Story in Games
I attended a Roundtable discussion at the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose on "Storytelling in Games".
I left extremely frustrated.
Though there seemed to be a few like-minded individuals in the room, for the most part I felt shut out of a conversation that seemed primarily to be about How We Can Force Narrative into First Person Shooters as opposed to How Can We Tell Stories Through Games.
There were some primary points of the discussion:
1) Lamenting the Loss of Control
A lot of the writers present seemed to want to discuss the issues associated with not having control over what the user sees when, and having less control over the development of character and plot. One attendee mentioned frustration with narrative because it forced him to spend thousands of dollars on his previous titles to add in cut scenes.
2) How to Show Emotion Digitally
There was also concern with the lack of emotional range a digital character can express. A few writers felt the solution lied in more realistic graphics. Others mentioned that the solution did not lie in realistic characters, but noted that should be something writers keep in mind, as graphics continue to improve. One attendee metioned the "Uncanny Valley": audience testing shows that users believe in a character design that looks farther away from reality. As the design approaches a more realistic look, there occurs a slump in the believability in design, so that those animated characters who look very close to real are actually more unbelievable than there low-budget predecessors (Polar Express, anyone?).
3) Telling Stories Through Buttons
There was also concern with the interface. The claim was that it is difficult to engage a user through button pressing.
Tune in later for my assessment on how we can turn these negatives into positive, but here are some articles at gamasutra on writing story for games:
Story and Narrative in Games
Using Symbols to Communicate Story
Massive Multiplayer Story