NPR takes a condescending look at stories in games

I was listening to this yesterday as I really didn't see it as condescending. It came across as very informative and that she really enjoyed knowing that thought was going into the stories being told.

I guess since I hear so many pieces on NPR I just get used to their tone they use.

When will we ever see a headline of:
"Taxpayers take a condescending look at how NPR spends their money."

Awww, all it takes is some misguided view on video games to bring fanboys of all types together. See? We CAN be one big happy Joystiq family!

Please, get over yourselves. Try reading a novel that doesn't involve spaceships, or watch a movie that doesn't involve explosions, and you'll see how retarded games stories really are. Games are entertaining, and I enjoy playing games, but don't pretend that games are higher than they really are.

She's a little condescending, but she actually makes some good points. The writers in video games provide the backstory and an environment for the action to take place. That's true in even the most "narrative-driven" games on the market. Heck, even the designer of Halo 3 agrees with her - he's written a book to include all of the story elements that had to be taken out of the game to make it more playable!

Videogame stories DO suck, with only a few exceptions. That's what naturally happens when almost the entire medium is centered around mindless balls-to-the-wall action. You end up with stories on the intellectual level of most comic books* or movies like Sky Capitan & The World of Tomorrow**.

And yes, that includes precious, pedestaled games like Bio-Shock and Half-Life (and presumably Mass Effect, which from what I've seen so far is NOT what you would call "smart sci-fi").

As far as conveying a good, entertaining story goes, games like Sam & Max, Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton all provide at least potential exceptions, but the genre doesn't exactly lend itself well to the kind of games most people enjoy. The main problem is that we've literally always told stories through a passive medium. You sit and listen or watch. Games are still working on a way to effectively break that wall down. Given how long we've been absorbing our stories rather than interacting with them, you admittedly can't really fault them for not having come up with a solution yet.

We've seen a step up in HOW the stories are told lately, but for the actual quality of the writing, most of it seems like it's still B-level at best. Some of it has potential but, again, it usually gets dumbed down significantly as they try and fit it into the videogame medium.

*I like and read comic books, for the record
**SC&tWoT is a terrible movie.

Psaakyrn:

I am Profile 0

or maybe... in some way we're all Profile 0

That's the kind of quality content you get when you listen to NPR ;)

I read one book a week. I play games all week too. Currently I am reading Henry Miller's Air conditioned Nightmare. Last week it was some Arthur Conan Doyle, and the week before that Philip K. Dick. But it would seem as a gamer I am nothing but an idiot only capable of reading world of warcraft books. I usually enjoy NPR, but this seems a bit beneath them. Try researching your subject before you pass any judgment on it. It does help to be informed. Oh wait...NOOB BITCH LOLOLOLO!!!!

Without reading her review, hard to comment on her tone -- but even if her blanket statements are a little dumb, it would be hard to examine videogame story (in general) if you were a literature/film buff. Almost all videogames still have pretty piss-poor writing and story. I still feel MGS is the best-written game I've seen, and it's a decade old.

I love NPR but this doesn't surprise me. I don't think it's an NPR problem, more of a middle-aged person problem. Gaming isn't taken seriously by those folks because it simply didn't exist like it does now when they were growing up. But I totally agree that she should never be allowed to cover a gaming story again.

NPR also did a hilarious article on people dying in internet cafes in South Korea playing Starcraft.

lulz

To be fair to the reporter... they were probably just asking the very same questions as the audience would which is actually common interview technique.

NPR's audience (despite me being a part of it) mostly consists of opinionated old-timers that want nothing to do with the vidja games.

I like how some of you are using a single reporter's actions to make sweeping statements about NPR. Way to show them how it's done, guys!

"...there is very little hope. There's room for one savior to come and rescue us from this horrible fate, and thats you of course, the player, as it always is."

If that story doesn't imply a beggining middle and end, then I'd love to hear her take on Jebus. Not the quality of coverage I'd expect from NPR. Her description of the Bungie front room, while accurate, obviously misses the point.

Like it or not, video games DO NOT need stories. What makes a video game art is not some half-assed analogy to narrative media, it's the space of possibilities created by the designers and the satisfying experience of interacting with it. Some games do narrative well (Half Life 2, Portal), but it's completely unnecessary. Most all of my favorite games, e.g. Mario, have no storyline worth mentioning at all. When they try to add storyline, it just detracts from the experience, e.g. the Metroid series.

Also, it's ridiculous to get upset because someone who reviews books is ignorant of video games. They and most of the population. Get used to it.

STOP THE PRESSES!!?!?!

Condescension from NPR? What is this world coming to?

