Hmmm, I think this is a poorly written article because the guy doesn't understand what he's talking about. Before you can deconstruct or reconstruct something you need to understand it first and why it's like it is. I think we're dealing with an author that sees an issue in his mind but hasn't really though about why things haven't developed along those lines to a greater extent, or the problems inherant in doing so.
The reasons why gaming has turned out the way that it has, is because it's differant from other mediums with the player directly putting themselves into the role of the game's protaganist. A lot of people don't seem to get that without this kind of immersion gaming just becomes another video. This is one of the big arguements about storytelling in games is that the kinds of devices a lot of people, especially casual gamers, want, just don't really play to the strengths of this paticular genere. Having tons of connections attached to a player character doesn't usually work out too well because the more you flesh out that character the less the player feels that they are the one in that role and controlling what is going on. What's more, you really don't know these people, so if someone comes running up and rambling for the sake of immersion in a lot of games, that's going to actually annoy the player who wants to get on to doing something. What's more such connections by their very nature sort of mandate a connection to the universe that the player does not have, the lack of connections is in part so the player can gradually learn the enviroment as the character does. What's more it works out better when you get to know characters from the beginning in a game, especially if you have some choice in whether you want to hang out with them.
To put things into perspective, it's not like various games have not tried the elements we're seeing here, this ranges from RPGs to action games. The number of successes are greatly outweighed by the failures. I think the games "Infamous" and "Grand Theft Auto IV" sort of define the problem. Infamous gave you a best friend that is present throughout the game to try and ground the character and give you some feeling of him being connected to the world. The character in question however strikes 90% of the players as being an annoying dweeb and has been mocked in connection to an otherwise solid game constantly. "Grand Theft Auto IV" tried something similar by giving your character a cousin who was integral to the plotline, as opposed to doing missions for a succession of kingpins that do very little in the end besides give missions and move the story along. While a well rated game, constantly being spamed by phone calls every 15 minutes, and having to roll this lardo's butt accross town
for a burger periodically as an almost nessicary gameplay mechanic hardly endeared anyone to what was an otherwise solid game.
In general I think games have already hit a pretty good balance between connection and immersion in most cases, and there is little to be gained by messing around with it too much. Simply put, as soon as you start attaching too much personal baggage to the player character, your going to find 90% of the people wanting to inflict greivous bodily harm on whomever is involved for actually detaching them from the game, even if they don't really know how to express it other than "annoyance".
Also, some of the examples like marines chatting or whatever already come up in games.
Simply put I think gaming is fine in this paticular area, and when you look at the pros and cons, as well as all the attempts to go futher with this kind of thing and how those aspects of the game turned out... well, I don't think there is much room to criticize.
... and trust me, as far as it goes for most games of the sort that can be criticized (RPGs being an exception of sorts here, as they routinely include a lot of backstory and networks of character relationships) the ones that do feature close in character connections tend to see it being the subject of massive mockery. I mean, how many jokes are there about Marcus and Dom from "Gears Of War"?
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Oh and as far as being a sociopath goes, understand that the point of video games is to get away from reality. It's about escapism, and in general most people socialize constantly, and part of the point of going to game is to get away from a lot of that for "me time". Again, it comes down to wht things developedto be the way that they are. It's not even broken. I mean sure, having a sick mother that guilts you for not visiting her more often might add some depth to a character, but most people have to deal with that kind of crap to begin with, and it's hardly escapism to have to deal with it in a game.
