Why are games so shallow? (artistically)

[raunchious]

I've played a great many good games. Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros., Halo, Half-Life, Sam and Max...I could spend this post naming them. And don't reply to this saying this game sucks or you didn't mention this game because that's not what this is about. I've played lots of great games. But I've only played a handful of games that even attempt to have the depth or artistic ambition of a decent book or film. Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of Colossus, Silent Hill 2...I'm already running out of names.

Most games never get beyond the action movie mentality, in which the storyline is merely a clothes hanger for the amazing graphics and the gratuitous violence. Gears of War and its sequel seem to have a distinct visual style, that of a hopeless wasteland of grays and browns. The graphics effectively portray a world that is on its last leg, nearly consumed by war. What atmosphere! The acclaimed Saving Private Ryan adopted a similar visual style.

And then you get to the script. "That's a shitload of locusts." "More like ten shitloads." This is a story about brainless meatheads carving monsters up with chainsaws. It's certainly fun...but why can't the characters have depth and the game have something to say?

Even the games with decent storylines are nothing special when you compare them to other media. God of War's haunted Kratos doesn't hold a candle to Robert DeNiro's disturbing loner in Taxi Driver. Heavy Rain supposedly elevates video games into the realm of art, but make it into a movie and you've got your run-of-the-mill thriller.

I want more out of games. I want the compelling characters, meaningful plots, and artistic ambition that is the status quo for other art forms. So far, that has been the exception to the rule.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

It is still a medium in its infancy.

Every couple of years a game comes along that pushes things a little further, such as Grim Fandango, Half Life 2, Bioshock and now Heavy Rain.

We'll get there eventually, it'll just take some practice, brave developers and time.

 

[Gxas]

Not everyone wants an hour of cutscene for every ten minutes of gameplay. Honestly, I'm all for gaming as an art form, but fuck MGS4. It was excellent, sure, but playing it? I can't remember doing so. Most of that game was cutscene. I would much rather have just sat and watched a movie.

It sounds to me like you would much rather watch a movie than play a game. Do so then. If I want to saw mutants in half without having to think about it, let me do so.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Most games aren't made to bring you a story.
The stories are made to support the gameplay, to give you a reason to do something the way you do it.
Gameplay is important, everything else can be important too, but is optional.

 

[Jennacide]

Personally I wouldn't put MGS series on that list, as it's story wanders into completely bonkers land repeatedly, and meanders about trying to teach a moral that doesn't really exist, past "War is bad, mm'kay?" Maybe had 2 and 4 never existed I'd be more open to the idea, but both goes games damned the franchise from being taken seriously.

Anyway, back on subject, there is one strong, and sad, reason for this typically. Emotionally deep stories don't typically sell well. RPGs are the only real exception to this rule, if you consider any of them emotionally deeper than a tide pool. Games like Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill 2, Okami, even Psychonauts; none of these sold exceptionally well. They're all cult classics, but when they actually came out, every one of them had abyssmal sales. Honestly, the only game in the past decade that has had a real depth to it and sold well was Bioshock. Which was promptly sequeled and dragged to the darkest ring of Hell by taking out everything that made the first game great, story and character depth along with good atmosphere.

It's easier to sell games when they're just mindless action or carnage. Look at MW2 and it's legion of fans. One of the worst stories ever told and a clear downgrade from it's predecessor, yet sold more than any media property ever.

 

[Space Spoons]

I think the main problem is that it's difficult to push a meaningful, artistic vision in a medium that relies on player interaction. It's different with movies and books; the story, the characters, everything involved rests in the hands of the author. The only interaction the audience has is sitting back to passively experience it.

Games, on the other hand, are inherently interactive. The very nature of the medium demands that the player control the action, or at least guide the action a la Heavy Rain. From a writing standpoint, I think would be difficult to construct a meaningful narrative when the main character's actions are entirely in the hands of the player. If you try to shoehorn too much story in, you get complaints of linearity, of taking away the gamer's choices. If you leave too much of it up to the player, you get complaints of shallowness and lack of direction. There's no happy medium.