First of all I am working on a documentary about video games and how useful they are in social and educational settings FOR NPR. Secondly, are you kidding me about Games not having good story lines? Have you played World of Warcraft or Civilization? I'm sorry but Lord of the Rings, Star Wars are literally the same story line as many games. To say the STORY ADDS NOTHING TO A GAME IS IGNORANT. For example in WOW the story is the setting for the entire concept of the game. Have you ever played Bioshock? i'm sorry but the storyline in that game is amazing. This is like movies in the 30's people don't seem to understand the INEvitable future that games will play in our lives. (Guessing most of you are over 40 or don't play games)

It always saddens me when I hear other gamers beat down on game stories. Open your horizons and you'll find great stories in games.

For me, reading, books, movies, and games are all in the same boat. If one doesn't interest me, then I don't care for it and vice versa. All in the context for me, so of course I believe that all those mediums are comparable with each other.

One's trash is another's treasure and art is subjective. We are the future, and we see these things now and can keep the ignorance down.

Who does she think she is? There is not a thing wrong with the whole Princess captured and being in the 8th castle you enter storyline. How dare she insinuate otherwise!

@Psaakyrn: You seem to confuse, to some extent, interactivity with non-linearity. It is clear that a video game can have one without t'other. I think it is also clear that a video game whose story is interactive but not non-linear can still be seen as taking advantage of the unique potentialities of its medium.

Perhaps someone thinks that interactivity has little impact on story without employing some sort of non-linearity - since surely interactivity that does not involve non-linearity is only a gameplay issue. I think this is to overestimate the extent to which game elements and story elements of a video game are separate. Among other things, the fact that you play the game AS the protaganist has an incredible effect (and affect) on the story; it vastly increases the emotional impact of the story, at least when done right.

@Bob: I think you place to much of your opinion based on how video game stories compare to the stories of other mediums. On a traditional criteria it might be quite hard to defend (some of) the Halo series' writing. However that is only if you judge the game's story solely on the linear plot that you are presented with in the cut-scenes which is, admittedly, both broad and cliched. The interactivity of video games, however, lends itself to the presentation of a world mythology and it is here that the Halo story succeeds. The mythology of the Halo Universe gives, along with the gameplay obviously, the broad linear story greater meaning. If the plot of the Halo games were presented as is in a movie it is clear that it would be shite, but this is not how it is presented. Nonetheless we can draw analogies with the medium of film. Consider the original trilogy of Star Wars, that story was super broad and quite cliched when compared to the stories of the mediums before it (books ftw). However because it used the elements unique to its medium well it was a hit.

The fact that video games lend itself to the presentation of world mythologies is precisely the reason why it is the perfect medium for spin-offs into other mediums, ie the reason that the Halo books are such a success. The problem now is that every game developer is aware of this and consciously trying to create a high-concept Halo style franchise in order to reap big cash. But, as with any medium, the second the desire for big wads of cash has a large influence on a story it becomes quite transparent and ruins the story.

The 90's called. They want their interactive movies back.

For all the hype about gaming as an artform, a new emphasis on story and cinematic experience, what we seem to be getting is on-rails storybooks with frankly crappy stories. It's not surprising, of course, considering the cinematic experience in the cinema plain sucks most of the time, so it's to be expected that mimicking that in game form won't exactly produce a new golden age of storytelling, or of anything else for that matter.

For all the technical and marketing advances computer and video gaming has seen in the last 10 years, I can't help but feel the actual game experience has become less enticing. Maybe it's just that I've matured and grown nostalgic, but man, there used to be games with an actual GAME to play somewhere. I don't want to fiddle around with stupid physics puzzles in a minute sandbox to then be "rewarded" with a minute or two of inane dialogue presumably relating to that plot thing the writer once heard about, only to be pushed into some repetitive fight sequence with waves of huge monsters which I in the end, against all the odds manage to kill, except wait theres MORE to kill, and then be applauded by a totally personality-free 20,000 polygon walking plot device who tells me to come see the band of generic resistance fighters I've helped defend since I never actually had any choice. If it were up to me, I'd kill just about all of the NPCs in games just to shut them up, but sadly that option is not often present.

At least Oblivion, to name an example, got things somewhat right. Sure, the story is a steaming turd, but the game makes up for it by actually being a game and letting the player actually play and make their own experience. "Story-intensive" in the game world seems to mean "pre-determined". If I want no influence on how things pan out, I'll watch a movie or read a book. If I wanted to watch a really lousy movie and press a few buttons every now and then to get whatever passes for a plot to move on, I'd play the games we're getting. I don't, though, so I just find myself starting a game up and a maximum of half an hour later being utterly unwilling to subject myself to any more of the drudgery. Devs: please STOP trying to emulate static forms of storytelling and START using the possibilities the tech we now have affords for freeform, progressive, player-led experiences.

Killer 7.

Perhaps she should invest her time studying the world of Silent Hill out, then come talk about bad plots.

No story in video games... dear God.

MASS EFFECT

There, end of. Disproves pretty much everything about "Video game stories suck".