Once Upon A Time

Will Video Games Ever Have Their 'Moby Dick' or 'Citizen Kane'?

(CBS) 

In titles like Fallout or Neverwinter Nights, or perhaps the most renowned, the Final Fantasy series, emotion, personal choice and dilemma are very much the crux of the games' success. As such, production houses write the story and design the game to cater to the player and attempt to evoke an emotional investment from them. These are distinctly separate from the more mindless games in the shooter genre which, like the Serious Sam games, laugh in the face of emotional attachment.

MMORPG's stand somewhat separate because the player is supposed to create his own world. They are, by their very nature, uncontrollable stories. The rest of the gaming industry does seem to hold true to the above rules created by Ellis. It's all about the writing.

Video games, as visceral and social experiences, are getting better and better. This can be partially attributed to technological advancements. Now we can see alien worlds and the coronas of twin star systems; we can see the sweat and the stink and the bowels of our opponents. It is wonderful. We can talk to a person on the other side of the globe that we just scored against. We can be awed and stunned by the beauty and the art of gaming.

But where does that take us?

Video games, as narratives, are not getting better. This can be partially linked to technology: Who needs a good story when we have "next-gen" HD rubbish being rammed down our throats.

Did we even ask for "next-gen?" What the does next-gen mean? Prettier inanity?

Game companies do not seem to believe that telling better stories is in their best interest. They've generally relied on the graphics and the bells and whistles to sell games. With a few exceptions, they've never tried to sell us on emotion or character. This can be partially blamed on us, the gamers. Soon, however, gaming companies might have to change their ways.

The best next-gen game is mediocre when compared to — heaven forbid — a good book. Video games have no Charles Bukowski or H.P. Lovecraft or William Faulkner or Ernest Hemingway; we have no Akira Kurosawa or Francis Ford Coppola or Orson Wells or Alfred Hitchcock; we have no Dylan Thomas or William Blake or Allen Ginsburg or Emily Dickinson to move us.

Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Tim Schafer, Sid Meier and Will Wright are creators who might come close to those big names. But however close we might be, we aren't there yet. A case can be made for Role Playing Games like Fallout because of the open-ended, epic and yet personal nature of the genre.

Who can deny that they tried to keep Dogmeat, your canine sidekick in Fallout, alive until the end of the game all while thanking heavens for the 'Load' button were he to be chunkified by stray gun fire?

Choices for games of major storytelling caliber are obvious - though I am painfully aware of the fact I cannot list all the deserving games; Shadow of the Colossus, the Half-Life games and the Myst series are shining examples of narrative in video games done right. The character motivation in Shadow is simple enough – it certainly isn't complex, anyway – but stories don't need to be complex to work brilliantly.

Spending too much time talking about the possibilities of video games is leading to a slowdown in actual progress. Creating powerful narratives is the next step — not shinier guns or ultra-realistic intestines. We need real emotional and intellectual experiences. The potential is there for video games to become the paramount medium and it won't be through the resolution they're played at. It will be through the stories they tell.

Sean Vitka contributed to this report.