I don't think it's impossible for a game to tell a great story, but I don't really expect a great story in the first place because I honestly don't think that's what games are for. To me, playing video games and complaining about the lack of meaningful stories is kind of like reading a comic book and complaining about the fact that there are drawings instead of just straight text.

 

[blankedboy]

Most games aren't made to bring you a story.
The stories are made to support the gameplay, to give you a reason to do something the way you do it.
Gameplay is important, everything else can be important too, but is optional.

I don't exactly believe this. In my opinion, games ought to be an arcadey time-waster, or a story that's told by having you control the protagonist. But then you've also got stuff like Team Fortress 2, and where the hell does that fall?

 

[Internet Kraken]

If it was easy to do then many more games would have it. But making a good game is hard, and it costs a lot of money (at least for what we consider to be a "mainstream" game like Halo 3). A lot of that money goes into to perfecting the gameplay, level design, balance, ect. You know, the stuff that many consider to be the most important part of the game. Having a good story and characters is nice, but sometimes there just isn't enough money to spend on these aspects of the game. Especially when your resources are spread thin by a rapidly approaching dead line. There's no point in putting so much money into hiring good writers and voice actors if your game tanks due to bad gameplay.

Of course, bigger companies have a lot of money to spend, so why don't they bother hiring better talent for their stories? I really don't know the answer to that question. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because the target audience of these games, in general, does not care about the story. They care about the gameplay. My younger brother is this type of gamer. He couldn't give a crap about characters or story. And before anyone says it, no people like him are not killing the industry. Games are supposed to be about good game play. Him buying games based on this is not a problem. Creative stories and interesting characters are just a very nice bonus.


But by this point I'm just rambling. I guess in short; many games are shallow because they focus on gameplay rather than story. To be honest I don't think games can ever surpass movies and books in terms of story. That is unless they focus on their own unique methods of story telling [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_236/6999-Gordon-Freeman-Private-Eye].

 

[senorcromas]

If you think about it, many books and movies don't get past the "action movie mentality".

I mean, yeah, there have been waaay more "classic" movies and books, but there's so much stuff that's just, "Hey! Let's describe/show random explosions for the entire book/film! Everyone loves explosions!"

I guess, in any kind of medium, as time goes on, more classics appear. It takes a while for people to find out what works. And there's always going to be things that aren't as good as others in some aspect or another, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them.

So, enjoy away.

Or something.

 

[Meggiepants]

Well, quite honestly, as someone who reads a lot, there are also a lot of shallow books as well. Some books are meant for quick consumption and not for deep contemplation. You know, the snack food of the literature world. At the moment, the snack food equivalent of games is more popular. In time, as the medium ages, more people will be eager to have what you are asking for. Games will mature as time goes by. I've seen it happen right before my eyes, so I have faith. If you think the games you mentioned are shallow, try growing up on Pac-man and Centipede.

 

[Ekonk]

It's still only starting. Not to mention that people like BAYSPLOSIONS instead of deep philosophical reflections.


I aim to change that...

 

[fix-the-spade]

It's a medium aimed primarily at young men in their pre-teens to early thirties.

For every one in that group that likes artistic development, style, insight and originality, there's a hundred that 'wouldn't go near that faggy shit,'

So games stick to what sells, can't say I blame them. Although it makes me incredibly happy when games hit it big and include interesting art design under the surface (Half Life 2 and Mass Effect spring to mind).

 

[slightly evil]

Now when i play a game I want a hack and slash, killing frenzy with little or no story to distract from the slaughterfest. I think it's best not to have a story based game because it if it's done wrong you get too little or, like MGS 4, what might as well be a film. what was wrong with PLOK? one man (thing)'s quest to find his favourite square flag, with a twist that the flag was a decoy so fleas could invade his homeland? that caught me off guard. the problem is that they dumb down otherwise decent storylines in most games for universal appeal, a bit more elaboration and a few less obvious hints at the twists and any game could be much better off. EG; why not make a heroine who's less of a ***** and more of a passionate, if murderous, psycho. isn't there thrill in the unknown? (maybe I've revealed too much) It all falls down to what the people in control think of us, the highest and lowest of gamers. So much longed for realism is sacrificed because a comittee thought: 'why does she need pockets? we could take a lot more fabric off this costume' since when was tight shorts and a karki tanktop not sexy? humans think we need more than we really want and maybe its patronising but if it'll make a good game you can manipulate the fuck out of me.
So I suppose it's the hundreds of people like me who have given up on storylines that caused this problem but as this post has now turned into basicly an angry letter I might well send a copy to some game developers to try and rectify it.

