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Games Can Make Us Cry
A study by Bowen Research is getting some commentary in the gaming press, with their analysis being that "More than two thirds of all video gamers feel that video games already surpass, or will soon at least equal movies, music and books in delivering an emotional impact." The Guardian Gamesblog has a look at the research. From the article: "Of course it could be argued that RPGs simply attract more emotionally unstable gamers, and that if these same players were forced to try Microsoft Flight Simulator, they'd cry like babies when their Cessna crashed into a pylon during a failed runway approach. Sadly, Bowen does not appear to explore this possibility."
Of course games can make us feel emotion.
Thief: Deadly Shadows had a level in a place named The Shalebridge Cradle [PDF] which was scarier than anything I've ever played. A haunted, burnt out asylum/orphanage with creepy sounds and grueling atmosphere. It was a level that I was glad to be finished.
Play it in the dark on a big screen and Dolby Digital sound. If there's a thunderstorm outside make sure you're wearing Depends.
Trolling is a art,
I'll also admit, I've almost come to tears once or twice while playing a game where a primary character dies off unexpectedly or unfairly.
Yet, when it comes down to it, I can feel part of a well-written book over a game any day. The ability to completely use my imagination removes the last facest of alienation experienced when playing a game or watching a movie... Books definitely produce the largest emotional responses for me. Whereas some games are possibly better than movies, no game is as good as a well written book.
Of course it could be argued that RPGs simply attract more emotionally unstable gamers, and that if these same players were forced to try Microsoft Flight Simulator, they'd cry like babies when their Cessna crashed into a pylon during a failed runway approach. Sadly, Bowen does not appear to explore this possibility.
Couldn't it just be that RPGs have the most involved stories and that the people who play them pay attention to the story? Of course those who play story-intensive games will have a more emotional reaction to gaming than the person who plays only sports games and other story-light titles. The aim of a game is to entertain, and some us are entertained by a good story along with our button mashing.
e2 | LJ
I couldn't help but shed a tear when my pet dog Rover was killed on the first level of NetHack. He was a good and faithful dog. Stuck by my side through thick and thin. Of course, he did have a nasty habit of stepping on cursed items but what can you do? Damn you, falling rock traps. Damn you all! I... I... I can't talk about it anymore... It's still too soon.
While the emotionally unstable RPG player comment was amusing, the reality is that we react emotionally to stories. RPGs usually provide more story content (character development, background information about the world, complex interactions between the characters) than other games, so it makes sense that RPGs would be among the first games to elicit emotional responses.
A simulated aircraft crashing at the runway doesn't have the same emotional charge without story: it is just an event in a sterile world. If on the other hand prior to takeoff we had cut-scenes showing a pilot, spouse and children boarding the plane to make a trip that was important to them, then the same crash in the same game environment might have more emotional impact. The more "connected" the player was to their story, the bigger the impact.
Other types of games can deliver story, sometimes simply through the environment (a burned out village, an isolated shoreline surrounded by jagged cliffs, etc). In some ways this is more effective for more interactive games because interactive environments tend to pull the player out of the emotional impact when the player can interact in ways unsuited to the emotion of the scene. Half life, for example: the scientists you meet throughout was a ground breaking "in game engine" way to experience the progression of the story. Assuming you listened, didn't shoot things while they talked, etc. RPGs tend to avoid that problem by literally tearing the control out of the users hands, although some more recent games have made good progress at interactive storytelling methods that don't feel so abrubt.
Sig under construction since 1998.
Some games can make you cry based purely upon the emotional investment made *before* you play the game.
See: Daikatana. Dr3ver. Pac-Man (2600).
#4 - The opening sequence to Alternate Reality (Atari 800 version only) by Gary Gilbertson and Phillip Price.
#3 - Deus Ex -- The death of Paul Denton. (The first time I played it through, he died. The second time I played it through, I saved him, and felt really good about myself until I found out that everyone else I knew saved him on the first try.)
#2 - RP-heavy text MUDs run by live GMs can pull at the heartstrings as no MMORPG has. (But, no doubt, they will get there.)
#1 - The death of Floyd in Planetfall:
I still get vaclempt after reading the last line. You gotta problem with that!?
We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
The game industry has all but abandoned the adventure genre where we were just beginning to grow up and see some good storytelling.
