Because We Needed Yet Another Games/Art Rant By Me
If only I’d have known Andy Serkis would do the job of summarizing my thoughts on whether or not Games are Art. I certainly wouldn’t have attempted numerous, epic opinions arriving at the same conclusion he did, but in only a couple of sentences.
“Games — there’s no heart in them. They’re not about anything that is lasting. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games. And games are where the audience is going to be,“
Why wasn’t I ever able to say that, or in that few words? What is WRONG with me? Why do I always have to have such a big mouth? =(
I don’t know. Unfortunately for all of you, this will not stop me from delivering the following wall of text.
This is a sad observation. The reason the way things are is because none of the big, medium or small game developers think a story is important. They might say it to generate PR, but they do not walk that walk. The last game I’ve played that was comparable to even a mediocre book was Shadow of the Colossus, and that was 4 years ago. Maybe Portal and Bioshock, and that’s a maybe with a capital “M”. I mean, how much would people like movies if the only films that ever got made were by Michael Bay, Uwe Boll and Guy Ritchie? We’d have given up on cinema a long time ago, and never looked back. I don’t want that to happen to video games, but if nobody taps the well, I will forever thirst for stimulation beyond what tickles our hand-eye-coordination.
I understand that gameplay is important. KOTOR’s interesting plot and characters were wasted for me, thanks to being one of the shittiest games I’ve ever played. I totally get why the people who make video games would place the top priority on how their game plays.
But have you noticed that a lot of game companies treat video games like…. porn? They think we’re just there for the action. They’re obsessed with sequels. It’s referred to as an “industry” more often than an “art-form”. Their attempts at an entertaining or thoughtful narrative are painfully, criminally, offensively stupid. Except with porn, there’s no expectation for brilliance, so it’s okay for them. There’s no excuse for video games to be as insultingly moronic as they are. It’s never occurred to these people that they can have their cake as well as eat it too. Instead they seem to think they have to choose between a recipe without flour, or one without eggs. I don’t know what the results of that would be, but I guarantee it wouldn’t be a delicious goddamn cake.
But we put up with it, because most of you are just in it for the action. You’re okay with being covered in shit, and that’s the message the publishers get, which encourages or forces the developers to shit on us even more(depends on the publisher/developer). Several forces supporting each other’s descent into poo destruction, some unholy union of a Hydra and an Ouroboros. I seriously have to wonder if we’ll ever interrupt this cycle of low-expectations, or if I’m the only one who even wants to(or shows that with my purchasing decisions). David Wong said in the Gamer’s Manifesto that “We get only what we put up with.”
Serkis is optimistic though, with a “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!” attitude. I like his thoughts on the subject, and I wish I weren’t so skeptical so that I could fully agree with him. But I don’t think better days are ahead for video games. In these times of economic frailty, we’re going to see even less risk-taking than ever. There’s a lot of people employed at video game companies who can’t afford to appeal to our better aspects. Not in this day and age. They’ve seen the road Ico, Beyond Good & Evil and countless other fresh experiences traveled. Those games were trampled and left to die beneath our stampede for more crap. This means more sequels, legally-retarded roid-ragers shooting aliens and more Madden is all that’s on the horizon. Even Valve decided to just do a big dumb zombie-shooting game(not that Left 4 Dead isn’t kickass, but these are the guys who made Portal for crying out loud).
Is this my problem? Is my “story/characters/music-first” ideal asking too much? No, and no. We all deserve better, especially now of all times. Entertainment is nice. It’s great. It’s wonderful! But we cannot survive on that alone. A recession without art is a depression. I really hope Gollum is onto something here. I hate how some of the supposedly greatest accomplishments in this year’s video games make me yearn for the profound narrative nuances of Custer’s Revenge.
I miss the days when games were thought of as toys. At least then, they were creative.
END OF LINE
~A.H.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I think your being unnecessarily harsh and overlooking several great games that have come out recently. Rather then look for high art (something you would be hard pressed to find in recent cinema or literature either) let’s focus on something with a lovely art style and an interesting story..
Valkyria Chronicles isn’t perfect, but it’s hard to say that it isn’t creative. And it’s not an example I had to reach far for. To say that most games are crap seems to be unnecessary as well, as most art, literature and music are disposable, momentary works that exist for sale to an audience that -wants- works highly derivative of what they have liked before.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Well, I AM a pessimist.
Not that I’m only looking for “high art”. That’s a fool’s endeavour. They can’t ALL be classics. But a lot of games lately don’t even attempt to be low art. Even including Indie titles, I can count the number of games with both “a lovely art style and an interesting story” in the last 5 years on a single hand. If we’re lucky, we get one or the other. Those aspects, along with a quality script and likable characters are usually the first things to go when trying to fit a game’s development cycle inside a deadline. Publishers and developers generally don’t concern themselves with things that do not equate to fat stacks of cash.
You’re right when you say that most games are made to be “disposable”. Therein lies the problem.
I also have not played Valkyria Chronicles. In fact, even after watching gameplay videos, I’m still not entirely sure what it is. It LOOKS interesting, I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around it. It looks like a shooter, but it also appears to include strategy or even RPG elements to it. How does that work out? I also heard that Vyse and Aika from Skies of Arcadia are featured, which increases my interest in this product.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Turn based strategy / squad RPG. Ironically, you are better off thinking X-Com then most shooters. You aim like a shooter, but that’s it. There are RPG elements, in that your squad levels up and individual characters have personality traits that effect there abilities, but individual characters do not level up (rather, you spend XP to level the whole class, ie, Scout or Sniper, and every member of that class is the same level.) Fast reflexes aren’t really important, instead the challenge is to position your people and make the best use of there abilities and your available command points.
Vyse and Aika are people you can add to your squad, Vyse as a shock trooper, Aika as a scout.
The story isn’t high art, but it handles matters of racism, war and (of course, it’s an rpg from Japan) the importance of family and friendship.