 

[Matt_LRR]

I call it "the jock douchebag effect"?.

Look at a series like Halo. (bear with me here, even if yo uhate halo).

Here we have an entire universe and history built around this game series, dating back years before the games even start.

A military super soldier project traces it's origins back to the kidnapping of children from their homes and replacing them with clones to maintain the secrecy of the project. Seperated from their families, these soldiers are biologically and technologically augmented. subjected to intense physical, tactial, and mental conditioning. An army of supersoldiers is built, the greatest military acheivement of all time, uniting all humanity in battle behid them - and in a single engagement with a race of technologically advanced, religious zealots, all of them are wiped from existence in a single moment. Except one.

This lone survivor serves as a symbol for his people, and leads them, not only to victory over their current enemy, but over the far more serious threat of the creeping doom known as the flood - a species so dangerous, that the races that came centureies determined that it was better to iradicate all life from the galaxy than let this one species live.

Throw in the political conflicts within the covenant, the civil war, the history of the arbiter, the fore-runners, the religious motives, side-stories, spinoffs, the expanded universe, and the halo series has been built in to this great space-opera of politics, heroes, symbols, and ideology.

And yet the average halo player couldn't have told you what an ODST was, despite their heavy featuring in Halo 2.

Why? Because for all the great plotting, universe building, and storyline expanding that was done around the game, the jock douchebags wanted to play deathmatch in their frat houses and nothing else.

Say what you will about the state of games as art, the audience is holding it back every bit as much as the creators are.

edit: bah, here I was typing out an essay on the state of the gaming audience at large, and half a dozen people beat me to the core of my point


-m

 

[Looking For Alaska]

I was going to say it's still in its infancy as an artistic medium, but I've been ninja'd. Anyway.

Silent Hill 2, Bioshock, PS:T, Shadow of Colossus, Ico, Fallout 2, System Shock 2, The Path etc.

And if compelling plots and meaningful characters make it art: Jade Empire, KOTOR etc

And there even games whose graphical styles could be considered art: Winterbottom, Mirror's Edge, Previously mentioned Bioshock, etc

You just have to look, in my opinion.

ALSO I don't understand why there isn't room in the games industry for story-heavy, character-driven games like KOTOR and Planescape and for games that have throwaway stories but extremely fun gameplay like Painkiller and Modern Warfare 2 to exist side by side.

 

[microhive]

Well, if you like good and well executed stories and character developments you should check out StarCraft I. It is amazingly awesome in those parts.

Can't wait for StarCraft II!

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I've played a great many good games. Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros., Halo, Half-Life, Sam and Max...I could spend this post naming them. And don't reply to this saying this game sucks or you didn't mention this game because that's not what this is about. I've played lots of great games. But I've only played a handful of games that even attempt to have the depth or artistic ambition of a decent book or film. Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of Colossus, Silent Hill 2...I'm already running out of names.

Most games never get beyond the action movie mentality, in which the storyline is merely a clothes hanger for the amazing graphics and the gratuitous violence. Gears of War and its sequel seem to have a distinct visual style, that of a hopeless wasteland of grays and browns. The graphics effectively portray a world that is on its last leg, nearly consumed by war. What atmosphere! The acclaimed Saving Private Ryan adopted a similar visual style.

And then you get to the script. "That's a shitload of locusts." "More like ten shitloads." This is a story about brainless meatheads carving monsters up with chainsaws. It's certainly fun...but why can't the characters have depth and the game have something to say?

Even the games with decent storylines are nothing special when you compare them to other media. God of War's haunted Kratos doesn't hold a candle to Robert DeNiro's disturbing loner in Taxi Driver. Heavy Rain supposedly elevates video games into the realm of art, but make it into a movie and you've got your run-of-the-mill thriller.

I want more out of games. I want the compelling characters, meaningful plots, and artistic ambition that is the status quo for other art forms. So far, that has been the exception to the rule.

