Next Gen - Bring On The Gloom

magerette · June 8, 2008

Sunday, and as usual, not a lot of excitement on the news front, so here's a little diversion in the form of an op-ed over at Next Gen that is basically discussing the question of emotional involvement in video games, and applauding how it makes for a more intense game experience, especially if it's depressing:

...It seems as though in many cases, bringing people down brings a medium up. Make the masses cry, make them depressed, make them question their very existence in a world painted bleak and black and brimming with futility, then you're the purveyor of what an audience often equates to "deep" entertainment.

There's a reason why the big question in games has been "Can games make you cry?" and not "Can games make you chortle?" We like to feel as though we have depth.

As people, we're drawn to different personalities. But it's not the skipping, grinning, happy-go-haha guy that we're intrigued by. It's the brooding, mysterious dark figure with a sketchy past whose head we're interested in. Many have wondered what makes Charles Manson tick. Fewer have wondered what makes Jessica Simpson tick.

While not being completely down on lighter games, the author feels that pushing the boundaries of emotion is more effective in darker games as long as it's supported with good game structure:

This isn't to say that simply being "emo" is enough to make a game truly push the boundaries of depression (or rather, emotions). There has to be gameplay, a good story and characters that you care about to keep a game from being a goth poser. GTA IV and BioShock herald what I consider a new breed of sulkiness in games. Sure, an optimist can find a ray of hope in those games' stories. But even though you can play those games a certain way, and maybe reach some kind of resolution where you're offered a hint of hope, it's the instances that you encounter that offer you no control--that make you do the opposite of what you originally intended to do in order to progress--that really have the potential to make your heart sink as not only a gamer, but a participant in interactive entertainment.
There is still room for the Saturday morning cartoon-type games,... But there's something to be said about the depressing, dramatic game. Perhaps the question shouldn't be, "Can games make you cry?" but "Can games make you feel like complete crap (in a good way, if that's even possible)?"...
...Nevertheless, an experience like Uncharted or Sam & Max leaves you in a totally different state of mind compared to something like GTA IV, BioShock, or (I'll throw another rather depressing-yet-great game in here) Shadow of the Colossus. All of these games are equally immersive, but the weightiness of a game that explores your darker side--one that tests or questions your sense of right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate--can bring games outside of a typical "popcorn" experience.

So bring on the gloom, the sorrow, the hopelessness. Give me the illusion of choice, and snatch it away from me. Make me feel like an empty vessel of a gamer. We need expertly crafted despair. We need more of it to strike a better balance with those popcorn games.

More information.

Alrik Fassbauer · June 8, 2008

What an absolute rubbish !

Okay, the concept per se is right - bindding players through emotions - but all in all this sounds to me just like a gothic type, who sees no sense in everything, declares the doom ahead of us and dresses all in black because colours just have no sense in the Eye of doom.

Sorry, I just made up this heavy cliché, but I have the constant feeling that RPGs -especially fantasy-based RPGs - are based on nothing but Doom at all !

What i mean is that especially RPGs just create worlds which are so catastrophic that they just need an glorious hero who saves the world !

This cliché is so much worn that it makes me think "oh, that one again ?" each time I encounter such a setting.

on the other hand this article here follows a position of nothing but doom. Not even "glorious heroes", so to say, but only more doom.

This is like a fan-made unit description for the inofficial patch 1.4 of Age of Wonders : Shadow Magic : The undead one seeks redemption, which it doesn't get. What it awaits is death - after the death. Eternal death. Not only being Undead but Undead.

This is as if I was saying that the food on your plate shouldn't look colourful to leave behind a lasting experience in your memore; even more, the lasting experience would be even greater and even more lasting if it tastes bad !

"YUCK ! That was the WORST meal I've eaten in AGES ! Not since the Second World War !"

Now THAT leaves an impression !

I must say that I'm quite biased, personally, because for my very personal taste there's already much too much doom in games. Where are the colourful Jump & Run games like Commander Keen and Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures gone ?
They have died out or been replaced by games that look so grey that one needs to have eyes that are able to perceive several hundred shades of grey to make the overall graphics / look enjoyable. In short: I don't like grey in grey in grey in grey ...

