2008 Woodie Awards
The art of video games
What can one get out of gaming?
Paul Davis
Issue date: 10/7/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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Many individuals say that video games are a waste of time and gamers should be reading more books or going out and exploring nature. These same people will spend an hour or so watching TV in the evening, and not just the news. I know there are some people that will go straight home and read or commit some random act of creativity instead of playing video games. Video games at one point were nothing more than a violent and quick way to entertain people using visuals, however poor the visuals of a blocky plumber were. But games are pulling away from their violent counterparts and allowing people to truly explore worlds and stories that are as complex as books and just as stimulating as movies.
It's been said a good book, play, or movie will make a person cry and laugh. It is considered good for an entertainment form to stimulate several emotions.
Video games had only one emotion before: anger. The character was mad at something, ran around with a big weapon, and cut a lot of things up. Games are now evolving into love stories and dramas.
Max Payne, a well known Rockstar game, and its sequel, The Fall of Max Payne, had incredible story lines. In the first one, you are an undercover cop investigating the murder of your family. The dialogue is chilling and the descriptions were something Poe would think of. The second Max Payne game had a beautiful love story, and though I didn't play it, I've heard some people got misty eyed at the end of the game.
The beginning of this revolution of games came in 1997 with Final Fantasy VII. The game told the story of a confused boy trying to find himself. There was a love story so incredible, that when the love interest was killed I had to put down the controller for a while.
Many people who played the game had to stop and many in the past have written poems or made pictures for the digital lover so many had lost.
The main character, Cloud, had to struggle with a life that he was slowly realizing wasn't his own. Throughout the story he was slowly becoming more and more confident with who he really was. The story of self discovery is an amazing one, and Final Fantasy VII pulled the story off well.
Fable, released on the September 14, is another example. In it you have a story about a kingdom of corruption and how the kingdom is now coming back. The fable of the game is who you are. The game not only tells an amazing story, but it lets the player mold the story into an evil story of destruction, or a story of hope in a desolate land. I'll admit to the plot being a little weak, but it is the embodiment of what makes video games a unique form of story telling; the player can interact with his environment and see what he wants to, he doesn't just look at what the writer or director is willing to show him.
Games are becoming valuable. Once, poets were considered rogues, actors were deceivers, and writers were rebels. Video games are the new rogue art, but eventually, they will be as accepted as books and movies in their value if developers stay their current path in plot and theme development.
It's been said a good book, play, or movie will make a person cry and laugh. It is considered good for an entertainment form to stimulate several emotions.
Video games had only one emotion before: anger. The character was mad at something, ran around with a big weapon, and cut a lot of things up. Games are now evolving into love stories and dramas.
Max Payne, a well known Rockstar game, and its sequel, The Fall of Max Payne, had incredible story lines. In the first one, you are an undercover cop investigating the murder of your family. The dialogue is chilling and the descriptions were something Poe would think of. The second Max Payne game had a beautiful love story, and though I didn't play it, I've heard some people got misty eyed at the end of the game.
The beginning of this revolution of games came in 1997 with Final Fantasy VII. The game told the story of a confused boy trying to find himself. There was a love story so incredible, that when the love interest was killed I had to put down the controller for a while.
Many people who played the game had to stop and many in the past have written poems or made pictures for the digital lover so many had lost.
The main character, Cloud, had to struggle with a life that he was slowly realizing wasn't his own. Throughout the story he was slowly becoming more and more confident with who he really was. The story of self discovery is an amazing one, and Final Fantasy VII pulled the story off well.
Fable, released on the September 14, is another example. In it you have a story about a kingdom of corruption and how the kingdom is now coming back. The fable of the game is who you are. The game not only tells an amazing story, but it lets the player mold the story into an evil story of destruction, or a story of hope in a desolate land. I'll admit to the plot being a little weak, but it is the embodiment of what makes video games a unique form of story telling; the player can interact with his environment and see what he wants to, he doesn't just look at what the writer or director is willing to show him.
Games are becoming valuable. Once, poets were considered rogues, actors were deceivers, and writers were rebels. Video games are the new rogue art, but eventually, they will be as accepted as books and movies in their value if developers stay their current path in plot and theme development.
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