Six Questions with Kevin J. Baird
Narrative in Videogames Survey Response
Kevin J Baird
Editor Video Game News
In your opinion, which games have the most impressive
narrative content (which are the best stories)?
I have a feeling your gonna get a lot of answers that revolve around
Square's titles or Konami's Metal Gear series, possibly even Capcom's Resident Evil.
Personally I think all these stories suck. I'm not sure if you want recent
titles listed here or what. I think the greatest story line ever found in a game
title was probably "Star Control II" which was exceptional. I also
really liked the part in Wing Commander III where you had to pick which girl you would
talk to at the bar on the space ship. That was a classic moment in gaming which was
built around good story telling. Of course the game-play itself wasn't that
astounding. If I had to pick a couple of recent games, I thought that Gunman
Chronicles actually had a decent story line (Although, again, it was panned by alot of
critics.), Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix was also interesting but agonizing to deal with all
those puzzles, and I really enjoyed Deus Ex which had many
dynamic narratives. I hope that is what you wanted.
Which games do you see as creating a new narrative form - innovating a new
structure or style with which to tell stories?
Is everyone going to say Deus Ex here? It's about interaction. I want to alter
the course of a game's story and not just follow it along. When you go through
something like Clive Barker's Undying, which basically had a story that you uncovered as
you went is a different experience entirely. It's like wandering around a dungeon
and finding leaf-lets that are pages from a book, and you get to read the book as you find
more leaf-lets. I don't know how many games I've played that have used the JOURNAL
records of some dead guy who left his information sprawled around in crates for me to
find. Deus Ex pushed the envelope by allowing me to have some choice in how the
story line works. While not as open-ended as everyone would like, it definitly
showed the future of what can and will be done.
How important is narrative content in games?
You wouldn't think it was important at all the way kids are buying up multi-player arena
based games. But again, this may just be because 99% of titles seem to follow one of
the five basic game story lines. (Orcs and Elves and kidnapped princess, Secret
Agent Spy, Fighting the undead to close some portal to hell or arriving from hell to seek
revenge, Alien infestation or Alien Roswell like cover-up investigation, or nuclear
apocalyptic world in the age of the Road Warrior.) Games that explore unique and
interactive story lines tend to gain the public support more. Half-Life, Deus Ex,
Metal Gear Solid, etc. So it's important to create a classic game that will be
remembered, but it isn't important when it comes to dollar figures.
What are your views on narrative techniques such as branching storylines
and alternate endings, which we see commonly in games, but rarely in other
mediums?
You know, it would be cool if I could rent a DVD with an alternate ending and watch it
with my friends and have them get all freaked out that the ending was different from what
they saw, or the movie moved in a different direction. While we do get these missing
scenes or scenes that were removed for whatever reasons, we're never able to watch the
film in it's other form. That's a shame.
As far as games are concerend, story telling is difficult, as
typically the story has to be written and the story has to allow the user to perform
inside it. I'm sure anyone can pick up a Stephen King book off the shelf, but
figuring out a way to make that book into an interactive video game is harder than it
sounds. Just look at Clive Barker's Undying.
How do you see the potential or execution of narrative in videogames
differing from the potential and execution of narrative in other mediums (films, books,
etc.)?
I think the creative medium for movies is severely limited when you talk about the
legalese behind the industry. To present a major motion picture that has alternate
choices and scenes will probably never happen in our life-time. Unions would have to
draw up new contacts for everyone involved, that would all need to be negotiated and
bickered over, and any individual project that tried to move into this area would probably
get squashed because of those issues. It's more then likely that the gaming industry
will bring the movie industry into it's fold over time. Interactive movies will be
considered games, and the like.
As for interactive books. We had Choose Your Own Adventure
novels. What else do you want? Twist-A-Plot as well? Hrmmm...
What trends in gaming do you see as counter-narrative, not encouraging
and/or including narrative content?
There are a million great ideas for games out there, but the problem is that most game
developers don't have realistic imaginations. They are more concerned about how
their game engine will perform, or the dollar figures involved in moving units, and less
about how the story line comes together. But the movie industry is the same way.
Perhaps 1 or 2 movies a year are actually worth watching, and the rest are crap.
The game industry is the same way. All the bad exposes the good. |
