Story Importance in video games

1. By: Christopher W. Mock
THE STORY BEHIND THE
GAME

2. IN THE BEGINNING….
• The first electronic game was on the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement device
in !947. The game was a missile simulator inspired by the recently
developed RADAR devices used in WWII.
• Computer programming for chess came out soon after, followed by Nim, and
eventually Pong, Tic-Tac-Toe and other games began to show up as
computers got more focused on gaming.
• What did all of these games have in common? No story line.

3. THE FIRST STORYLINE
• The first real video game storyline came in 1985 with the Super
Mario franchise (the best selling game series in history).
• After the success of Mario, other games began incorporating a
storyline such as Final Fantasy, Wing Commander, and the
second best selling PC game, Myst.

4. STORYLINE IS IMPORTANT
• The argument for a storyline in videogames can be seen just in
the numbers. Some of the best selling games in history had
storylines, while relatively simple, the definitely existed.
• The best selling PC game ever, Sims 2, took story telling to a
whole new level in which they allowed the player to create their
own life stories, however they wanted.
• Even Halo ended up being reprogrammed to better suit the
gamer’s story telling needs.
• Here is a link for this argument,
http://www.lingualgamers.com/thesis/story_video_games.html

5. STORYLINE IS NOT IMPORTANT
• The other side of the argument is that it is more about the gameplay
than it is about the actual story.
• Sports games have little to no elements of story telling, yet the
industry is constantly pumping more money and better technology into
the games. And they still sell.
• Even games such as COD, or Halo have a resemblance of a story, but
when it comes down to it, the goal is to shoot things and not die.
• Here is a link for this argument, (potentially unreliable source)
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Why-Storylines-In-Video-Games-
Just-Don-t-Work-12467.html

6. WHEN STORY BECOMES TOO MUCH
• Recently, story lines have become more and more complex to
the point where some argue that it is way too much.
• Games such as Beyond: Two Souls, have a tendency to rely too
much on the story, so it feels like the player is just involved in an
interactive movie.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qolJTsmmWA here is a
walk through of the game. This exceeds 8 hours, so don’t watch
the whole thing, but be skimming through, you can see my point.

7. WHAT MATTERS MOST?
• That really depends on the player. For me, I love a good story, but if
the story is lame and seems forced, I am unhappy with the game. In
that case, I would almost prefer no story.
• Question 1: What is more important to you? Storyline, or gameplay?
• Question 2: Is a solid storyline needed to make a best selling game?
If yes, explain big selling games with weak to no story line. If no,
explain games like Myst and Mario.
• Question 3: Are video games a new form of story telling like books and
movies used to be? Or are they just another form of entertainment?