Why is a good story such an important factor in games to this community?

[TelHybrid]

I've noticed so so so many comments commenting that storyline is of major importance in games. I fail to see the logic of this.

I thought they were meant video games... not interactive movies.

Sure I enjoy games like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid a fair bit, but I know for a fact that storylines aren't a key factor in all games.

Take Pokémon Red/Blue for instance. Fairly simple plot. Classic and cliché. The game was absolutely awesome though.

Take Driving games like Forza or Gran Turismo. How the hell would a story work with those games?

Am I the only one starting to get irratated with people obsessing over storylines in games? I find them even more annoying than graphics whores... seriously.

Your thoughts...

Edit: see bold

*edited again >.<*

Fuck it, I'm going to just quote this guy. He seems to put my point across better than I can:

While normally I'd say it's because my IQ reaches double digits, it got me thinking, some games don't need story, if they've got an interesting mechanic. The old Marble Madness was always fun to me, if frustrating, and ...well, you can't apply any sort of story to a moving marble.

Nowadays though, may games are based off of personal experience; if you tie your game into human lives, real or fictional, the story is a *must*.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

My thoughts are that your wrong. And here's why:

I know for a fact that storylines aren't a key factor in games.

That statement alone is why you are wrong. There are all different types of games. Some are story heavy and it fits the game, like RPG's, others have minimal story and are straightforward shooters or driving games. It all depends on what type of game it is. It's all about personal taste. If you don't like it that's fine, other people do.

 

[The Rockerfly]

It isn't, the main point of a game is it's gameplay. Everything else is just bells and whistles
Take Tetris for an example, no story whatsoever yet versions are being made to this day but the gameplay is brilliant, addictive and fun. The point of a game is to have fun and when a game provides the main function to be fun then it is usually a good game.

Want a more recent game? Guitar hero, hit notes and that's it yet there are so man versions out now it's ridiculous but notice, not a single one has a story (I don't cont getting more famous to b a story)

To answer your question, yeah it does irritate me. People are so bitchy about gaming, graphics, story, maybe a little bit off controls which you could adjust but so little people actually dislike a game for it's gameplay.
Yeah I enjoy a good story too but the main purpose of a game isn't to tell a story, sure it can but it isn't the primary function.

Sorry I'm ranting on here a bit

le snip

But surely the point of a game is to be interactive. You press a button, something happens and it causes your brain to release chemicals saying it's fun. Now what part of that sentence did a story come in?
Nope, not once and that's because gameplay is a core factor. Hell it's even in the name GAMEplay, sure I agree a story is nice but do you really need a story for most flash games, most games over 15 years old and all the multiplayer on games?

 

[Cherry Cola]

A great story isn't always needed. It's when they have a bad story that takes away form the game that annoys me.

Have competent writers or just fuck the story and have things explode. I don't want no psuedo-scientific crap *looks at MW2 with disappointed eyes*

 

[sneakypenguin]

Eh, many here are the "gaymz R arts" types. Personally I play for 3 things, Multiplayer, graphics/physics, and a combo of splintercell/masseffect. So COD, and halo are where I spend my time. I dont' care for story, I ran through MW2 in 2.55 hours first playthrough just for achievements, I don't even think I played halo's story after an obligatory legendary speed run. After spending time online no experience can match human opponents, so any sort of crafted experience is just a letdown.

 

[N3Burgener]

I like to play games that are intellectually stimulating, and having an intricate plot is one of the best ways to get my gray matter working. It's not exclusively about a good story; intricate gameplay is the other catchphrase, but the two usually go hand-in-hand. Good gameplay will usually feel pointless if it's not given significance via an intriguing, compelling plot. Likewise, I can put up with mediocre gameplay if the plot is really good, but there have been many game stories which I would have preferred to get as a book or a film, because the actual gameplay didn't contribute to the plot in any way.

Sports games, driving games, puzzle games, generic shooters, or games that otherwise fall into "Arcade-style" classification, often fail to impress me. When I play a game I want to feel like my time is being spent productively, and repetitive gameplay qualified by zero significance just makes me feel like I'm wasting time that could be spent doing anything better. I want games that are going to cultivate my life experiences and contribute to my cognition, and good storylines [or just a good premise with good implementation] are great ways to get me thinking in new perspectives.

 

[Straz]

Snipp

Some people's brains are turned on by a good story.
Really, some game's gameplay doesn't support this, as is the case with guitar hero and tetris.
Also, a major part of interactivity is having an environment to interact with, and a good story will often worl to serve this purpose.

