Are games better at telling stories?

@Lulu_Lulu: Audio books are a subgenre of novels, first off (it's in the name, if you didn't realize it). Second, what even is the big issue you have with calling them video games, besides boiling down to "I don't like this compared to this other game, so it's clearly not a game." Different genres exist for different audiences, and gameplay is undergoing its own genre paradigm shift.

I have to say no. Because a game is a game and they have to make it fun to play gamers aren't interested in story we don't play games for story we just want to blow s*** up, get scared and headshot people. Some story in games is what makes games great but solely for telling a story no. Look up the definition of game. Movies and books are much more suited for telling stories but I prefer movies, people read books specifically for a story, people watch movies solely for the story, and gamers play games to game.

That's the way it works.

@aretilda: Not everybody plays games JUST to game. Some want to interact with a story and make it their own instead of simply playing. Just because it's not how you view it doesn't mean that's how it is for the entire gaming community.

@mastermetal777

Well the purpose of playing games is to... Well... To play them...

People watch movies just to watch, people listen to music just to listen to them, and people watch porn to masterbate.... Thats just common sense.

@Lulu_Lulu: Okay. And you think that a game with story moments isn't a game if it has story moments, regardless of the overwhelming amount of gameplay in between story segments? You're seeing the glass half-full, buddy.

@mastermetal777

Audiobooks are a sub genre of Literature (its in the name), they are an entirely seperate category from novels.

I don't like MMOs either... But those are still games... Poof, there goes your argument.

They are many different types of games, but they do share common traits, thats what what ties each and every single genre of gaming together.... But if the project in question goes beyond the criteria that ties all games together then yeah, its not a game.

@Lulu_Lulu: And you keep ignoring that there is no true criteria for what makes a game. Instead, you ignore those arguments and choose to believe whatever you want to believe in order to further your senseless agenda as you've been doing for a while. Go back to System Wars, that's your real home.

@mastermetal777

Depends... MGS 4 is still a game, regardless of how many cutscenes and story it has.

Heavy Rain is not because its got no gameplay, its got mechanics and interactions but no rules and no gameplay dynamic.

@mastermetal777

There is.... You may not acknowledge it but its there. Its way above your pay grade.

@Lulu_Lulu: It does have gameplay, since Quick-Time Events are technically considered gameplay. They're not a popular gameplay mechanic, but they're a method of gameplay nonetheless. It still has a failure state, it has a loose set of rules, but rules nonetheless (there's a certain way to walk, interact with objects, there's limits on what you can interact with, etc), and the dynamic of the gameplay is to cause events in the story to change depending on the success or failure of the QTEs. It is still very much a game. An unorthodox one, admittedly, but do not get yourself confused into thinking it isn't a game.

@mastermetal777

QTE's are not even Gameplay on a Technical Level. They're just randomn unintuitive time sensitive button prompts, kinda like the white rabbit special feature int The Matrix dvd.

Portal is an Orthodox game.... QTE's are just jarring Cutscenes.

@Lulu_Lulu: but a cutscene is non-ineractive, and QTEs are a method of interaction. So they can't be cutscenes. Shot yourself in the foot there.

This guy got it all figured out lol.

I really need to start expect less from people...

so how is call of duty gameplay and walking dead not gameplay

I didn't really notice it played fine to me, save points didnt bother me as I'd play a full episode in one sitting, I imagine a lot of people did.

Only thing that was frustrating was the preview for the next episode gave a lot away, the TV show does that too though. Oh and being forced to watch the credits after each episode and read all the names of the pets Telltale developers had.

"people watch movies solely for the story"

not really. i watch them for the pictures. the story, production and sound/music is secondary.

with games, gameplay is the sole reason for my playing them; story, production/presentation, sound/music, art, all secondary.

with literature, story is the sole reason for my reading them; any other aspect is secondary.

I mean how in the blue hell do you tell something like Journey in a movie? You freaking can't

how in the hell is anyone gonna turn it into a story?

That rewinding times is not a from the game mechanic. That is more from the visual that is happens. From what I hear about it, it is a puzzle heavy game and then reset buttons so it could be a metaphor for sometimes mistakes in puzzle need to be undone.

I was thinking of ME1 story but I can include ME2, and DAO into the story.

@mastermetal777

Interactive or Not... It aint gameplay.... Nor does it contribute to gameplay...

@wiouds: The rewinding in Braid IS a mechanic that allows you to simply rewind the game to an earlier stage. Of course it's from the visuals, but you get visuals from most mechanics in any game, like jumping, shooting. sprinting all have their visuals/animations or whatnot. But it's still a mechanic.

Well if you watch Indie Game: The Movie, the developer of Braid kinda explains it all. It's not just a shallow puzzle game. But anything is up for interpretation though. Just like every artform.

@thehig1

Its pretty simple, Call Of Duty has: a goal, rules, challenge and interactions that come together to form a gameplay Dynamic. The Walking Dead has QTEs.... Sure it also has challenge, rules and goal but theres no dynamic... its only a game to anyone who finds tying their shoelaces challenging.

Listen mate. What you described here about CoD is just as simple as in all other games you have bashed calling them "not being games" because of their story. You're such a hypocrite.

@HXCE

I didn't say anything about a Story....

@Lulu_Lulu: But how do you get the goal exactly? Do you make it up yourself? No. CoD has as much story as any other game.

@HXCE

again....I didn't say anything about story.... Whether any game has one or not isn't my concern. You may need it but many people don't.

@Lulu_Lulu: define gameplay for me.

