Today I started reading Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives. I’m only on chapter 2 but Chapter 1 begins with Bissell talking about Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In which he talks about the lack of tight storytelling in open world games like the two mentioned. What he fails to mention is Grand Theft Auto IV. Which I’m told has incredible storytelling despite the open world setting. But more than this, I would like to discuss the way in which we view video games and how we discuss them.
Video games are generally considered by most people who play them regularly as an entertainment diversion to things like television or movies. Perhaps even reading. Generally we do this not because we are looking for some kind of diversion from those things (movies, television, reading). We are looking for a feeling… Yes ladies and gentlemen I said a feeling. Now I don’t mean the one that you get during a sad movie or the sense of satisfaction you get from reading a good book or perhaps an intense laugh you might get from a television sitcom. No, we play games to feel: powerful, fearful, and the intense rush you get from just not dying when you probably thought you should have.
So does this make every game nothing more than a sport and that we are after some kind of never ending adrenaline rush? No, because some games are like Alan Wake, Uncharted 2, and Heavy Rain where the story leads us into a position that makes us feel something. Even if it’s just the nostalgia of watching an Indian Jones flick from years gone by. So no, story is VERY important in games. But you usually won’t find that story in a diversion heavy game like Fallout 3 or Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Finally, I would like to mention the most problematic thing I found when reading the first chapter of Extra Lives. That was the fact that Mr. Bissell was recalling something that had happened long before he was even paying attention to video games enough for him to be thinking about writing about them. Usually when I remember a game like Fallout or Oblivion or even something like an MMORPG. I usually remember highs and lows only. Not a kind of chronological history that Mr. Bissell comes up with. Which makes me believe that ANYTHING he experienced at the beginning of either game probably was completely lost to him by the time of the writing of the book.
What is my memory of Oblivion and Fallout 3? Well, in Oblivion I remember the Isle of Madness the most clearly as that was the last thing I did. In Fallout 3, my main memory was coming out of the vault and wandering into an abandoned school and killing four guys who didn’t go down easy, but did go down. It was insane, the feeling of fear and pressure. That is what you played those games for, a place and time you could NEVER experience or see in reality. That is the reason we play video games. If I want an excellent story or excellent acting I would watch a movie or read a novel.
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