I’ve talked several times in the past about how important story and character are to me in games. It’s just where I focus a lot of my attention, to some extent I’ll overlook genre and gameplay if a game has a compelling narrative and characters that grab me and won’t let go. I guess characters are sort of the point of today’s discussion, specifically the emotion those characters can generate in us.
Compared with the emotions that are stirred in my by older media such as books, films and music games often feel emotionally closed. I honestly can’t think of a situation where a game has actually brought a tear to my eye, whereas I can recall dozens of times that other forms of media have made me well up. Of course compared to other media games are still heavily in their infancy, even the relatively new film industry is nearly 3 times as old gaming; it’s perhaps understandable that they wouldn’t have developed the depth and reach of competing media.
I think part of this is the kinds of stories games tell, and the way they’re told. In general the stories we play paint the protagonist as a hero who must overcome some huge odds to get to whatever their ultimate goal is, whether it be defeat an evil foe or steal some ancient artefact. There’s rarely any kind of background on the character, and when there is it’s frequently some shallow story to make them seem slightly more than a cool piece of moving concept art.
Of course there is one very notable recent exception to this, Heavy Rain. Whilst some may criticise Heavy Rain for the dullness of scenes where you’re at home playing with your kids or taking a shower, these kind of scenes flesh out the characters, making them seem more real. By adding a significant dimension of depth to the character with every-day scenes they make it much easier to connect to them and their motivations, adding a small emotional connection that most games lack.
Of course I may well be wrong, and I’m fully aware that I’m missing out on some games like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus that may grab you almost immediately on an emotional level; sadly I’ve never played them. Do you have any games that really grab you on a raw, emotional level? Or are games still weak in this area?
debasemasonsgrog
Final Fantasy X had a fantastic ending, but oh so sad.
Also, the beautiful ending to FIFA 10 when I defeated the evil corporation and won the prize trophy with my sports team who were considered the underdogs. Gets me every time.
project84music
I’m pretty sure that there have been games I’ve played which have provided strong emotional ties to characters – I know in the past I’ve had similar reactions to characters dying etc in all forms of media. Though for the life of me, I can’t think of any right now – my mind is pretty blank at the moment.
It is certainly possible within games to generate the same emotional response, and in fact, I would go as far as to suggest that it would be easier in gaming, so long as the developer invests in the story. I think this would be the case because you spend time actively interacting with the other characters, rather than just observing (as you would in literature and film) and can actually form strong emotional ties to the characters.
Now that my brain has woken up a little bit some recent examples have sprung to mind – spoilers follow, you have been warned! Killzone 2, when Garza dies, that got me a little bit – I know that KZ2 has been criticised storywise (hence the talk of them improving for KZ3), but because he’s part of your team you can form that strong bond, then you nearly rescue him but fail and he dies in your arms, pretty emotional. Also, in Nier there are a couple of moments, when Kaine gets petrified, or any of the other times she dies, and later when Emil sacrifices himself – thinking about it, Nier really does emotional involvement very well. Lastly, and this is a bit random, but I played through the first Doctor Who Adventure game yesterday, was very upset every time I failed and Amy was killed – though that would be due to the series I would say, and not so much down to the game =P
gazzagb
MW2 spoiler!! Its been out for months so most people know it by now.
When Shepard kills Ghost + Roach, I hated him for that. Ghost was my favourite character, and just seeing him being covered in petrol and set on fire made me depressed for the rest of the evening. Naturally, I then took much please in throwing the knife into Shepard at the end!
I still need to get Heavy Rain. I played the demo, and thought it was alright, but after watching some videos, it actually looks pretty good. And, none of its been spoiled for me so I dont know who the killer is. May pick it up now that my exams are over.
Raen
I think part of the connection there is that it all stays in first person. It’s actually kinda scary.
rht992
it terrified me! i was really really shocked they’d even put it i the game
Severn2j
Absolutley agree about MW2, even tho its just a shallow blockbuster, I felt a huge amount of betrayal over that scene, there was real satisfaction to be had when ‘justice’ was served at the end..
Foxhound_Solid
dragging snake through the burning tunnel in MGS4. Emotional Toll for ccertain.
Havy Rain, brilliant as you feel as though you know the chracters.
Good article, I enjoyed that!
shields_t
I’m shocked that noone has mentioned Braid yet, definitely a story to tug the heart strings.
rht992
gar still to get that one. only heard good things about it
ProjectJAY
considering the majority of it is told through text, I’m having trouble agreeng with you on that one
rht992
I felt more connect with the characters in heavy rain, especially Norman, his story was my favorite and my heart was bonding and i was actually frightened every time i got into a fight. Games like GTA4, MGS4 and red dead offer a lot of emotional connection with the characters because they took the time to craft a story that changed the characters and made you feel like you had reached the goal the characters had spent so long striving towards
rht992
bonding? i meant pounding
PoorPaddy89
Haven’t played Red Dead (yet), but I didn’t get as emotionally attached to GTA4 as I did to MGS4. To me GTA4 was so brutal and ridiculous that when the sad bits happened my reaction would be more along the lines of “You f***ing c***!” rather than reaching for the kleenex. MGS4, whilst still ridiculous most of the time, was always much more in tune with character and plot development, so it had much more of an affect, on me at least.
shields_t
One issue I had with Heavy rain was the way the narrative switched perspectives very quickly, at one point I thought one of the main protagonists had died because I messed up a QTE (at the end of the fight in the meat locker) only for the character to be alive and well in his next featured scene.
rht992
i remember the meat locker scene. on my second play through i didn’t press any of the buttons to see what would happen. . . ouch! never again!
rht992
yeah i know what you mean but i’ve played GTA4 4 times now and i’m on my 5th so you could say i’m a bit obsessed with it
PoorPaddy89
The first time I completed Uncharted 2 I was shouting at the tv when I thought “a certain character” had died. Was unnecessarily emotional things turned out ok :)
gideon1451
The ongoing saga of Gran Turismo 5 never ceases to make me well up.
AG2297
MGS4 for me! After playing all the others the way it was all coming to an end etc. Very emotional.
jayjay119
MGS4 made me emotional when we got to shadow Moses, it gave a real solid feeling of everything coming full circle. However based on story value alone I have never played a more emotive game than MGS3… the truth about the Boss, amazingly sad!
Jones81
Red dead definatley has some emotional weight even though it’s not as sopistacated as things like Heavy Rain, I feel a bit guilty when I shoot innocent people which is not the kind of emotion I usually get from games. Never quite had to get the kleenex out though…although that might change with 3D porn lol