Story and Art in Games - NO ONE CARES

[procyonlotor]

Twenty years of playing video games? Nope. What you need is useless information about some guys who died hundreds of years back. That is what will qualify you to comment on games. Yup.

The thing is, some of these people are perversely right. So many of the skills gathered through the study of literature (especially literature!) and the arts in general translate into game making. They are different genres, but they are not at all separate.

 

[tzimize]

Maybe this is just me, but whenever I have a conversation with people who I just find out play videogames, When they ask me about any titles I remember liking in the past they immediately give me crap. Sadly, I start to realize no cares how much I liked the story in this game or how cool the art design was for that one and instead it turns into:

Person:"I don't care about any of that. You play COD:MW?"
Me:"No."
Person:"Your stupid, get with the times."

Why is it people don't ever care about the story or art? I know a total of two people maybe three friends who actually do and we can carry conversations about it for HOURS! Is it really just me? Maybe it is just me, because even games I hate or drive me nuts I still play just to enjoy the story or the art style.

Am I alone here? Has this ever happened to you?

Why Do you think ME2 was incredibly popular? The stellar gameplay?
Sure there are lots of people who are "casual" gamers. My brother is one. He is the kind of guy who judges a movie on how many explosions there are in it, and who usually just skips cinematics in games like Darkstalkers so he can chop up more guys faster...but there are a lot of "deep" gamers too. I am one. I live for the good story in any medium, games, movies, books or other kinds...gameplay is just a bonus in most cases.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

CoD:MW2 had a story, it had an awesome story, get with the times man.

how about halo reach? just a mindless FPS, right? WRONG!!! i picked up legendary edition today, totally worth it. comes with Dr. Halsey's notebook, the lady who programmed cortana. it's like reading the diary of anne frank but you don't know how it ends instead. THERE'S SO MUCH DRAMA TO, LOVE TRIANGLES, I WAS LIKE "WTF? NO WAY!" so much mystery to. remember the Meta from red vs. blue? the psycho freelancer? his name is in the book, but it's crossed out. also, two pages in the book are ripped out for some reason, i dunno why yet.
the diary also comes with security images, personell files, all this stuff that doesn't quite add but feels like it's part of something much bigger.

the best part is i haven't even taken the plastic wrapping off the game box yet!

But you also need to remember why people play Halo or Call of Duty. For the multiplayer.

A game like that could potentially have the most amazing story, art design, voice acting etc, but it hardly matters because 95% of the people who buy it won't even see that stuff.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Person:"I don't care about any of that. You play COD:MW?"
Me:"No."
Person:"Your stupid, get with the times."

You kick them in the stomach, grab their head, twist and drop, peforming a Stunner on them. Then tell them about how art is wonderful, and Mewtwo is "teh suxxor".

Or just accept they think of games as high-adrenaline diversions, and chat about games as art here.

 

[Amnestic]

The thing is, some of these people are perversely right. So many of the skills gathered through the study of literature (especially literature!) and the arts in general translate into game making. They are different genres, but they are not at all separate.

Oh sure it'll help. But basing whether you will even talk to them (that is, without even hearing their opinion first!) off of an arbitrary designation of two 15/16th century artists? It's asinine, plain and simple. It's like me demanding that someone have read the entire works of Shakespeare and can quote lines with their respective line numbers before I will talk to them about game stories.

He isn't talking about games, he's talking about ART in games, so yes, some knowledge about ART would probably be helpful to the discussion.

No, you know what would help in a discussion about art in games? Knowledge of art in games. Discuss cel-shading, the rise of 3D, the problems with "realistic" graphics becoming dated so much faster than a cartoony style, the continued attraction of simplicity and sprite-based games even when we are in the age of graphics so hot it makes people's eyes melt. Prejudging their opinion based on such a ridiculous quantifier is folly.

What if they're not a fan of Michelangelo's work but are huge fans of Monet or Van Gogh or Picasso? Too bad, you've already walked away from a guy who might've been far more informed than you and missed out on what could have been an enlightening conversation.

