COVID-19: Time to take ‘serious’ games seriously
COVID-19: Time to take ‘serious’ games seriously
COVID-19: Time to take ‘serious’ games seriously
By Aradhya Malhotra
March 11, 2021
Summary
For many years, storytelling was often seen as one of the weaker selling points of any video game.
At first, video games didn't replicate real-world experiences in any meaningful way; they simply played with your senses with vibrant colors and tested your hand-eye coordination.
To this day, I see nothing wrong with video games designed entirely for simple fun, and many indie developers continue to release games with that philosophy in mind.
Like other mediums, the way video games go about telling a story differs wildly.
Some focus on a single, fixed narrative like a novel does, as seen in "BioShock Infinite" or "The Last of Us." Some games scatter clues around the environment hinting at a greater overarching lore like "Left 4 Dead" or "The Elder Scrolls" - it's the "Show, don't tell" storytelling principle in video game form.
The most impressive type of video game story are those where the outcome differs depending on the player's actions.
It's been difficult for games to present branching stories in earnest.
Telltale Games, best known for adapting existing franchises into story-driven episodic games such as "The Walking Dead" and "Minecraft: Story Mode," is widely credited for crafting narratives with player-input decisions - but choices made throughout their titles rarely impact the ultimate conclusion of the story.
Over the years, a handful of role-playing games have managed to find a reasonable compromise: add and remove side quests depending on the player's actions, but focus primarily on an overarching narrative that ends with the same pivotal decision no matter what.
Will there ever be a video game featuring true nonlinear gameplay? By using sophisticated-enough artificial intelligence, the possibility might be looming on the horizon.
Reference
Malhotra, A. (2021, March 11). COVID-19: Time to Take 'serious' games seriously. Retrieved June 17, 2021, from https://technical.ly/philly/2021/03/11/covid19-serious-games/