Adventure occationally makes a comeback in RPGs. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind is a great example. There's plenty of plot and tons of exploration. The trouble is that the sequels to such games miss the point and fairly universally evolve towards a combat mechanics focus in an effort to gain universal appeal. As long as the reviewers continue to punish developers for neglecting combat and multi-player capabilities, and developers continue to do everything poorly rather than focus on doing one thing well, games will continue to have crappy plots and literary qualities.
Another perfect example: Xenogears. The game was almost all plot, and the reviewers trashed it for that. Now there are pseudo-sequels and they added so much combat and level grind that you have to buy a 100 hour "episode" to get 20 minutes of plot out of a game.
learn to appreciate themes outside of their adolescent power and sex fantasies
Those things describe at least half (but probably more like 90% when you consider how much pulp is published every year) of the literature that mankind has ever produced. If you're willing to seek out the diamond in the literary rough, why can't you accept that there are the same things in the gaming world?
I've had a lot of games pull some strong emotions out of me, everything ranging from close-to-tears to hair standing on end.
I remember getting freaked out playing Castle Wolfenstein. (Yes, the original.) I was on the fourth mission or so. Up to that point, the last level was open a few doors, go down a few hallways, there's the boss. Wipe him out. This one had me going after (if I recall correctly) a mechanized general. At every hall and door, I expect to see the boss. First door, nothing. Second, nothing, Thrid, nothing. Then I got to the point of nervous where-the-hell-is-he? thinking. Another hall, another corner. Still no boss. (Keep in mind it was also in the wee hours of the morning and I was very tired, making me more susceptible.) Another door, no boss, another door, no boss, another corner, no boss. I'm completely freaking out by this time wondering where the hell he is. I walk into a room that didn't seem to be a place for a boss, making me lower my defenses for a bit, when I hear "AMERIKANER!!!" from my left speaker. I jumped out of my chair by several inches and was rightfully slaughtered.
I had had enough, shut the game off, and went to bed, but I actually sat up in bed for about 1/2 hour, twitching at every damn creak that the building made.
Conversely, I was really impacted by the storyline of Unreal II. Believe it or not, that game had an incredibly strong character arc. (It was not the mindless shoot-and-kill like the original Unreal.) Every non-action sequence and cut-scene was dedicated to character development and relevant story progression. Anyway, throughout the whole game I obviously learned more and more about the background of my crew - why they left their home, what they want in life, why they made the decisions that they did. The writers really did a superb job of helping you to bind with and to understand the crew.
SPOLIERS AHEAD, but the game is four years old, so doubt it's much of an issue.
When the ship and crew were destroyed and the main character drops to his knees in sorrow as he watches the ship blown apart in the atmosphere above him, my jaw just dropped and all I wanted was revenge. No game had ever made me want revenge like that before.
The final sequence where he plays their final, recorded messages of thanks and goodbye - now alone in his escape pod - had me almost close to tears. I was really hoping for some kind of expansion pack that shows that the crew actually made it out alive, but alas it was not meant to be. I had never gotten that emotional about video game characters before, but the story writers for Unreal II really were just that good as far as I'm concerned. (Others believed differently. So be it.)
Finally, although I have always been one to respect and honor our military and the sacrifices that they have made (and currently make) for us, if Medal of Honor was anything close to what our soldiers had to go through in World War II (and I'm sure that it was actually much, much worse), I have a much more profound respect for those who fought and died to preserve our liberties.
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This is something I've been really interested in for a while. I think that the idea that video games evoke as much emotion as movies, books, movies, or art is absurd, and I suspect any real research would show this.
One theory is that games are almost always winnable by definition which doesn't accurately mimic reality, and this blunts an emotional response. There's no real question about the fate of the hero, they can eventually "win" one way or another. You're not going to get to the end of Super Mario and find the princess behind an impassable brick wall (this is a hack I've considered doing.)
My friend and I were discussing this, and he pointed out that early video games sometimes had movie-like scenarios but were not winnable. Take Robotron for example. Sure there are some maniacs who can play a long time, but for the most part, it just gets faster and there are more aliens and robots until you die. Personally, I did find the game subtly disturbing.
Part of all this may also be due to the fact that games tend to dwell more in the realm of craft rather than actual art. Videogame art is emerging, but there's not much exposure, or a middle ground between pure conceptual art and something that's actually fun to play. Perhaps Katamari Damacy is a step in that direction, since the importance of goals and challenges is diminished in that game. It becomes more of just an activity, a time where you exist in that world. Frankly, that's the game that's evoked the most emotion from me in recent times just because it's so beautiful visually, musically, and conceptually.
-paul