I was also assuming that the OP was bringing up the subject of first anyway, considering he's trying to find someone to talk to about games, so I don't find it unreasonable to first ask what they think about art, and then talk about a certain game's art design.

Okay, knock off the first line of my mock conversation then. Fix'd.

 

[captaincabbage]

GAH, THIS HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. FUCKING. . . HATE. . . SHEEPLE.

This actually came up in conversation with one of my mates friends last night, when we were all around at his place, playing Worms 2: Armageddon.
Some guy asked me if I had played Red Dead Redemption and asked if I liked the story. Naturaly I said yes, so he started bitching on about how it was "Soooooo long" and "The gunfights just kept going and going", to which I responded "Yeah. It's a fucking shooter, what do you expect? Sure it's an awesome open world and stuff, but when you get down to it, it's a 3rd person shooter/flower picking simulation and that's about it.".

He promptly went silent and after a few seconds asked if I played MW2. GAH!!!!

 

[dawdarsd]

GAH, THIS HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. FUCKING. . . HATE. . . SHEEPLE.

This actually came up in conversation with one of my mates friends last night, when we were all around at his place, playing Worms 2: Armageddon.
Some guy asked me if I had played Red Dead Redemption and asked if I liked the story. Naturaly I said yes, so he started bitching on about how it was "Soooooo long" and "The gunfights just kept going and going", to which I responded "Yeah. It's a fucking shooter, what do you expect? Sure it's an awesome open world and stuff, but when you get down to it, it's a 3rd person shooter/flower picking simulation and that's about it.".

He promptly went silent and after a few seconds asked if I played MW2. GAH!!!!

you think that's bad all of my friends skip cutscenes and reading quests and go straight to action, then they are like : what the fuck is going on lol?

 

[Fallen-Angel Risen-Demon]

What? Story is the most important part of the game for me. If a game has not got that I most likely won't buy it. Unless for instance Halo for custom games or LBP for the style.

 

[Amnestic]

I never said they had to be a fan, I said they should be able to discuss it with some form of coherency. Two very different things. If you can talk about a famous piece of art from 2 of the most famous artists in history, you should be able to contribute to a discussion about videogame art design.

Is my opinion on the art style of Okami any less valid because I can't immediately and on the spot give a coherent explanation of the intricacies of the Sistine Chapel? I "should" be able to contribute to a discussion on video game art design because I know about it.

Should a person who can't coherently talk about Socrates be "allowed" to contribute to a discussion on script? Unless you can show me you've got a deep understanding of Plato and his philosophical works, I'm not really sure I'm comfortable with you joining a conversation about the more philosophical elements behind video games. How informed are you on the nature of the European Union and the Franco-Anglican relations over the past five centuries? No? You can't comment on a game's political messages then. Sorry, you can keep your ill-informed opinions at the door. Only intellectuals this knowledgeable can participate.

 

[captaincabbage]

GAH, THIS HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. FUCKING. . . HATE. . . SHEEPLE.

This actually came up in conversation with one of my mates friends last night, when we were all around at his place, playing Worms 2: Armageddon.
Some guy asked me if I had played Red Dead Redemption and asked if I liked the story. Naturaly I said yes, so he started bitching on about how it was "Soooooo long" and "The gunfights just kept going and going", to which I responded "Yeah. It's a fucking shooter, what do you expect? Sure it's an awesome open world and stuff, but when you get down to it, it's a 3rd person shooter/flower picking simulation and that's about it.".

He promptly went silent and after a few seconds asked if I played MW2. GAH!!!!

you think that's bad all of my friends skip cutscenes and reading quests and go straight to action, then they are like : what the fuck is going on lol?

Dude, that sucks.
I'm really glad none of my actual friends are like that. For me half the point of a game is to be told a really good story. (The other half is explosions)

 

[dawdarsd]

GAH, THIS HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. FUCKING. . . HATE. . . SHEEPLE.

