GDC: Better stories key to industry growth: Warren Spector

[Eusis]

GameSpot link

Thoughts?

[Sensei Phoenix]

Spector's speech was a good counterpoint to the one at the rant session by the Spore guy. I'd say that Spector has a good grounding in the reality of games, but he'll probably do little to actually unite two camps that are split for the wrong reasons, IMO. There wasn't this type of split until graphics started getting better, honestly. Nowadays, as the technology has progressed so far, I agree with Specter that it's difficult to keep up with it financially and skill-wise. Unfortunately, that's one of the pitfalls of progress, many people get left behind in its wake. No surprise that Spector gave this speech; this has been his raison detre for a while now.

I firmly believe that this era of gaming will eventually lead to an improvement in video games, just like I think every era before it has in its own way. The key to making sure of that is support for developers from the hardware manufacturers so that developers don't flounder. We'll see how it goes.

[Prime Mover]

I both applaud his speech, but am also a bit warry of it. He's on the right track, but a few of his points concern me. For one, I don't think that there's anything wrong with the "stories" to video games, per say, but more the characters. Game characters are shallow and hollow, and no matter how good of a plot you have, if it doesn't have characters that are interesting and that the audience can relate to, you're not going to provide a good experience.

First of all, cut the "The world is black & white" crap. No person is truly good or truly evil. But even in games where its hard to tell which is which, the question is always about figuring who is truly evil and truly good, not about exploring the perspectives and subtleties of people in conflict. A good character you can sympathise and understand, whether or not they're a protagonist or antognist. But this is rare in games, there is almost always a truly evil side. Games need to reach their "Film Noir" era, where characters are all a shade of grey, and you can understand everyone's point of view by the end of the story.

Secondly, be VERY careful about the "get off of rails" routine. I applaud the post-modern "creator has no identify, audience is everything" mentality, but it's a fairly preachy and sometimes fatal mistake. I'll agree that interactivity is what gives video games, as a genre, their unique identity, but you do have to provide the audience with some direction. Drama is all about structure, flow, and timing, and these are things that only an overall creator can provide. It is the very reason we turn to story-telling mediums, rather than only living our day-to-day lives. I don't really care about my personal identity in a story, it's not about me, it's something that I'm supposed to learn from and be guided by.

It's becoming a problem in our society; more and more, people only wish to hear about and talk about themselves, instead of learning from the experiences and decisions made by others. Our entertainment becomes more self-centered, and we demand control over all decision making, and learn nothing from the experience. The more we try to control our experiences, the more rigid we become as individuals.

I don't know about everyone else, but to me, the strength of the interactive side of gaming isn't in its ability to allow me to control my environment, but as a more vivid way of experiencing the world that is given to me. Let me go where I want to go, to explore, for myself, the world in which I'm playing in, but continue to tell me YOUR story and show me the various personalities of which you've populated the world. Do not sacrifice the basic elements of story-telling simply because your audience is too selfish to listen.