Just to respond to the whole shitload thing: If I directed it, I'd have one soldier say "that's a shitload of locust!" and then later, when they reach a camp or base for the locust, the other says "...looks like we found the septic tank" xD. Sounded so much better in my head, but whatever.
Also, BIOWARE GAMES.
And people are right, it's still a medium in it's infancy - books have been around for god knows how long, being printed four hundred and some years, if I recall right, movies have been around for about 100 years, and video games have been here for what, 50 years, if you count pong? I mean, we've already developed near photo-realistic graphics, so now (I know this sounds cliche) maybe game developers will take a clue from bioware and valve's gigantic successes and make the story VITAL to the game, rather than treating it like "a clothes hanger". Also, what in the nine hells makes you say Heavy Rain would be a run of the mill thriller if you made it into a movie? That comparison just doesn't fit, Heavy rain can go in almost all directions and has multiple endings. Could a steven segal film (most of those are credited as thrillers, which usually suck anyway. Both, I mean)have multiple endings and have a reasonable, well-thought-out story? Also, on what grounds is Taxi Driver better than God Of War? Robert DeNiro isn't THAT great, is he? Then again, I find most movies to be hard to sit through, save for those that are the works of richard 'o brien, or other lively, vibrant, fun and actually quite intelligent movies that are not dramas (I just feel those get really really slow, and while not wanting to sound like the average boom-fest-and-ritalin-addict Halo player, boring movies seldomly keep me around for long). And another thing - what in the name of Odin makes a compelling character to you? I mean, sure, Marcus fenix is not very likely to be a harvard graduate, or Dom a marine biologist, but still, not every games has to be Ulysses or War and Peace or the bible or lord of the rings or Modern Times or..ugh...citizen kane. You expect a bit too much of gaming, I would say, at least at the present time, and you can't just up and demand compelling plots and characters and stuff. Doesn't work that way, man.

PS: Please, don't read this in an angry tone, think of it more as a bit thinking, chilled tone. I don't wanna start no flame war.

 

[TyroSe7en]

I agree with MiracleOfSound there, the entire medium is still pretty young. And MOST people don't really want more from it than gratuitous violence and relatively good gameplay.

Unlike movies, where there is all kinds of styles and markets to aim for ranging from mindless action to very deep and introspective thrillers, video games pretty much have one demographic... that is relevant in how much cash is pulled in. And that's action games, even most RPGs recently released revolve around shallow or simplistic themes and keep the focus on action.

Fact of the matter is that we need some really brave developers willing to take MASSIVE, and I mean MASSIVE financial risks in order to create something really groundbreaking. And I just don't see that happening any time soon. Baby steps are how the medium seems to be taking it.

 

[DanDeFool]

Man, the thing that always gets me about games these days is that all the big-name action titles feel they have to be dark and gritty in tone and visual style just to be taken seriously. Don't get me wrong, there are times when dark and gritty works really well (Doom 3 and Quake 2, for example), but if I play a game that's like that for too long it stops being cool and starts wearing me down.

This is probably also why I enjoy RTS so much, even though I suck at it. At least there's plenty of Homeworlds and Red Alerts to mix things up.

It's probably also why I enjoyed Perfect Dark Zero (yeah, you heard me). The plot was insipid and piss-puddle shallow, but at least the visuals were varied, the guns were interesting, and the enemy stronghold actually had decent lighting. (And, unlike the original, you could actually aim your gun without standing perfectly still and holding down half the buttons on your controller. Stupid N64 FPS controls.)

All I'm saying is sometimes I don't want my FPS to be set in a dystopian future with decaying cityscapes, or in a dimly-lit space colony designed by a garbage can manufacturer, or in Satan's asshole, or World War II, or Afghanistan, or after/during the apocalypse.

For the record, one of my favorite online FPS's is Battlefield: 2142. Yes, I know, dystopian future, but at least you have floating battleships and giant robots to liven things up. And it's light outside most of the time! Illumination, what a concept!

EDIT: And let's not forget Starsige: Tribes. That pretty much epitomizes what I like in an online FPS. Laser guns, exploding frisbees, colorful armor, and jetpacks.

 

[Axeli]

Because most everything is shallow?