Devs Say Plot is Overrated

Grand Theft Auto.

The latest version, arguably one of the biggest games of 2013. You know what garnered the most attention? Actually, what didn't? The story. Or the plot.

It was the interactivity and ability to completely ignore the storyline.

I think putting a great story into a game is a good thing. Drive a plot well, and the gamer will enjoy it.

But I agree that a story isn't a primary consideration to a game. It should be a tool in the developer's kit. But not all tools are used every time. And I'm okay with that.

robjvargas said:

Grand Theft Auto.

The latest version, arguably one of the biggest games of 2013. You know what garnered the most attention? Actually, what didn't? The story. Or the plot.

It was the interactivity and ability to completely ignore the storyline.

I think putting a great story into a game is a good thing. Drive a plot well, and the gamer will enjoy it.

But I agree that a story isn't a primary consideration to a game. It should be a tool in the developer's kit. But not all tools are used every time. And I'm okay with that.

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I actually remember the plot to GTA V, but that's because I played this one all the way through. AND that's with all three playable characters combined. As a gamer, I pay attention to plot when it intrigues me, which is most of the time because I play a good portion of them for the story the game devs tell. Naughty Dog is exceptionally good at doing this lately, as is Ubisoft and quite a few others.

Of course, there are games that are heavily focus on multiplayer, like Battlefield and Call of Duty. You know, those first person shooters you'd rather play with your friends than to play the campaign by yourself. So it's not surprising to hear gamers don't recall the plot of a video game; however, I feel VGs can be a wonderful media in which to tell a story through.

robjvargas said:

Grand Theft Auto.

The latest version, arguably one of the biggest games of 2013. You know what garnered the most attention? Actually, what didn't? The story. Or the plot.

It was the interactivity and ability to completely ignore the storyline.

Click to expand...

I just beat InFamous: Second Son, playing the hero path. It's got plot, a really good, engaging plot. It's beautiful to play, very human, well-acted, and everything else, but for large chunks, I could just ignore my next mission and go around freeing Seattle. Freeing Seattle was even well-written, with escalating phone calls to the DUP (bad guys') hotline.

When I got back to the plot, it was perfectly satisfying. I'll have to play the evil side next to see how many changes there are in the storyline. I was really pleased to see a case where open world doesn't mean it needs to lack/ignore plot!

I think it depends on the game, and your general gameplay style, and outlook on story vs gameplay.

I'm one of those who like at least a basic plot that provides at least a bare-bones framework of the motivation or goal of the player character. Otherwise, I don't mind lack of plot. I'm getting more and more impatient with cutscenes and annoying storylines/characters/endings, to the point where I'm looking for more gameplay-oriented games.

I'm finding I enjoy games with more open environments or provide a few different ways to play, like Dishonored, Dues Ex, Deus Ex:HR, Vampire:Bloodlines, etc. I enjoy linear action-adventure games like Uncharted, but I prefer something that provides more freedom, like Skyrim, or sandbox aspects like Infamous. I hate being entirely railroaded by story. I like control. (Control freak, lol.)

Article: They can’t expend the mental bandwidth to follow complex plots and stories when they’re always having to do something else.

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I don't want to say anything silly about two developers with more experience than I will ever have in my lifetime. But I just really don't like any conclusion that assumes an audience is basically too stupid to do something. I too would be curious to see their methodology. I've seen various survey results purporting to rank varying aspects of games higher or lower, but most of them tend to be flawed statistically in one way or another.

That said, games are different, for sure. What a plot is in a game isn't a plot in a TV, movie, or book sense.

Zoombie: You know, I actually think that strategy games can have some of the best stories - though they're almost never written. I mean, I have a bazillion awesome X-com stories that will be burned into my head forever...none of them were pre-planned, but they had characters, climaxes, heroic sacrifices...lots of heroic sacrifices...

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That's a story for me. I love RTS strategy games (currently addicted to Civilization; previously addicted to Empire Earth/Age of Empires). Some of the campaigns can be interesting stories, but it's the player who makes so much of that happen. I've heard this called implied story and it can be manipulated by really careful level design. I've tried a few times and it's hard. Takes a very long time and a lot of testing. But player agency is a powerful thing. Any storyteller knows agency is a powerful thing.

Zoombie: So, I see no reason why we can't have good, plotty games and games that purely focus on delivering a visceral game-play experience, or games that do both. As long as the product is quality, it's all good.

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I want to do this. Somehow. Not sure how. Shigeru Miyamoto, maybe. My favourite games are the ones that have stories--sometimes subtle, implied ones--that remain fun. I fail to see how that should be impossible given the tools games have to cognitively manipulate our emotions and experiences. That's what stories do, too. These things aren't incompatible, or shouldn't be.

lilyWhite: You can write a deep, nuanced character who undergoes considerable character development...or you can make some shallow sunglasses-wearing dude with a big sword.

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I take it you're not a fan of Auron? Though to be fair that description could fit a lot of characters....

It's a shame that the industry is this way. With every gruff, growly-voiced macho soldier protagonist that comes out, I see the AAA market increasingly abandoning compelling or even fun characters over someone that can just be stuck in a background in a marketing campaign.

I want more Silent Hills 2, Bioware games, Bastions/Transistors, or even Bioshocks. Instead, it seems like those have been eschewed in favor of cool growly dudes who spend the entire time sticking the sights of their chainsaw rifles directly in their eyeballs and plots that boil down to, "There's a bad guy, now kill everyone between you and him/her". It was awesome when Doom and Half Life did it, but at least Doom and Half Life gave you a billion weapons strapped to each finger and didn't act like they were the best games to ever descend onto the market.

From an article I've read about Sakurai (The man behind Super Smash Bros. and Kirby. He also brought back Kid Icarus), he thinks stories in video games are annoying. It apparently takes forever to get somewhere with them.

I love having elements of story in video games. Kid Icarus: Uprising is good with the characters bantering back in forth constantly. It makes up for the rather short cutscenes in the game, where Pit actually is interacting with other characters.

Speaking of story in games, since I haven't gotten my 50 posts up yet and can't create a new thread over it...I recommend people who enjoy story play Transistor. It's a recent release by Supergiant Games (the makers of Bastion) and it certainly measures up to its predecessor, if not surpasses it.

I'm not trying to be a shill about it, I just figure anyone in the thread has at least a passing interest in plot-based games.

I love Transistor.

Some people have said it isn't as "deep" as it is "pretending to be."

I never thought of it as being deep.

I just think it's fucking gorgeous.

I think most of the effort in a videogame plot must go to the worldbuilding. To me, games like Mass Effect or the Fallout series shine because there are few invisible walls and pretty much everything has a story. Some of my fondest memories about Mass Effect come from reading the Codex.