Immerse Yourself!
Steven Spielberg has made many points about this. "Is the player in charge of the story, or is the programmer in control of the story?" Spielberg asked. "How do you make those two things reconcile with each other? Audiences often don't want to be in control of a story. They want to be lost in your story. They come to hear you be the storyteller, but in gaming it's going to have to be a little bit of both, a little bit of give and take."
The pinnacle of gaming overtaking film narrative immersion is as Spielberg says "when games can make people cry".
Single person gaming is the book of today for allot of the new generation of boys and men. Though it still hasn't quite achieved full immersion, it is nearly there with first person games like Half Life 2 and Halo.
"The next big emotional breakthrough in gaming is being able to tell a story that is consistent throughout the narrative. If the game is 15 levels, it's just like 15 chapters in a story," Spielberg
Half Life 2 and Halo are first person shooter games that have strong narrative that players get immersed in and take to heart. Halo was the first game that I can remember where narrative is a driving force and that gamers felt truly involved in. Then Half Life 2 came along being the most immersive and critically acclaimed games of all time for this reason.
While neither game made anyone cry I'm sure, both mesmerized gamers and created their addiction for sequels and for the story to never end. This was clearly shown by the amazing Halo following which broke entertainment history records. For the Halo Sequel (Halo 2) a record 1.5 million units where pre-ordered, in the first 24 hours of its release it sold 2.4million units and grossed 125million, making it the highest grossing entertainment release in history. One Year after release it had sold more than 7 million copies and another year later sales figures are unclear but surely still rising with the advent of XBOX Live and Halo 2 being the most played game online. More still it is being released for PC with Windows Vista in 2007.
With the huge following of Halo 2, Halo 3 is set to be just as big with the slogan "Finish the fight - 2007". Putting influence on the narrative, the fight between humanity and the evil covenant in the single player mode.
Half Life 2 is another similar game but more realistic to life on earth and a story that is science fiction but thoroughly believable. It is the pinnacle of gaming immersion at this current time. With a strong narrative and great balance of interaction and objective. Half Life 2 and its episodic
continuation (being released in parts like a TV show) does encourage an important and powerful emotion into the players, this is the emotion of growing uncertain love. This comes from the partnering with the other main character called Alyx, a woman you fight with, help personally and go through experiences with for the entire game. However, throughout the whole game the players character (Gordon) is completely silent, the emotion comes through the narrative and the words of Alyx. In Half Life 2: Episode 1 this growing love on Alyx's behalf continues with more flirtatious remarks from her.
Half Life 2 instils this bond with the player, she is someone you spend the entire time ingame with. Many players online have speculated and talked about this important bond in the game, hoping it continues and turns into love in the following episodes. There is even nude fantasy art and other erotic items of fan art.
Half Life's production studio, Valve, has been successful in communicating a real emotion through their video game, one that creates a bond with the player. This keeps the player coming back and eventually maybe Valve will confirm this love from Alyx and perhaps through the bond created in previous Half Life games some emotion maybe shown from the player, as Spielberg wants.
posted by Anonymous at 2:43 pm
5 Comments:
Hey Karl,
I think your comments are good but I find games distract me from any proper immersion with the fact that I am holding a controler and I am the one in control.
I find this distracting, especially when I don't make a jump or can't get out of a certain area.. This tends to shock me out of the immersive experience as I swear at the controller, the game and my own inhibility to make it like a seemless movie.
I suppose this could be seen as more realistic life experience, not a big budget movie, but it doesn't rope me in, I always find I KNOW I'm playing a game, although sometimes I can get lost in films.
Games have always frustrated and even bored me, until the games you mentioned came out with story lines that actually sort of mattered, although for the best story lines noone has ever beaten the 'Final Fantasy' series.
Maybe I'm strange, I can't sit down at a game for more than 20 minutes before leaving again.
Ben
Hey Ben,
Yeah I know what you mean, I'm the opposite. Games don't have anywhere near the mass appeal of movies, but for the people who enjoy them, they know what I mean.
Controllers become sort of invisible to the player overtime as the controller becomes second nature after hours of hand-eye co-ordination.
Increase the peace
Karl
Both good points.
I still believe that gaming is relatively new media compared to film and given enough time Computer Games look to become as appealing if not more to the masses.
It took trial and error and the development of new technology for Filmmakers to fine tune the art of Filmmaking. Similarily it took time for the mass appeal of Film as a media to become mainstream.
While I would not say Gaming is as popular or immersive as Film is at this point, given an equal amount of time I'm positive it will prove to be the next generation of mass entertainment.
Caleb (Game enthusiast)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Good point Caleb. What games do you play?
That question is for everyone really, feel free to comment.
Post a Comment
<< Home