Stories in Gaming vs Other Media

[Karifean]

Here's something I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on.

How do the best told stories in gaming - making good use of the specialties of its medium - compare to the greatest stories in other media, say books and movies, to you? Is there a gap this young medium is still incapable of crossing, or can the old classics not keep up with the storytelling advantages of direct interactivity?

[Fynn]

I don't think it's really fair to measure the quality, as the three mediums have vastly different ways of conveying stories, which is awesome, I think.

[Del Murder]

Even though there are some great gaming stories out there, I don't think the best of them really compare to the best films I've seen or books I've read. Other than the visual novels that are literally that, most games necessarily focus on the gameplay aspects since that is what sets them apart from other entertainment. For that reason the story is never really at the forefront. There are many games that blow the average book or movie out of the water but I've never seen one that could compete with the likes of The Godfather, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc.

[Pike]

I think games work best when they focus less on an overarching story (as a movie or book would) and more on a world to immerse a player in. i.e., I think that the story and lore of the game's SETTING is more important than a narrative plot. This plays on the strength of the video game, which is exploration and discovery.

Coincidentally most of my favorite game series (like The Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, various strategy games and so forth) are ones that just sort of dump you in the world and let you traverse it and explore it on your own, making up your own story, character, and motivations as you go. When it comes to that type of storytelling, I would say that my personal experiences playing games are more profound than the majority of my experiences with other media.

But as far as a linear story goes, I don't know if I've quite found one yet that really comes close to really-good-book territory. Deus Ex probably comes really close.

But yeah, for me at least, I think video game stories work best when they are made up by the player.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah I think I agree with Pike for the most part. Even the cases where I can point to a really good story, it's still almost always in the context of good worldbuilding at the very least, and usually with a lot of freeform stuff that lets you make your own choices. It plays to the strength of the medium; interactivity is the point.

I mean I think SMAC has one of the most important and resonant stories in gaming, but the story is told through technological developments, buildings, etc., and as it's a 4x game there's really barely any scope for some sort of guided narrative experience as such. Of course there are some pretty linear games I rate highly (Suikoden games spring instantly to mind) as well, but success with that model seems rarer. Meanwhile something like Morrowind has a vast, overarching, tremendous world and explains almost none of it at face value, it's for you as a player/player-character to wander around, find things hidden in dungeons, read books that relate the same event in totally contradictory means, etc. It's something that can only work in games.

[Ayen]

Well, a game can make their narrative as long or as short as they want it to be. Since it isn't unusual for a game to go on for twenty hours or what not. They have time to develop their world, plot, and characters in a time frame that movies simply don't have, without breaks like a TV show would need, and more interactive than a book can ever be. Though movies at times tend to make the most out of their runtime since they don't also have to worry about that pesky gameplay element which is the bread and butter of most games.

Frankly, I like a linear story. Most of my favorite games have linear stories. Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect, Resident Evil (yes, I like the plot of Resident Evil, shut up). And I'm happy that some genres out there are evolving. Metal Gear Solid showed that a game could be more while still embracing the fact it's a video game unlike some who seem to be ashamed of being in the industry (I'm looking at you David Cage) and I'm all for that. The Last of Us did it too, even though the story used every cliche zombie movie trope in the books and probably would've failed as a standalone movie. Not to say I can't enjoy a game that's just solely gameplay. I've played Mario. I've played Pong!

[Slothy]

I semi agree with Pike. I think games tend to do the best job telling a story when they aren't stopping the game frequently to tell the story to you. When that happens you aren't really using the game medium to tell the story. You're just giving the story in short films and breaking it up with gameplay in between (mind you there is room to build the world with that gameplay without having to talk at the player but most developers are still awful at that). Games like Portal, or even Bethesda's efforts when they use some actual subtlety and manage to avoid scripting gaping plot holes for a few minutes, can be quite spectacular at building story through the medium itself.

But any time I see a game still relying on using other media to tell their story in between gameplay sequences I'm still quite disappointed on the inside. Even when that's done well it isn't really pushing story telling in gaming anywhere.

[Klubbie]

I think games work best when they focus less on an overarching story (as a movie or book would) and more on a world to immerse a player in. i.e., I think that the story and lore of the game's SETTING is more important than a narrative plot. This plays on the strength of the video game, which is exploration and discovery.

I mostly agree with this. The interactivity of games allows you to explore and discover things in a world or universe that you can't quite get in a book or movie since they are guided experiences. Some books and movies obviously are going to have better/more in depth worlds than games, but they will ultimately lack the discovery element that can come with being immersed in a game world and finding little details by talking to everyone in a tavern in an RPG, or exploring the planets out there in Mass Effect 1.

I also think games can write characters in a way that stands out more for me than even books or movies can. Which is somewhat counter-intuitive because over the course of a novel or series of novels you are going to get to know characters a lot more than you are even in most RPGs. But there's something about having 7 or 8 detailed conversations with Thane, Jack, or Garrus on the Normandy and then going to battle with them to stop the Collectors, or exploring Omega with them that adds to the narrative that can't be replicated by books or movies. Same goes for games like the Tales series where seeing the interaction of the characters on a regular basis between towns and plot events just adds an element of personalization that other forms of media can't replicate.

That's why when it comes to a good game storyline, I don't need overarching drama that is manufactured through cliches and tropes (looking at you David Cage). Give me strong, well written, likable characters that are more than two dimensional and a good world with deep lore and I'll have a hell of a time enjoying the ride.

[Wolf Kanno]

As others have said, I feel gaming truly comes into its own when the medium of interactivity is at play over simply just mimicking the efforts of other mediums. That's not to say that games can't have great and impactful stories through cutscenes and text but at that point it's difficult to not judge it on the merits of more established media.

Final Fantasy, and by extension most JRPGs, are not as good as the films, books, and anime they try to mimic. On the other hand, it's difficult to really compare the narrative qualities of Ico and Journey because the interactive element is so much of the plot that it is difficult to compare it to other mediums that don't share the qualities. It's the way a game both makes the player feel like they are part of the world and contributing to it that makes the medium so powerful. It's why I'm often disappointed when games stick to stilted dialogue and cutscenes over embracing the unique qualities of the medium. While I can certainly appreciate where gaming has come as a form of entertainment, I still feel like the medium has a long way to go with becoming a more artistic medium but it is there if a bit few and far between.