Next Generation Video Game Characters ‘Evolve’ Based on Player‘s ’Moral Decisions’
- Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:04pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Menacing alien machines descend on Earth, and amid all-out war, a soldier searches a building to find a frightened boy hiding in a vent.
“It’s OK,” says the soldier.
“Everyone’s dying,” the boy replies.
The soldier must choose: Help the boy or tell him to flee.
Though it’s full of dramatic tension and realistic animation, this isn’t a scene from the next Hollywood blockbuster. It’s actually from upcoming video game “Mass Effect 3.”
Game makers are crafting more sophisticated story lines and creating characters that evolve based on their experiences within a game. It‘s an attempt to interest new customers and reverse a decline in video game sales as the maturing business fights for people’s attention in the face of new devices such as the iPad.
A new crop of games calls for players to make choices that go beyond selecting a weapon. Among other things, players are asked to make moral decisions that force their characters — and the game’s narrative — to evolve in different ways. Upcoming games such as “Bioshock Infinite” and “Star Wars: The Old Republic” tap into this vein.
These storytelling games couldn’t come at a better time. U.S. sales of gaming consoles and video games hit a peak in 2008, at $21.4 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. Since then, however, annual sales fell 13 percent to $18.6 billion in 2010. So far in 2011, sales are flat compared with last year.
With the recent Supreme Court decision protecting violent games as free speech, it’s more appropriate than ever for games to have more of a message.
Part of the goal of involved storytelling is to keep players occupied for longer, playing out stories through to the end. Video game makers are trying to stop players from getting bored and quickly offloading games onto used game shops, which can sap sales.
The new games merge first-person shoot-em-ups with movie plotlines to develop what some in the industry are calling a new art form.
In the past, games mostly sandwiched so-called theatrical “cut scenes” between bouts of trigger-finger action. In “Grand Theft Auto IV,” for instance, players are given missions on a roughly linear progression as other hoodlums call by cellphone and recruit them to participate in crimes that will elevate the player in rank. Players can follow along or ignore the story lines in favor of other pursuits, such as discovering hidden details like the giant, chained heart inside the Statue of Liberty lookalike.
Gradually, non-action scenes are becoming more central to games and the story is the focus. “Grand Theft” was a start in that direction, with two different endings depending on player choices. The new “Star Wars” game will have about 20 different endings and a billion ways to get there.
“Photographs tell stories. Movies tell stories. Songs tell stories. Games tell stories,” said Ken Levine, creative director for Irrational Games.
Levine’s studio is poised to release “BioShock Infinite” next year. The shooting game confronts main character Booker with moral decisions — like saving a man from execution or putting down a horse — all the while roaming around an immersive floating world that resembles early 20th century America.
“My mom‘s not going to connect to the story of ’Mega Man 2,’” Levine said, referring to the pixelated Capcom game from the late 1980s. “But hopefully she can connect to a story like this.”
These storytelling games represent yet another way the video game business is reaching out to people who have not traditionally considered themselves “gamers.“ Mobile games including ”Angry Birds” and addicting social-network games such as “FarmVille” have gotten more women to play. Motion controllers from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have turned video gaming into a physical workout that appeals to young and old.
Storytelling games could appeal to those attracted to character development more than killing.
Lindsay Grace, professor of interactive media studies at Miami University, said the video game industry is trying to accomplish what Hollywood has turned into a science: entering new markets by offering a little something for everyone — a little romance, a little action, a little this and that.
“Games have started to understand this in the last four to five years, but they are later to understand that than film,” he said. “Before, it was a shooting game, and that’s what you do.”
Grace, who’s been studying video games for seven years, believes the answer is not in more big-budget shoot-em-ups, but in independent video games pushing the boundaries of entertainment.
“From indie games to more mainstream offerings, in the next decade or so we are going to be seeing a greater diversity in subject matter,” said Scott Steinberg, the chief executive of video game consulting company TechSavvy Global. “The selection of games will more closely resemble your selection of movies.”
Market tracker NPD Group doesn’t track or categorize “storytelling” games specifically. But many of the games that have had commercial success dive deep into narrative territory. “Grand Theft Auto IV” has sold 20 million units since its record-breaking April 2008 launch. “L.A. Noire” was the top-selling game in the United States in May, with an estimated 899,000 units, despite an industry downturn.
A-list actors, writers and directors are increasingly participating in the industry, lending their voices, faces and ideas to the medium.
