Why games fail at storytelling

[Paul_Warren]

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"Let me see if an analogy will do the trick. Does it disturb you when you go to a theater, and you see all the action from one viewpoint? Now, does it disturb you when you see a movie and the camera never once moves? Why is it okay in one, but not the other?"

For the first part. No not really. If you go see horror movies, for example, you only see the action from two viewpoints. That of the protgonist and antagonist. And sometimes, if the film has a strong enough central character like The Dark Knight's Joker or Freddy Krueger or Coffin Joe, then you're really only seeing things from that one viewpoint. For the second part, most of my favorite movies are European pictures from the seventies and depending upon whom the actress is on the screen at the time, you oftentimes really dont want the camera to move that much.


ntially recorded theater productions).

"What it does mean is that a storyteller can get much more bang for the buck if he recognizes that his medium is not the same as any other, and that he should act accordingly. I've stated some examples above, and other people have done the same in this thread. But perhaps I should end this with a question for you: how much control do you, the viewer, have over the actors on the screen when you're watching T.V.? And how much do you have over the main character in a video game?"

Well the closest types of stories to those found in jrpgs (although most of them tell much less interesting stories imo) are soap operas. So, a jrpg which tells a thrilling and epic end of the world narrative is using the medium of video games to tell an incredible story that many times wouldn't be possible in any other medium. An example would be a show like Heroes. Actually not very many things take place in a episode of Heroes or even in an entire season. Many times you actually have to go years to see many things happen in a television drama. However, in a jrpgs, much as in novels, that many times lasts as long entire runs of tv series on a single disc, you see much more interesting things happen...there are many instances of rising actions, climaxes, descending actions, and repeats like a long fulfilling rollercoaster ride...like the best epic novels; however, you see these things presented cinematically. You don't just have to rely on your imaginations to depict what the author was trying to say because you can see it on the screen.

Anyway to answer your last question. It can vary. Obviously if the character is that important to the video game, then you can have quite a bit of control over what he does. But if it is a story that is told through a script and that needs for the character to complete that script then you really need to be willing to guide the video game character through the story to appreciate what the creator is trying to say. Again much as in reading a novel. You need to be able to guide Leon, Cloud, ICO, or Solid Snake through the objectives they need to complete. And I don't have any trouble being willing to that. It's much the same as when you read Salem's Lot, you guide Ben Mears to the conclusion by being willing to read the pages.