So the title pretty much says the main idea. I do need some help with an argumentative essay I'm writing on the subject of "Can Video Games Be Art?". I'm arguing for it.
In one of the paragraphs, I admit to gaming's current faults and one of them being the relative lack of story quality (relative being the key word there). I say in the plan for the paragraph, "Story in games is currently bad, to be honest, with the apparently "best" one being: _______"
A Couple things
1) There is a huge difference between Story and Narrative. Narrative is how you tell the story, that is what you need to focus on in your paper (Narrative)
2) Use Shadow of the Colossus for your example I cannot stress that enough. It will make it very easy. If not use ICO.
and 3) I agree with you, video games can be art, but focus on the player being the artist rather then the developers and producers being the artist. Because a video game is the experience "you" make it. And that is very important for the video game are art theory.
Anyway good Luck with this, if you need more help indox me
Planescape: Torment. There is sadly no equal to it in terms of overall narrative strength. It manages to be both entertaining, and intellectually stimulating. Do some research on it.
"Best Story" is fairly subjective, but looking at RPGs in general is a good place to start. Bioware's writing of stories (including the Mass Effect series) is among the best out there currently. Some of the longer and more linear RPGs (read: JRPG) have stories which are arguably better. However, the recent Final Fantasy titles aren't exactly the best received; VI (the opera scene is a classic in its own right), VII (a bit overrated IMO, but still a great game), IX (woefully underrated), and X (first in the series with voice-acting, and it shows) are all at least decent story-wise.
However, the strength of the medium isn't so much the presence of great stories as it is the opportunity to act them out on your own. This leads to quite a few protagonists being escapist characters [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EscapistCharacter] (Shepard being a very good example of one, most PCs in Bioware's games are), which arguably leads to the medium as whole not having the best storylines (because they aren't too far off from one of the classical signs of bad writing, "Mary Sue" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue] characters). Some developpers are working around the issue, but no one has really nailed it yet.
The issue with escapist characters would probably make a good topic for your assignment.
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Most of the time when people present evidence for "Games being Art", the examples are Team ICO's games: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. These games are minimalist in nature, but still manage to evoke emotional responses from the player. Even better, both were recently re-released together for the PS3 (if you haven't played either and own a PS3, they're definitely worth picking up... though the controls do feel somewhat dated).
Look at SotC in particular, the story can be viewed as tragedy of sorts... with the player acting it all out.
In order to bring a girl (presumably a lover) back to life, you are tasked with slaying sixteen colossi. The whole of the game is seeking them out and killing these towering beasts.
However, things aren't so simple. You become increasingly corrupted with each colossus you fell, and the act of doing so makes one feel both triumph & remorse. Is killing those magnificient & creatures worth it to revive one person?
What story? Blizzard starts a new story with every WoW-expansion and apperently get's amnesia because that story has no connections with the previous one.
It's one big shit sandwhich, and if we want to experience good storytelling (WC3, basically), we all got to take a bite.
Was not talking about every little nuance in the MMO since it's obviously going to become distorted due to the players involved. I'm speaking of the grand story of it all, starting in Orcs vs. Humans and leading into the major events of World of WarCraft. Most the story though gets delivered in Tides of War and WCIII.
I would point to other aspects of narrative in modern video games, and compare them to film, stage, and other performing arts.
Shadows of the Damned might as well be a 70's grindhouse exploitation film, while simultaneously challenging the concepts of hell that we as human beings have come to adapt.
Eat Lead: the Return of Matt Hazard was a shamelessly self aware parody of Video games that got far less coverage then it deserved. Seriously Mel Brooks could have written that game.
of course you can point to the Mass Effect series which creates a powerful non silent protagonist, whose narrative while customizable to each player, explores a series very strong emotional stories.
God of War (the first one, make no mention of the others) is a case study in Greek Tragedy.
Bioshocks art deco world as an exploration, admiration of, and condemnation of uninhibited objectivism has been examined to the point of Tripe.
Fallouts 50's sci fi what if and near nihilist overtones provide a stark contrast to the brave new world eyes the player is supposed to have.
Gears of War, the first one, is very much styled in the manner of "the longest day."