Guillermo Del Toro, the Oscar-nominated director behind such hits as “Pan’s Labyrinth“ and ”Hellboy,“ recently cut off work on the unfinished ”The Hobbit” movies in part to free himself to work on video games. One of his first new projects is with game maker THQ on a future release called “Insane.” Guillermo envisions the making of the game to take up eight to nine years of his creative life.
“We are in the infancy of people recognizing video games as art,” Del Toro said in a recent interview.
He believes game releases will become major cultural events someday, much like big-budget movies. “In order to be a storyteller in the 21st century, we urgently need to learn to tell stories through video games,” he said.
Aaron Staton, an actor from the Emmy-winning television series “Mad Men,“ said he signed on to play detective Cole Phelps in the epic crime game ”L.A. Noire,” to be part of the cutting-edge method of storytelling that the game explores.
Staton studied 2,200 pages of script in order to act out all the story lines that evolve from player choices. A key game mechanic is determining how the detective will react to suspects in the interrogation room. Deciding to believe or doubt them moves the story into what he describes as “its own separate reality.”
Many recent games have featured actors’ voices, but in “L.A. Noire,“ their facial expressions and voices become ”an important aspect of the story of the game and the game play itself,” Staton said. “So I thought that it would be exciting.”
Actions in these games are meant to have consequences that go beyond passing levels or gaining points. They unlock new, unexplored chapters, like a book that has dozens of endings, and provide lessons for the characters along the way.
A love triangle is expected to develop in “Mass Effect 3,” but only if characters created romances in the earlier two versions.
In “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” gamers can choose to play do-good Jedi Knights, evil Sith lords or six other classes of characters. Sparing an enemy’s life, for instance, will determine which direction the game heads and whether companions cooperate or betray the player later on.
Daniel Erickson, the lead writer of the “Star Wars” game, said the amount of storytelling content was unprecedented. The studio behind it, BioWare, created more than 10,000 characters to talk to and used voices from more than 1,000 actors.
The alternate paths amount to more than 60 “Star Wars” novels worth of content in a script that, if read completely, would last longer than the entire 86-episode run of the HBO television show “The Sopranos,” which would take three days without sleep.
“BioWare is a lot closer in structure to an ongoing TV series studio when it comes to the writing department than it is to a classic game design studio,” Erickson said. “It is story that drives everything.”
Below, video game creators discuss the next generation:
Below is a trailer for Mass Effect 3:
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Comments (90)
mage94
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:25ampoverty.sucks
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:08am
“Who’s moral values set the tempo? These mind games will mess up kids lives without proper supervision.”
——————–
Marnin
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:48pm
just wait….this is another avenue of indoctrination. Who’s moral decisions are correct? What happens when they start determinining what the “correct descision” is for global warming/climate change, social justice, if you don’t give then you are immoral!
——————–
PurveyorOfTruth
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:58am
Amen! My thoughts exactly!
I‘m pretty sure ya’ll are being a little too paranoid about all this. I‘ve played several of these kinds of games over the past several years and I can’t think of a single one that was overtly political. As others have mentioned, these types of games have been around for decades. Right and wrong is pretty much cut and dry with rare exceptions. As a conservative, I haven’t found many “correct” options (none that I can remember) that I thought “but in reality that’s an ethically wrong decision”.
Those that are freaking out over this are over-reacting quite a bit. Those of us gamers who are familiar with this type of thing know better. I knew better when I was playing this stuff in my early teens. And without supervision I might add. It’s not that hard to figure out.
Report Post »Cuic Cuic
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:05amThere was a game I tried to play in the mid 90s called BioForge. Great idea/story but ahead of the hardware and poorly executed. In trying to make the game interactive I think they got in over their heads and it constantly crashed until midway through it was unplayable – too much info even for my 486DX2-66.
Report Post »PurveyorOfTruth
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:59amFistandantilus, I was a big fan of Dragon Lance too! I read your name, and the nostalgia came roaring in, lol!
Report Post »PurveyorOfTruth
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:58amMarnin
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:48pm
just wait….this is another avenue of indoctrination. Who’s moral decisions are correct? What happens when they start determinining what the “correct descision” is for global warming/climate change, social justice, if you don’t give then you are immoral!
——————–
Amen! My thoughts exactly!
Report Post »Volfie
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:32amIt seems to me that the writer of this article is not familiar with the computer gaming industry. Moral choices that affect character development have been part of computer games for years now. Sure, games are trying to make each choice matter more to the player. That is because the game developers want the player invested in the character. One way to do that is to alter the character based on choices. That is as old as role playing. Computer games are becoming better at making storyline choices affect the character, but what is mentioned in this article is far from new. Fable back in 2004 was changing the character based on storyline choices, and that is just the first game that came to mind.
