Comments on: Games-as-Stories (via Tale of Tales) http://www.songless.com/blog/2008/02/02/21/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:04:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.3 By: WiredNavi http://www.songless.com/blog/2008/02/02/21/#comment-34 WiredNavi Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:40:42 +0000 http://www.songless.com/blog/2008/02/02/21/#comment-34 I think a lot of the issue is that the balance between story and gameplay is weighted heavily in favor of the latter in terms of pure practicality. Games which have interesting and enjoyable stories, or any other aesthetic appeal (horror, intellectual challenge, interesting commentary/ramifications, etc.) but do not have enjoyable gameplay will be frustrating at best. I would have a hard time reading even the best novels if between fragments of the text I was forced to perform boring, repetitive tasks with a graceless and unresponsive interface. It's unfortunate and limiting when the story is only a premise for the gameplay, but it's often just unenjoyable when the gameplay is only a premise for the story. That's not always the case, of course, but in the vast majority of even successful story-first style games like interactive fiction, the gameplay manages to enhance rather than detract from the enjoyment. This is not to say that synergy between the two is a bad thing. I think that most of the truly great games I've enjoyed combine both. But the vast majority of people who play games have been trained by years of games where story was not as much of an option (or at least was a discarded one, because of the arcade-games roots) to play them for the challenge and entertainment of the system, not the intellectual and spiritual spark. It's worth noting that the kind of games would consider to be story-above-gameplay, like interactive fiction, Sierra-style adventure games, and possibly things like Myst, are essentially descendents of ADVENT, while nearly all other mainstream games are descendents of coin-op arcade games. While those coin-op games may have sprung from the early 'SPACEWAR' style games, the whole concept mutated wildly over the 70's and 80's while story-style games never had as much development because they were less profitable before the introduction of home computers. In effect, action/twitch nonstory games have had more time to grow up. I think a lot of the issue is that the balance between story and gameplay is weighted heavily in favor of the latter in terms of pure practicality. Games which have interesting and enjoyable stories, or any other aesthetic appeal (horror, intellectual challenge, interesting commentary/ramifications, etc.) but do not have enjoyable gameplay will be frustrating at best. I would have a hard time reading even the best novels if between fragments of the text I was forced to perform boring, repetitive tasks with a graceless and unresponsive interface. It’s unfortunate and limiting when the story is only a premise for the gameplay, but it’s often just unenjoyable when the gameplay is only a premise for the story. That’s not always the case, of course, but in the vast majority of even successful story-first style games like interactive fiction, the gameplay manages to enhance rather than detract from the enjoyment.

This is not to say that synergy between the two is a bad thing. I think that most of the truly great games I’ve enjoyed combine both. But the vast majority of people who play games have been trained by years of games where story was not as much of an option (or at least was a discarded one, because of the arcade-games roots) to play them for the challenge and entertainment of the system, not the intellectual and spiritual spark.

It’s worth noting that the kind of games would consider to be story-above-gameplay, like interactive fiction, Sierra-style adventure games, and possibly things like Myst, are essentially descendents of ADVENT, while nearly all other mainstream games are descendents of coin-op arcade games. While those coin-op games may have sprung from the early ‘SPACEWAR’ style games, the whole concept mutated wildly over the 70’s and 80’s while story-style games never had as much development because they were less profitable before the introduction of home computers. In effect, action/twitch nonstory games have had more time to grow up.

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