 

[War Penguin]

I believe the reason people think story is key is for the sake of immersion. People don't want to be in a bad story so they take themselves out of the experience and don't have fun with it.
That's what I think is the reason. I'm sure there are other better reasons, but that was mine.

 

[Jandau]

Your thoughts...

First of all, not all games need a good story and I don't think any sensible person on the Escapist or otherwise will claim that it does. Racing games, sport games, etc. Many genres are just not conductive to the story.

On the other hand, some genres NEED a good story almost as much as they need good gameplay. RPGs are the most prominent example, but Action Adventure, FPS and Strategy games all benefit from a strong narrative.

The key word here is BENEFIT. While a good plot isn't mandatory, you can't deny that it enhances the game experience. It provides context, motivation and depth, while the gameplay serves to make it an interactive experience that immerses a player into the game world even more.

Furthermore, most games are by nature quite repetitive. Not so much individually, but over time you'll get to the point where you've seen it all and done it all, so a good story and strong characters is very helpful in adding variety to the whole affair.

TLDR version: A good story is important because it makes a good thing better and there usually isn't a reason not to include one.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Because I like to know what's going on and further more, I like thinking.

Not all games have stories, but those that do have them should have decent stories, at least.

 

[jtesauro]

I've noticed so so so many comments commenting that storyline is of major importance in games. I fail to see the logic of this.

I thought they were meant video games... not interactive movies.

Sure I enjoy games like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid a fair bit, but I know for a fact that storylines aren't a key factor in games.

Take Pokémon Red/Blue for instance. Fairly simple plot. Classic and cliché. The game was absolutely awesome though.

Take Driving games like Forza or Gran Turismo. How the hell would a story work with those games?

Am I the only one starting to get irratated with people obsessing over storylines in games? I find them even more annoying than graphics whores... seriously.

Your thoughts...

Ok. First off, "You know for a fact that storylines aren't a key factor in games."

This is not a fact. This is an opinion. One in which you are more than entitled too, just as people who do enjoy emphasis on story in games are entitled.

There are also developers out there who state that creating powerful stories in their games is part of their design philosophy.

For example. http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/about/

"BioWare's vision is to deliver the best story-driven games in the world." From the about the company section on Bioware's site.

Can you tell me that a story isn't a key factor in their games? Because they seem to disagree.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

stuff was here

You mean like interactive storytelling? I'm not saying story is the only important factor, I'm saying that in some types of games, a good story can be just as important as gameplay, graphics, etc. To answer your questions in order no, no, no. But let me give you an example, in ME2 you can press a button and through someone out of a window, that's fun, but you can also just talk to the person and get what information he knows. Like I said before, not all game need a heavy story, but you cannot just dismiss the story and say its not important.

Nope, not once and that's because gameplay is a core factor. Hell it's even in the name GAMEplay.

I don't even understand what your saying there.

 

[Frybird]

Not every genre...no, most genres actually, don't need a Story.

But if it has one that is worth a damn, it sure does help.


And when it comes to a shooter or action adventure, or ESPECIALLY an RPG, it really does wonders to the overall experience. You just become so much more involved when you really care for the characters and can't help but wonder what happens next.

And even Genres that don't need a story CAN benefit from having one. Of course, it's just annoying when a story is not interesting and/or drags down the experience by being unneccesarily long (and unskippable).
However, i really liked, for example, the small story elements in some of the "Race Driver" and "Need for Speed" Games. Surely they are not needed to enjoy the game and often come of as a bit cheesy. But if you are pretending to race in fast cars (after all, most games are in a certain way "playing pretend"), i might as well enjoy to have my progresses reflected by following the story of the guy behind my pretend-car. Its just a nice pat on the back when you can play for something more than just winning for the moment (as long as you can ignore it if you don't bother).

Hell, i even liked the hammy little Story in Tony Hawk's Underground.
It may have been stupid, but it motivates me more to defeat some jerk-ass rival than to accomplish the goals set by the game (wich i do anyways)

 

[Scythax]

Uh, dude.

The site is called "theescapist." As in, escapism. As in... stories.

This is what I thought immediatly after reading as well to be honest. But that doesn't really answer any questions.

