On Story, Plot, and Narrative in Games
Video games have recently hit the mainstream and the reasons for this are varied and complex, especially when analyzing the casual market. However, two key factors seem to be largely responsible for this new trend in the AAA-space: Narrativism and Production Values.
Thinking back, video games did not hit the mainstream before a certain threshold of production value was reached, one that approached movie production quality. Today, games often proudly brand themselves “cinematic” and “story driven” with budgets close to many blockbuster Hollywood movies. Interestingly, the short era of Full Motion Video (FMV) games in the late 90s did not attract a fraction of today’s audience where Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare can easily compete with Hollywood’s best.
This disconnect is interesting as FMV games often incorporated heavily story-driven elements and were the closest to cinematic experiences a game could get without becoming an interactive movie. Wing Commander IV for example incorporated interactive cutscenes, dialogue-choices, outcomes and endings long before even a single line of Mass Effect’s script was written, and it featured an all-star cast including Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Malcolm McDowell (everything ever) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli, Sliders).