Bioshock had a wonderful twist and fabulous Mise-en-scène, but I wouldn't say it's a standout in terms of story overall. It would certainly be a fine candidate if you were making a list of various reasons why games are a valid art form, but this guy seems to be specifically focused on story.
2) Use Shadow of the Colossus for your example I cannot stress that enough. It will make it very easy. If not use ICO.
and 3) I agree with you, video games can be art, but focus on the player being the artist rather then the developers and producers being the artist. Because a video game is the experience "you" make it. And that is very important for the video game are art theory.
Anyway good Luck with this, if you need more help indox me
Kay, and thanks. I might use Mass Effect just for personal reasons & simplicity (I know it well, while with Shadow of the Colossus is a game I haven't played since I was 11), and possibly bring up Ultima IV as a sort of rebuttal to my own point.
Because of all the games I have played. this one is the most memorabel.
You can connect with the main caracter easier than compared to all other
videogame characters. which reminds me of.
What story? Blizzard starts a new story with every WoW-expansion and apperently get's amnesia because that story has no connections with the previous one.
It's one big shit sandwhich, and if we want to experience good storytelling (WC3, basically), we all got to take a bite.
I quit paying attention to the in-game story and just read the books, the books are so ridiculously fucking good.
I also vote for Warcraft, specifically Warcraft 1-3 (Before WoW). The lore is deep as hell, the story is genuinely engaging and I can ashamedly accept I know more Warcraft History than what I know about the History of my country, and I don't even regret it.
Not a massive fan of the Mass Effect story. The second kinda mucked it up I feel. And the sentence you need filling in makes it sound like the one you decide has the best story is still crap.
Anyway, I'd say Half Life 2 has excellent writing, as do Portal and Portal 2, though the actual "story" is quite simple, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Also, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but more specifically the Justine DLC. And not just for the atmosphere, the game actually handled the whole Amnesia thing really well, slowly revealing things, until right at the very end when everything made sense. Justine more so.
Edit: Half Life 2 is also an exceptional example of how videogames can tell their story in their own way, without slabs of text or cutscene, but rather telling the story through gameplay. And thinking about it the ending of Braid did that as well, though I don't recommend that game since the rest of the story was those pre-mentioned slabs of text.
There is a huge difference between Story and Narrative. Narrative is how you tell the story, that is what you need to focus on in your paper (Narrative)
'Best story' is an incredibly subjective idea, highly dependent on player tastes and surprisingly independent from the actual execution of the story-telling.
Take Portal, for example. The story isn't actually all that special, or even unique (see: everything Asimov's ever written about robots). But the story-telling (or narrative) is done well enough that you completely forget that. You get it from wall graffiti, half-glimpsed offices, sardonic quips from GLaDOS - there's very little explicit exposition.
Bastion is also a good example of how to do narrative right. So's Shadow of the Colossus, apparently, but I haven't managed to play it [/shame]
Mass Effect, whatever you may think of the story, is actually a very poor example where narrative is concerned. The story is largely told as if the game were a film. Which it isn't. If you wish to make the case that games can be art, you need to show what they can do differently from other media.
Hopefully unnecessary post-script: All of the above is my opinion.
Alright, although if you've never played one of these titles before, you owe it to yourself to do so. They're more interesting, more developed and have more depth than Mass Effect could ever hope to get.
First, you've got my number one for story. Planescape. The whole question that marks the game is the question "What can change the nature of a man?". Even small choices have unexpected consequences, the background is rich (as you would expect from a game in the Planescape universe), the characters are detailed. The Nameless One himself is hugely different from any of the typical RPG games since he's selfish, egocentric, heavily scarred/tattooed. It's unorthodox, it's bizarre, it's challenging for the mind.
Mask of the Betrayer (NWN2) is, again, under a theme. NWN 2 has always had the underlying idea of heroes...or at least, potential heroes with many flaws. Mask of the Betrayer sort of continues that and more. It's also about the difference of what's real, gods, after-life, about self discovery and love, but not necessarily romantical love.
I could spoil the stories for you but I'd be doing you a huge disfavour. Play them or at least read more about them and decide.
Kay, and thanks. I might use Mass Effect just for personal reasons & simplicity (I know it well, while with Shadow of the Colossus is a game I haven't played since I was 11), and possibly bring up Ultima IV as a sort of rebuttal to my own point.
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