This actually came up in conversation with one of my mates friends last night, when we were all around at his place, playing Worms 2: Armageddon.
Some guy asked me if I had played Red Dead Redemption and asked if I liked the story. Naturaly I said yes, so he started bitching on about how it was "Soooooo long" and "The gunfights just kept going and going", to which I responded "Yeah. It's a fucking shooter, what do you expect? Sure it's an awesome open world and stuff, but when you get down to it, it's a 3rd person shooter/flower picking simulation and that's about it.".

He promptly went silent and after a few seconds asked if I played MW2. GAH!!!!

you think that's bad all of my friends skip cutscenes and reading quests and go straight to action, then they are like : what the fuck is going on lol?

Dude, that sucks.
I'm really glad none of my actual friends are like that. For me half the point of a game is to be told a really good story. (The other half is explosions)

my dumbass friends can be entertained by any generic shooter given to them like singularity or halo, oh yeah and one of my classmates can't watch a movie if it doesnt have action or humor.

 

[ajofflight]

I like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare , but I care very much about story and artistic merit.

 

[captaincabbage]

GAH, THIS HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME. FUCKING. . . HATE. . . SHEEPLE.

This actually came up in conversation with one of my mates friends last night, when we were all around at his place, playing Worms 2: Armageddon.
Some guy asked me if I had played Red Dead Redemption and asked if I liked the story. Naturaly I said yes, so he started bitching on about how it was "Soooooo long" and "The gunfights just kept going and going", to which I responded "Yeah. It's a fucking shooter, what do you expect? Sure it's an awesome open world and stuff, but when you get down to it, it's a 3rd person shooter/flower picking simulation and that's about it.".

He promptly went silent and after a few seconds asked if I played MW2. GAH!!!!

you think that's bad all of my friends skip cutscenes and reading quests and go straight to action, then they are like : what the fuck is going on lol?

Dude, that sucks.
I'm really glad none of my actual friends are like that. For me half the point of a game is to be told a really good story. (The other half is explosions)

my dumbass friends can be entertained by any generic shooter given to them like singularity or halo, oh yeah and one of my classmates can't watch a movie if it doesnt have action or humor.

!?? Are you fo cereal?? That's insanely retarded. It seems like people are getting dumber and dumber.
I mean, I watched The Expendables last night at my mates house (I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay $15 for that shitstorm) and I can honestly say, it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

 

[Elle-Jai]

Yahtzee cares!

Also, while I don't really play (because I SUCK :S) my friends that do are interested in art/story. So yeah, people do care and you're not the only one!!

 

[mrF00bar]

1: You are never the only person.

Ever.

I care a lot about a games story and art direction. Other people do too. You think people bought Dragon Age because of biowares history of epic combat in their games?

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Pikey Mikey]

Story is the most important part of a game to me but some games can be just mindless fun.

pretty much my opinion, I love games like Bioshock because the story is very intriguing. But sometime I just want to murder things, like Darksiders (untill they shove the puzzles in your face and steal the hack'n'slash away from your helpless grasp) and Gears of War (the story is pretty good (I'm my opinion) and the fights are just awesome)

 

[Amund]

I'm on the other side of the fence here.

I guess part of the issue is that they're games. People like me expect the game part to be the focus and other stuff to come after. The feeling is that story and art are fine, in and of themselves, but when they get in the way of the gameplay, something is wrong. More bluntly: if you want a novel, read a novel. If you want a movie, watch a movie. And I don't mean that to be down on storytelling; many games lately, especially in the JRPG genre, might actually be better in movie or novel form.

You're definitely not alone, though. The majority of the games' budgets these days seems to pour into FMVs and voice acting.

Yes games should be games, and the story and art direction shouldn't interfere with the game play, but it shouldn't be solely about game play. Do you think Doom would be doom without the art direction of hell? Would Halo be Halo without the ridiculous aliens and neon guns? Would CoDMW be one of the most popular games without the art direction going towards "realism"? Games need art and gameplay in equal measure. Story could be done away with in some games, Borderlands, MMOs, and CoD. Most of these games have great gameplay, but if it had an art direction that was unfocused, or confusing, it wouldn't have the same spark. Also, voice acting can either increase immersion, or make you laugh so hard you wouldn't really care for the game at all.