The great divide: The importance of video game narrative

One of the most understated but significant developments within the video game industry in recent years has been the way that games are used to tell a story. As the industry is more saturated with competitive titles and consoles than at any other point in history, developers can no longer rely on simply having the best graphics in order to sell their games. The one facet of gaming that developers have total control over is the story that they are telling in their game, and sales figures from recent years have shown that the gaming population is becoming more and more receptive to these highly narrative games.

When video games first began to really blow up in the 1980s, the gameplay was simple, the graphics simpler, and the story was often relegated to the back of the box or side of the arcade machine. Sure, the original Donkey Kong told the story of an angry gorilla kidnapping a princess, but it never explained why, because gamers back then simply did not care, they just wanted to play the game. Later games such as Super Mario would attempt to tell a more creative story, establishing a world and characters that would remain for decades, but the story was told through text on the screen and in the instruction manual — the game could have existed just fine without either one.

Moving forward to 2013, however, some of the best-selling games of the past decade have been built on in-depth stories, complex characters and the sort of twisting, exciting plots that would not be out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster. Advancements in motion-capture technology have been fully embraced by studios such as Naughty Dog and Quantic Dream, allowing their characters to move believably and adding a layer of realism to what had previously been mere avatars for the player, not someone with whom they could form an emotional bond.

Two of the top-selling games of the last year, The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite, were both praised by critics and players alike for the connection they felt with the protagonist (both of whom were voiced by Troy Baker), as well as the companion that each character had on their respective journeys. The games' developers combined these characters with highly detailed, well thought-out worlds, and placed them into well written stories that came to dramatic, mind-bending conclusions.

With these narrative-driven titles becoming more and more popular every year, it may seem like the industry is moving toward these deeper, more cerebral titles and away from the more action-focused games that have always been the outside face of the video game industry. With a new console generation having just launched, early game sales will make or break the next few year for console giants Microsoft and Sony. Both companies are promising to invest in new ways to tell stories in video games, and it would seem that the narrative game is the way of the future, but some gamers say that time has already come.

“I think that gamers have already embraced sophisticated storytelling as a central factor in their selection and enjoyment of video games. Titles like Bioshock and Mass Effect are popular because they provide immersive experiences that allow players to explore human nature,” said John Plantus, a professor who teaches the Video Game Theory class at Fanshawe. “It is important, however, to acknowledge that mechanics are equally vital to the enjoyment of a game. For all of its significance as an experiment in narrative, a game like Heavy Rain is essentially a ‘point-and-click' and has been criticized for being more like an interactive movie than a game.”

Another common issue that some critics and gamers note is the overuse of cutscenes (short videos that drop the gamer out of play in order to further the narrative) that some games have used instead of attempting to tell the story during gameplay. One particularly famous example is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which was the subject of a popular Internet rumour shortly after its release in 2008 that it contained a cutscene that was a full 90 minutes in length. While not entirely true, the game's epilogue scene does clock in just shy of 69 minutes, with the remainder of the scenes in the game averaging at nine minutes in length — far more than what is usually seen in games. Many newcomers to the series felt that the scenes were far too long, although the game was meant to close out the story of the entire Metal Gear Solid series, one of the most venerated in gaming, and veterans of the series were able to fully appreciate what was being done for them.

“I can see how someone new to the MGS series and to Hideo Kojima games could find the cutscenes in MGS4 to be excessive,” said Hayley Archer, a Fanshawe student who owns more than 350 video games, including the entire Metal Gear series. “But I found that every scene, no matter what the length, had a purpose to the overall story, and I loved every second of every scene.”

Archer is among a group of gamers who holds the narrative of a game to the utmost importance, choosing to spend her money on games that offer serious engagement. “For me, a strong narrative is very important. I get much more invested in a game if there's a story behind what I'm doing. I don't want to go out and collect items or kill enemies just because I can. I want to know why it's important that I collect the four crystals or why I should defend a planet against an incoming horde of alien invaders. It gives me a feeling of purpose if I have reasoning behind the quests I'm on.”

It remains to be seen whether or not it really is the future of gaming, but the view that Archer has is one that gamers as a whole seem to be increasingly sharing, giving game developers the perfect excuse to continue to innovate their craft now and moving forward.