Not all games but there are some games that are extremely immersive and makes you lose in its world, plot and lore. Story telling in games is quite difficult . You can't have smaller script like movies because games are longer than 2 hours and you're given a freedom to engage with NPCs who have their own stories to share. So games scripts are much longer than movies but at the same time , devs have to implement it in a virtual world and make it believable and immersive. All these elements make storytelling a lot more difficult in games but it can prove to be the best medium if used correctly. Very few games do that correctly and none have used it to its potential.

@MirkoS77

I don't know precisely what gameplay is.... Nobody does, unfortunately. :(

The Walking Dead has 10 Episodes of game play across two seasons, what you described in COD is not much different in Walking Dead, its not as fluent game play wise but its still game play

Its a game

@Lulu_Lulu: So why get angry when people define it in their own way? I mean, you just admitted you don't know what gameplay is exactly, and that you're not different than others who want to know it. By admitting your own lack of knowledge on the subject, you basically just admitted to talking out of your own ass this entire time you've been championing gameplay.

No, because a movie and a book tells you a story but usually in games you live the story, and things that you do arent the same that things that others do. the experiencie of one user and other user are differents. Then the story is less exact in videogames. But i like more videogames than others things because i prefer live the story.

@mastermetal777

I believe in specificity and Structure. And yeah... I don't what it is.... But I do know what it isn't.....

@Lulu_Lulu: You can't know what it isn't without having a clear representation of what it is, and structure varies depending on both the type of game and the type of interaction being presented. And specificity is too rigid. That's why books have a certain structure, whereas games have the great ability to be both abstract while also being sound in their design.

Visual are not game mechanics.

Most of the time a person can place more important and meaning to what the they created even with little or no proof.

The problem is that games are games so it needs game play and all game play come from problem solving. This mean that the story of a game is limited. They can only do self vs. other or self vs. environment. They can not do a self vs self any better that a movie or book unless they make it into a self vs. other. In other words they need to twist abstract ideals much more than book or movies need to do.

@mastermetal777

True... But sometimes its so obvious, I can tell you right now, Cutscenes aren't gameplay... :p thats without knowing exactly what gameplay is.

@Lulu_Lulu: anybody with a brain stem knows that cutscenes aren't exactly gameplay. The question still remains how you can claim to know so much about gameplay and then criticize every other elements of a game without even having a firm grasp of what gameplay is? That makes you less of a credible source than most of us. Actually, it makes you just as credible source as anyone who doesn't have a game development background. I.E. none at all.

@mastermetal777

Okay good... I'm just making sure.... You have knack for catching me offguard with what you think is gameplay.

Anyway, that has to be determined by on a case by case basis.... Usually I can rule out most games because they don't have all of the concepts that make up gameplay, some are missing a goal, some are missing a challenge, some are missing rules. Others have all these things yet they are disconnected from eachother.

So yeah.... One case at a time... Perhaps somewhere in the process of dissecting these non games we might stumble on to an actual definition.

@Lulu_Lulu: or you can just accept there are multiple gameplay styles and let them exist within this broadening medium.

Games have about another 100 years to catch up to movies... and probably a good 400-500 years to catch up to books/literature.

And then there is the whole problem of gaming not being a good avenue for story-telling in the traditional manner (i.e. dialogue and cutscenes)... it's better for a game to tell it's story through it's gameplay (i.e. Shadow of the Colossus, Metroid Prime, etc).

@mastermetal777

I do..... And all of them have stuff in common. Except TWD ofcourse.... Its a different type of entertainment not a different type of gameplay.

At telling stories? No. Videogames tend to lack writing quality that books and movies have. However, I do believe videogames have just as good plots. Maybe I just havent seen the best movies or read the best books, but so far stories from videogames are the ones that have been the most thought provoking and interesting to me. For example, NIER had a great plot full of twists and a unique world/lore. Sure the writing and dialogue was kind of cliche at times, but the story itself was very captivating and unique, blurring the line between good and evil, and showing how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The story could also be interpreted as a dissection of the jrpg genre and its stereotypes.

Another great and unique story was 9hours 9 persons 9 doors. Starting off as a Saw style survival scenario, it slowly but surely turned into a thought-provoking hard science fiction mystery that made you rethink the physical world. My point is, while overall books and movies have told stories in a better way, there are still a few hidden gems of videogame stories out there with great plots. I expect Planescape Torment to be another one.

But what is the goal? And HOW do you get that exactly? Stop acting stupid.

@HXCE

Don't call people stupid... Its rude.

Anyway.... Which game are you refering to ?

It's comments like these that just make me think that you are stupid. So let me quote this to you one more time.

You say Call of Duty has a goal in the game. Can you describe that goal exactly?

No. Games have to find a balance between story-telling and gameplay, and unfortunately that gets in the way of telling a substantial story. Furthermore, there aren't a ton of great writers who write for videogames - videogame writing is like failed novel/movie writing.

@HXCE

You're inclined to think people are stupid.... Hell I think you're thick skulled moron but thats no way to talk to another human being.

Anyway.... Which Call Of Duty game and in which game mode ? Campaign ? Kill Confirmed ? Zombies ? Special Ops ?

Haha me thick skulled? I am more open minded than you'll ever be. If you weren't as thick skulled as you claim me to be, then i've already would had the anwser to my question from you. What CoD game? You said CoD, so only can one guess you mean the whole franchise.

PLEASE EXPLAIN FOLLOWING:

1. WHAT is the goal with CoD?

2. HOW do you get that goal?

It's simple.

Edit: Also telling someone that they are thick skulled is the same as implying they are stupid. It's just a finer phrasing of it. No one is exactly the king here.

@HXCE

Again... Which CoD and which Game mode ?

Its not as simple as you think it is.