills from the mortals in your party was a great way of combining narrative and gameplay. But that might just be me XD

[El Leone]

I don't see whats so inconsistant about Leons character development. Its fairly straight forward. Also, someone said something about the expectations of the RE movies. No one really expected it to be sophisticated, thats a bit unfair considering the games are not even close to being that. The problem the with RE films is that they were ****ty, poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed and they were just used to help feed Milla Jovovich gigantic ego.

[Stormtec]

I don't see whats so inconsistant about Leons character development. Its fairly straight forward.

If I see a character in one film, and then in the sequel he becomes someone completely different, I'd like to know why. In a film, or any other story, a single explanation of "he went to special forces school" and that's it, is a bit...****, as far as narratives go, I reckon XD

poorly written, poorly acted,

*ahem*



XD