I played the demo of Dungeon Siege II yesterday. The intro and the menu screen look like red blood and darkness. Nothing more. There is no hope, but only bathing in blood. At least the menu screen suggests this, and it prominently features two colours : Red and Black - oh, and grey, of course, a few shades.

I think this must be the heaven for someone who wants not redemption from doom, but instead Doom After Doom (maybe this could become the next title id ID's new game ?)

I don't like it at all. The colours have gone. Nobody likes them. Everything must be dark and grey instead.

This goes for whole settings as well, not just simple colours of textures.

I personally think that the most striking reason against the opinion expressed in this article is this : We can only perceive darkness because of light.
And vice versa.

magerette · June 8, 2008

It's the vice versa I think he's driving at, Alrik, though I'm not sure I entirely agree. I think it's true that life is often dark and depressing, bad things happen to good people, yadda yah and of course, some things truly tragic intrude on almost everyone at some point--and by facing and overcoming these things people are indeed frequently uplifted and made to feel empowered. (I might add, not always--sometimes they're crushed and become neurotic shells.)

I'm not sure how well this level of realism translates into a game made for money,however. He talks here about trying and being unable to make choices for good and basically being denied a "happy ending" in games as the major way to validate his preferred game experience. Whereas I hate being controlled and manipulated in games--as Corwin wrote in his sidequest on the subject--unless the game is damn good, and adult enough to have made me feel there was a significant point to it.

I guess it depends on what you're playing for. I think games like The Witcher or Planescape:Torment acheive the goal of validating through the dark side, but only because they don't railroad your choices, and you realize your own actions have brought you down the road to doom or redemption. Being brought down by mindless slaughter and fatalism as in his GTA example seems a little less satisfying to me--but then I haven't played it.

Alrik Fassbauer · June 9, 2008

For me, it's simply that : I need something that "keeps my spirits high", so to say.

Some say that this is a sign od weakness; the purely strong ones can endure darkness withouth that.

I don't know. I have often - too often, I feel -the difficulty that I can't quite describe what I mean with that ... I just need someting colourful like flowers, for example, to "keep my spirits high". I just can't like in dark clothes, this would draw me too much down.

In a way I'm like a Jester : I need something to believe in, I need something that in a way drives me away from darkness.

and I must say that I've seen quite some darkness. Lost friends, lost relatives, even personal incidents. The hurt was not done physically, but psychally.

Maybe that's a kind of "protection reaction" of my soul. Or what ever. This "protection scheme" protects me from more harm by letting me unconsciously avoid things that could harm me - however.

Interestingly, heroes - and villians, too - in games often are strong - physically. They are physical heroes. Conan is I think the best example of it all.

Psychology is never there. There simply are no "psychical heroes" out there.

Endurance as shown in games is only expressed through physicalk endurance. Because that's much better expressable through graphics.

Psychical attributes cannot be shown through graphics. That's why they never appear.

I think I should stop now, because I'm very tired. Good night.

Corwin · June 9, 2008

For me, games are like movies; I want to feel better afterwards. I don't bother to see depressing movies; I can watch TV for that- the news for example!! I don't want a gloomy game either. I want something that will absorb me, while lifting me out of the daily grind. Hey, it's called a GAME for a reason!! If I don't enjoy a game, any game, not just computer games, then I'm not going to play it!!

curiously undead · June 9, 2008

Alrik surely your are forgetful. i thought you were a fan of adventures games?
nearly every adventure game out there is about heroic ability through the mind and not through either level 20 sorcery, an ak47, or a 2 handed bastard sword.

Corwin i know your old but theres no reason to be so fearful

Alrik Fassbauer · June 9, 2008

curiously undead said:
Alrik surely your are forgetful. i thought you were a fan of adventures games?
nearly every adventure game out there is about heroic ability through the mind and not through either level 20 sorcery, an ak47, or a 2 handed bastard sword./QUOTE]

Yes, of course you're right !

I was speaking mostly of RPGs.

But FPS are similar in that respect, too.

Next Gen - Bring On The Gloom

magerette

Hedgewitch

Alrik Fassbauer

TL;DR

magerette

Hedgewitch

Alrik Fassbauer

TL;DR

Corwin

On The Razorblade of Life

curiously undead

tuned to a different freq

Alrik Fassbauer

TL;DR