Are Video Games Art? (Page 6 of 9)

My guess is poorly. Even the 'best' video game stories are generic derivative affairs, but that's not really the point. The function of the video game story is very different to those of other mediums. A video game doesn't tell you a story, it provides the framework for you to create your own. Aliens attack and you need to get to your ship. That's the generic framing, and you write the specifics yourself: I'll come up behind this elite and smack him in the back of his elongated head and then throw a grenade to kill the two grunts over there.

Those stories that are considered to be the best are simply ones that have been able to make you care about the other characters - either the hapless scientist dragged away through a vent or the teammate that's just been shot by your double-crossing commander.

I don't think a game trailer belongs in this conversation at all. Movie trailers are short versions of movies, where game trailers are not short versions of the games. They're also short versions of movies.

Geoff pretty much sums up my feeling about the whole trailer.

Chris: I love you man; that video was exactly what I was thinking of.

Back to the topic at hand, I would lean toward the Halo novels.  I haven't read any of them, but Halo has a pretty good story line to begin with; I think that is what makes for a good tie in novel.

I don't mean a novelization, I mean basically a point by point recitation of "this is the story you experience when playing Halo," and put that next to a similar list for, like, A Few Good Men.

Generally, I'm trying to figure out what storytelling can possibly take place in the game-half of a modern game.

Synopsis of Bioshock

Synopsis of the first Halo

Synopsis of Mass Effect

Synopsis of the first God of War

Synopsis of the first Metal Gear Solid

Synopsis of Grim Fandango

Synopsis of Ghostbusters: the Video Game

A game can involve as much storytelling as a movie -- more, even, since it isn't restricted to ~2 hours. It will generally be a certain kind of story, since there needs to be action for the players to control -- you're probably not going to find an apples-to-apples example for A Few Good Men -- but it's still as much an art form as any other storytelling endeavor.

How, precisely, is this not "telling you a story"? Sure, you have to decide how to get to your ship, but how is the bullet point "Aliens attack and Master Chief must get to his ship" somehow less of a story in a game summary than it would be in a movie summary?

The specifics are not really that important -- give two different directors that same line and you'll get two very different scenes telling the same story. How is it fundamentally different when you're "directing" as a game player than when watching what someone else has directed?

And again, how is that not fundamentally what makes a story good in any medium?

Also, I want to note that "art" and "story" are not necessarily synonymous (not that we've established a clear definition of "art" in the first place). Some puzzle games like Portal and Braid are works of art, IMO, based more on the craftsmanship involved in creating puzzles that can challenge your perception as much as an M.C. Escher drawing can, than on their stories (although Portal's story, while simple, is entertaining and effective).

Sure.

Keep in mindthis is coming from the non-gamer in this group. But I think a lot of games aproach storytelling from a very Kubrickian point of view. Where it's not so much about the point by point hits of a story, but about the experience of actually being there. I'm sure there are games out there that tell a "story" but it's much more about being in that situation and reacting to the surroundings inside this very basic construct of a story.

But like I said, I really need to start gaming, so feel free to shoot me down.

So: the people here who do not play video games feel that they are the best suited to espouse on the storytelling capability and value of the video games we've just established they don't play, and to tell the people who do play video games that they are incorrect in their direct observations of the video games which, as mentioned, they actually play.

...oh, I get it. You guys are joking. You had me going for a second there.

Oh I get it, your just being a douche today.

On the subject, I don't personally play games, but I am surrounded by 29 people daily who do game and talk about it constantly, and watch videos about it daily and every once and a while I get to watch them play. I've learned the basics by osmosis.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2011-02-25 23:57:22)

And lets remember there are different styles of games. The Japanese RPGs are almost all story, heavy on character development and plot (depending, naturally). Track down Grandia 2, for example, for a great take on religion (and play all three for the best combat system ever). A first person shooter often is less about story, or at least it's easier for the player to not become that involved. In Half Life 2 I cared, while as I'm now playing Bioshock I really don't

In the end though it'll depend on what the player brings to it. Back in the day when playing the original Wizardry on the Apple //, all my characters had personalities and talked during combat and there was more "story" then in Ultima IV

I have played Portal, I can say that much. But I'm waiting til I finish school before I start doing much else.