Story and Art in Games - NO ONE CARES

[Vladimir Francois Tchaikovski]

I know exactly what you mean. I've been trying to push the "games are art" argument for ages. thankfully most of my closest friends appreciate games as an artform but theres always a mob of MW2: "campaign is for pussies" plebs who are giving gaming a bad name.

dont get me wrong i realise that in most fps games the multiplayer aspect is a massive addition and improvement to the game (the Halos for instance which i enjoy immensely in both single and multiplayer modes)but the campaign is where the artistic direction of a game should really come into its own and if some people aren't prepared to give campaign a good try (by which i mean not skipping every cutscene) then its their loss and theres nothing we can do.

 

[Yarpie]

You're confusing "The majority" with "The loudest/most obnoxious".

Pretty much what I was thinking.

There are plenty of us who care about story and art, we just don't scream and shout as much.

 

[PureChaos]

the story can make a good game great, take Killer7 for example. i'm one of those people that went through Metroid Prime and read all the log entries on the computers

 

[Booze Zombie]

People in general don't think about art, so they don't know what it is... I'm not sure I do, sometimes.
It's all subjective, right?

Anyway, I wouldn't get worked up about it.
Just enjoy the good stories and art you find, revel in the skill used to craft them and have fun.

 

[Flamezdudes]

You are never the only one.

For example, me. I pretty much only ever play games with good stories at the moment and i really appreciate how gaming is as an art form. However, i know people who just make my blood boil.

For example, i know someone who bought Red Dead Redemption and never played the Single Player, only the Multiplayer. What the hell? The SP was the best bit!

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

NO YOU ARE NEVER EVER EVER EVER THE ONLY PERSON. Anyway a bit more on topic I love Art and Story in games. I love the contrastingly different enviroments of Tyria to the Oriental style and Stone Forests of Cantha and the Desolate Deserts of Elona in Guild Wars. Story wise I love me some KoTOR and Final Fantasy. There are so many amazing games out there with story. Even CoD4 had some interesting rendered areas and had a quite good story. Not the best by any stretch of the imagination but it did complement the game well and give it a good atmosphere.

 

[NotSoNimble]

It's funny that you missed out on MW2.... actually I think you are being fake.... you played the game.... you know why people love it still.... you are just being a follower junky that refuses to like what millions of people love.

You find it cool to hate things that are popular and superior to the lame dime a dozen games that exist now a days.

You wanna tell me what other fps games can hold a candle to MW@???

TF Shit by greed valve is an old excuse... do you wanna say anything else to me that can explain your dismay?!?!?

 

[JaymesFogarty]

Why is it people don't ever care about the story or art?

Hey, that's not true. I know at least one guy who cares. He's kinda famous around these parts, maybe you've heard of him? [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation]

Ok ok I'm not JUST talking about people with actual brains (or gamers) I'm just talking about the general public

Would it be poor form of me to link to the Extra Credits video and Extra Punctuation article on that word?

I mean, everyone should be watching Extra Credits anyway so I shouldn't have to.

Stories aren't necessary. Audiosurf and DEFCON, as two examples, show that games without any or a bare minimum of story can still be widely popular and enjoyable. That said, some games would be a lot worse without their story. I recently picked up a few Super Robot games online which are almost certainly never going to be ported into English and find myself struggling to play them at all. They have a story, but it's all in Japanese and I don't understand a word of it. The inclusion of a story which I then can't comprehend is a detriment. Similarly I doubt games such as the Metal Gear Solid series or Bioware RPGs would be nearly as popular or well selling if they lacked their stories.

It's about finding the correct balance for your game. Having a story behind Audiosurf would bog down a simple and incredibly fun little music game. Having no story behind...Mass Effect, would basically destroy the main attraction.

Of course, the problem then arises as to how each person answers the question "What's the correct balance for x?" and the disagreements therein.

I like to think of them as a fair comparison to movies and music. There are films with mindless action and special effects in it, just as there are songs that pretty much have no intelligent lyrics, but catchy tunes, just like there are some games that are just meant to be fun. However, there are also intelligent films, meaningful songs, and games that master story telling. Though I will say now without a doubt, that games have the most potential for telling a story.

 

[Andreas55k]

I care for story. If i did not then i would be Condeming fable 2 to the deepest part of video game hell instead of praising it to the heavens.
The same goes for Star wars Knights of the old republic...

I love story. But if i had to play with a freind, then its the gameplay that matters...

 

[mega48man]

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.

well, yeah, halo reach and mw2 is like buying a new computer and geting a fre ipod. you get this awesome story and art work, and it comes with the WORLDS GREATEST MULTIPLAYER EVER which is a huge bonus :3

 

[neoontime]

I'm sorry but art and story never really got to me. I mostly prefer gameplay. Though strangly enough I did admire the story and art of MW2. It actually did hit me and make me develop emotions for the caharacters. For the most part though it is only an added bonus.

 

[Vrach]

You're confusing "The majority" with "The loudest/most obnoxious".

^This. I honestly don't know a single person that would react the way your supposed friend did, most gamers I talk to love to talk about how awesome the story is, who their favourite character is, etc.

 

[TerranReaper]

While story and art are important in SOME games, they should not be a necessity in other games, especially ones that are mainly multiplayer-oriented. If I want a compelling storyline, I would go play some Bioware RPGs or even some half-decent JRPGs (Yes, they exist). You have games such as Dwarf Fortress, which has ABSOLUTELY no storyline or any kind of art (If you discount ASCII) and yet it's still a good game.

On the flipside of the equation, I've been told that I'm a mindless sheep for enjoy mainly competitive multiplayer games that apparently has no regard for storyline.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

I always place more value on gameplay than story or art. It's a video game, if you want a rockin' story, watch a movie or read a book.

That being said, there are many amazing video games that have terrible gameplay but lovely graphics and an engrossing story.

 

[Anstrup]

Well i like both tings.

I like stuff thats food for thought, and i like mindless adrenaline pumping action games. care about both.

 

[cocoadog]

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?

There are two types of games. The kind of games with all the storytelling and art quality. Then there are multiplayer games that should be strictly multiplayer. Both categories are fun to play but they are very different.

 

[archvile93]

I do care about story, and I don't like games that look like total shit. However, I will always put gameplay far ahead of those without exception. Which is why I thought Bioshock was a massive turd with a tiny jem of quality clevery hidden in the very center.

 

[Jfswift]

Baa. Sheeple.

..and they grow in number every day

 

[Amnestic]

There are two types of games. The kind of games with all the storytelling and art quality. Then there are multiplayer games that should be strictly multiplayer. Both categories are fun to play but they are very different.

And then there's games like Audiosurf which are a load of fun on your own without any story whatsoever.

It's not as simple as separating them into "Sigle player=Story+Art" and "Multiplayer=Not"