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On Provoking Emotions Via Games

Posted by Zonk on from the harder-than-it-looks dept.

N'Gai Croal, poster at the Newsweek LevelUp blog, moonlights today in a column for Next Geneartion discussing the success games have had in provoking emotional responses. More specifically, he talks about the fact that mostly games are fairly bad at this. Citing a few notable exceptions (Final Fantasy VII, BioShock), he raises again the notion of 'games as art' as they relate to emotion: "Shadow Of The Colossus wasn't a blockbuster, but the frequency with which it's cited in 'are games art?' debates indicates both a medium still in its aesthetic infancy and a videogame that punched above its weight. BioShock won't sell like Gears Of War, but it already feels as though it's going to be one of this generation's most influential games. And if Mass Effect can deliver on its early promise of confronting players with thorny moral choices and the consequences of their actions, perhaps other creators will see that making the player feel bad can be a good thing after all. "

4 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Shadow of the Colossus by flitty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When I first beat Shadow of the Colossus, I'm sure i'm not the only one who thought, "My god, what have I done?" I've never had another game make me questions my actions within the game before. It was wonderful.

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    Whether or not there is some sort of god, I'm not supposed to say/god is a word and the argument ends there-Smog
  2. You muust Euthanise it! by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Although the incineration process is extremely painful, eight out of ten Aperture Science engineers believe your companion cube probably can't feel pain."

    If there's been one game that evoked emotion in me this year, it was Portal. From dread and fear when discovering the ratman's nest, to shock when I saw the fire pit open up, and consistent joy in solving the puzzles or hearing GLaDOS speaking. Portal's minimalist beauty, awesome execution, and wonderful writing puts it at the top of my "games are art" arguments list.

    --
    Demented But Determined.
  3. Music by king-manic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find my emotions being toyed with via the music more often then anything else. As well crafted as the plot is in planescape, Deionarra Theme did more then any words. FF6 may have had a nice interesting story but it would not have been ass successful with a lesser sound track. I find thats what fails about other games for me. Oblivion never moved me at all because of it's rather generic sound track. ditto for the fallout games.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  4. Alter Ego by Darkforge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Like the game says: What if you could live your life over again?

    If you make it all the way to the end of this game and you don't feel anything, you're not really a human being. ;-)

    (Full disclaimer: I ported AE to the web from the Commodore 64.)

    --

    When I moderate, I only use "-1, Overrated". That way, I never get meta-moderated!