Can Games Make You Cry?

Ground Glass writes "'Can games make you cry?' is a ridiculously simple question to ask about a hideously complex issue. Worse, it's possible that the very question itself muddies the answer. Next Generation's approach is a little more thoughtful; by figuring out what questions each medium tries to answer free of the art issue, it cuts to the heart of what games can do. With the tools made clear, it then theorizes what said tools can do emotionally." From the article: "In film, you can show a character staring at a point before him and then change perspective to show what he was staring at; it is the proximity and timing of the imagery that lends significance to the second shot. In painting, you can play with the two-dimensional space and qualities of the material at hand to create similarly suggestive juxtapositions of imagery, color, symbolism, perspective, lending greater insight into the workings of the medium, the subject at hand, the painter herself, and - ultimately - the viewer and his own perspective on the world around him."

Comments

I didn't cry, but...

[scheming daemons]

...the first time I played Quake with the headphones on and the lights turned off....I shit my pants when one of those wolverine-type monsters came around the corner.

Not really.

[Jugalator]

The most emotional ending I've seen was the one after completing Grim Fandango, but no, it was pretty far from crying though. :-p