CCCToad on 14/5/2010 at 04:36
The same could also be said of quite a few other games (notable Thief). While they do have a strong main plot, the user's familiarity with and endearment to the game world depends on the player's exploration of it.
Aerothorn on 14/5/2010 at 04:46
Myst and Silent Hill 2 are both good suggestions - particularly the former, as I need more from that time period.
As far as the other guy's project, I'm pretty disappointed (I feel so much less special now). That said, our projects have VERY different scope. His project is great, and seems really well thought-out. Yet its breadth requires the author to play an immense amount of games to cover all the history. I simply don't have the time to do that during this project, because (to answer Pardoner's question) this is very much academic and I'm on a rather tight deadline for this. Starts in September and goes to April or so. Which is a lot of time, but the nature of these projects is that they always take a lot more time than you think, particularly when you're also taking classes and doing lots of research. That said, I'm probably going to contact him to exchange ideas.
As far as intended audience: this is going to be more of a book and less of an academic paper. Which is to say, I want it to be readable by both people outside the academy and non-gamers. Which pissed off some of my potential committee members, but it should work out.
On Infocom: Already did A Mind Forever Voyaging for my previous independent study. Planetfall sounds like a good choice. Will go for that.
As far as The Longest Journey, I love it dearly, but I'm honestly not sure how much new it does - it's grounding is interesting, but the narrative devices it uses are pretty typical for the adventure genre.
Aja on 14/5/2010 at 04:58
Bioshock's not the best example, but it might be worth mentioning that one moment. It could tie in with the ending to MGS2.
june gloom on 14/5/2010 at 05:08
I'm going to have to agree, because in a way it was a middle finger to the player, playing with the whole "control" thing.
Tonamel on 14/5/2010 at 05:39
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
As far as The Longest Journey, I love it dearly, but I'm honestly not sure how much new it does - it's grounding is interesting, but the narrative devices it uses are pretty typical for the adventure genre.
This is true, but you don't
have any typical adventure games in your list, so if you plan to include them in the discussion this is probably the best one.
Also put some thought into games that have plots the player participates in, but isn't the hero. War games tend to do this: Freespace 2, OpFlash, etc. Or games like Starcraft, which has plot and characters, but all of them are fairly external to the player.
Aja on 14/5/2010 at 05:47
Quote Posted by dethtoll
I'm going to have to agree, because in a way it was a middle finger to the player, playing with the whole "control" thing.
And then there's MGS2, which actually used its own hype as a storytelling mechanism, a way of alienating the player—or at least subverting her sense of how the game (and, in turn, how games in general) ought to unfold—by snatching the much-loved main character 30 minutes in and never again returning control (and not only that, but replacing it with a weird, effeminate guy tailor-made for all the homophobic 13 years who were probably traumatized more severely). I still think it's one of gaming's most brilliant moves, even if I couldn't quite appreciate it back when it first came out.
june gloom on 14/5/2010 at 07:01
I'm going to have to agree. MGS1 and 2 were deconstructions, the latter more so. MGS1 deconstructed the action hero while wrapping a discussion of how much a person is defined by genetics in a patently Japanese anti-nuke message; Metal Gear Solid 2 followed up the genetics question by exploring how much of a person is defined by information, but in the course of that, the game deconstructs, among other things, how people related to the first game, the unreasonable expectations of fans, how players identify with the main character, and so on, culminating in the now infamous last two hours or so of the game, a mind screw of epic proportions where the fourth wall does not exist and the confusing finale plays with the relationship between society and information while subtly insulting the player. I didn't appreciate it back in the day either but every time I replay it I'm forced to realize the sheer brilliance of Kojima giving the finger.
Al_B on 14/5/2010 at 07:01
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
On Infocom: Already did A Mind Forever Voyaging for my previous independent study. Planetfall sounds like a good choice. Will go for that.
Did you consider (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(video_game)) trinity? It has a pretty strong narrative and it's a bit easier to relate to real life (if that's in any way important).
Sulphur on 14/5/2010 at 07:16
I was going to mention Trinity myself for those reasons. Planetfall does have the benefit of having quite possibly the first NPC that was written reasonably well enough (or manipulatively enough, heh) that people actually felt a twinge of emotion for it.
quakis on 14/5/2010 at 11:49
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
As far as The Longest Journey, I love it dearly, but I'm honestly not sure how much new it does - it's grounding is interesting, but the narrative devices it uses are pretty typical for the adventure genre.
What about Dreamfall? The way in which it flips between the three characters to tell a story?