I think that Story is a fundimentally important factor in CERTAIN types of games. If the game is supposed to be about the story itself and everything revolves around it, then obviously it's got to be good enough to continue playing to see what happens next and how it ends. Racing games or Team games (IE games you play with friends; guitar hero, smash bro's) don't rely on a good story because that's not what the game is build around, they're about the thrill of driving luxurious cars/bikes and hanging out with friends and having a good laugh, respective to the genre.

Essentially whatever the game is designed as or is built around has the framework level importance in games, and with most games having at least some level of story behind them (even just to give an excuse for some good multiplayer) they are still very important to provide an atmosphere and 'feel' to a game. What would an Alien vs Predator game be like if it had no prior context or story? utter shit if you asked me...

I agree not all games need a good story, but with many games being made to incorporate them at a base level, it's becoming more important than ever to nail that plot tight as a coffin.

 

[Thaius]

Because video games need to move past that. Story-less games were an early step, and video games need to move past that outdated concept of games and move on to better things.

Look at movies, for instance. When first made, they were nothing more than moving pictures: people would plop down a dollar to watch a horse run for five minutes. That was considered entertaining. So, using the same logic you're using now, one could argue that movies don't need plots, they just need cool footage (and I'm sure people like Michael Bay and Uwe Boll would agree). But this is simply not true, because those motion pictures were simply the precursors to film developing as a culturally significant art form.

Your view of games is what's holding them back from becoming what they can be. The idea that games don't need stories is the same mindset that keeps Hollywood pumping out mindless action flicks instead of making good film. Games need stories to become all they can become.

 

[DoctorNick]

Why do I like story in games?

The same reason I like story in books, I love to see interesting settings, characters and the stories that surround them. Games have the added bonus that now I can interact with the world and the people within.

There are people I know who don't like to read and don't get the point of fiction, generally saying something like "It's boring and fake." I get the feeling that something similar is at work here, if you don't understand the point of a story in a game then we're probably not going to be able to communicate very well seeing as how we are looking at 'games' from entirely different perspectives.

-----

Anyway take, oh, lets say Gears of War for example. When I played it for the first time I was absolutely taken aback by the architecture of the ruined cities I was playing through and just the gameworld in general, who were these people that lived here? [http://firsthour.net/screenshots/gears-of-war/gears-of-war-marcus-beautiful-architecture.jpg]

What was this world like? [http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/744/744356/gears-of-war-20061107035023862.jpg]

Adding in a decent and compelling story to go along with it should be a relatively easy task as compared to everything else that goes into making a game; put in some good characters, give them some coherent motivations, toss in a little exposition and the game would be greatly improved in my opinion. All of the players who didn't care about that crap could skip over it and people like me could actually experience the world, giving an improved sense of motivation for WHY I'm chain-saw bayonetting someone in the face. Instead we have "Hurr, locust bad kill, durr, lambent, BOOHOODEADWIFE."

It just gets to me that both kinds of players could be catered to in the same games, but instead we have Balkanized tribes sitting across internet borders from each other in mutual hatred of the others games-of-choices.

None of this is made any better by people like CliffyB, who upon seeing this post would probably tell me that none of this story bullshit matters, that the single-player campaign was mostly mean to train me for multiplayer and that only RPG loving fags care about story while I'm wasting time that could be spent pwning more n00bz.

Which is unfortunate because if Epic Games [http://www.epicgames.com/] actually hired a couple decent writers I might actually buy more of their games, and I don't think I'm the only one alone there.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Your statement about First Gen Pokemon kind of works against you, since they were a good story. They did exactly what was necessary, provided a motivation for your character (and thus you), gave you a set of clear and simple goals, easily followed and with a clear and definite path, and the game was set in a very linear fashion, with each area leading naturally to the next, slightly higher pokemon in each zone, and the pokemon you could catch in each zone were the best types for the job at hand of defeating the next boss.

A good story doesn't have to be complicated. No one is suggesting that you need to have the level of complexity of Metal Gear Solid before we consider it good writing (this is mistake made by Prototype), there's a difference between 'good' and 'complex.'

Games have had storylines for a long time, and they've tended to be simple but memorable. Save the princess, defeat the bad guy; save the world, defeat the evil empire; save the galaxy, punch out Cthulhu. The presence of a compelling story can make up for a lot of gameplay issues. Take Silent Hill 2, buggy as all get out, but see how many people love it, and you realise how a fantastic story can make you just ignore all the little things, because you want to see how the story resolves itself so much.

If a game has no story, and bad gameplay, you've got very little reason to play it, if a game has a fantastic story and bad gameplay, you might put up with the gameplay issues. It's marketing 101 really.