Have you ever cried (out of sadness) during a video game?

[Reasonable]

rocketpig said:

The Ghost of RubangB said:
Yeah. All the time. Games have made me cry out of happiness, sadness, and everything else. Same thing with movies and music.

I wonder why movies, music, and books can get to me easily but games cannot. Strange.

I'll have to think about that for awhile.

Well, without thinking - and I'm curious what you come up with - I'd say the basic form of most games precludes evoking the same level of emotion as a film or book can.

Films and books by design (and of a resonable craft) are looking to hook and engage your emotions.  Often (not always admitedly, you can have 'cold' movies) films and books are crafted to involve you in characters, and they use their structure to build your involvement to then evoke strong emotions.

Most games are designed to engage you in learning and applying a game mechanic, even those with stories and characters.  Take VC - which seems popular on this site.  It had engaging characters (for the most part) and a number of well conceived and evocative cut-scenes.  But between those, it's a game.  I'm looking at stats - I can switch my roster around - I'm thinking about my characters simply as chess pieces.  I don't want to lose any, but maybe I must to win.

That sets up a barrier I think.  I'm curious whether someone of a certain (younger) age today might develop a more game aligned way of evaluating the moments between the gameplay, but in general I believe the basic approach of games is a barrier.

ICO for me is a standout example of a game and a narrative because it so cleverly mixes the narrative and the gameplay - which remains a stroke of genius I think rarely equalled.

To progress you had to bring Yorda.  Now of course you could just view her as a nuisance.  But really, that's a pretty shallow response.  The game clearly animates her and cleverly uses her to evoke a genuine attachment, one born from moments' of frustration to be sure.  ICO for me earns its ending and the way most who've played and embraced it really feel attached to Ico and Yorda.

And what I like is that it doesn't overly rely on cinematic approachs but on gameplay mechanics that simultanuously evoke (if you're willing to let it) an emotional response as well.  SOTC also achieves this, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how well The Last Guardian also mixes gameplay with character and emotions in a seamless way.

Uncharted 2 I think is another great example of a title that manages a superior level of mixing of gameplay, character and emotion, as has been rightly recongnised by the more sophisticated critics around.