Report Post »Alfred F. Jones
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:59amI don’t get it. This is hardly ground breaking. The first game that let you chose your ending to a degree was Chrono Trigger. (Or the first one I can remember) You can chose to save your friends mom from having her legs ripped off by a machine or save a forest etc. Plus there were like 13 different endings to the game. This game came out in 1996/95.
That being said, there is Fable series and Knight of the Old Republic that did this as well. This isn’t new… just something they are evolving. However, if you look into these games, you can see how some these moral decisions are bias. Like in Fable 2, if you are too rich, you can become eviler. If you own a bunch of houses and tax them, you can become evil. Hm… Can’t be rich or your evil, got it!
Report Post »mage94
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:36amAlfred F. Jones
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:59am
“I don’t get it. This is hardly ground breaking. The first game that let you chose your ending to a degree was Chrono Trigger. (Or the first one I can remember) You can chose to save your friends mom from having her legs ripped off by a machine”
Glad someone else brought up Chrono Trigger. However, to give context to the hypersensitive, one sidequest allows one of the protagonists to go back in time and prevent her mother from having her legs crushed by an invention of her fathers (her dress gets caught in the belt and her legs are crushed rendering her crippled). Of course you have to find the password to the machine in order to do it. So it’s not like “I WANT HER TO HAVE HER LEGS RIPPED OFF BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!” More like, “I always hated seeing my mom crippled and I have the chance to stop that from happening” and whether or not you succeed in changing the past.
And in Fable 3, yes you can tax and become rich and “evil” but it‘s more along the lines of your citizens hate you for taxing them but it’s a necessary evil in the long-run (i.e, needing the money to ward off the impending doom that is coming). Many evil actions and good actions are basically conservative/liberal respectively. As Ben “Yahtzee” Crosshaw put it, “Conservative policies I admit can seem a bit callous WHEN WE’RE NOT ABOUT TO BE DEVOURED!” (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2652-Fable-3) So that’s
Report Post »SIXFRIGATES
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:52amWhy are my comments rarely being posted now?? Way to fight truth and open debate TheBlaze..
Report Post »SmoknHotPatriot
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 4:55amSIXFRIGATES,
True, this isn’t new news. As for the youth your right to some degree but stupidity is a choice. I’m young & still here, this topic didn’t bore me. When I read the headline the first thing I thought was wow, this writer, obviously not a gamer, needed to do his research before he put this one up.
Report Post »But there is some real news that could be posted here, Why is no one talking about the fact that we are now in Somalia, war number six. Or news that the Libertarian party is actually fighting the TSA & calling for their arrest in Florida? a movement if followed state by state could possibly win us our freedom to fly back with out being molested before getting on to our plane. I could go on but it’s late & you just as I have the tool of the internet at the tip of our fingers.
In the days before & after our great country was founded this is how news got around, by people looking out for each other, keeping our eyes & ears open & letting our neighbors, villages, towns know what was coming. It would be great to know you could trust your neighbor again, your fellow patriot blazer & not just wait for the writers to post a story, if you have new news Please share it, we would all like to know. We will all benefit from it. Glenn has worked so hard to bring the patriots of this country together, lets do our part, we are here, together.
God bless & save America!
SIXFRIGATES
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:50amNext Generation? TheBlaze needs a new Tech Editor… There have been dozens of games over the last 7 years in which characters evolve based on moral decisions. Crap like this is why we are losing the younger generation, those who pull the strings in the Conservative world are too old and out-of-date.
Report Post »mdavid
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 4:31amIt was an AP article, and the author seemed reasonably well informed, but he had to write it for a mainstream audience that isn’t entirely into gaming. It‘s sad but that story wouldn’t have published if the editor didn‘t understand what he was talking about and hold the reader’s hand through the entire piece.
Report Post »crazytalk
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:43amobama’s figure could be a douchebag.
Report Post »Ronko
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:22amA great way to learn the differences between right and wrong in life.
Report Post »STRINGS
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:17amThe game Fable is one if not the first true good versus evil game based on moral decisions, its very mainstream and its funny that these type of games are now being noticed? I think its all because of few peeps up in government that want to ban and regulate even further the game industry.
Report Post »101
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:14amSend a copy to everybody in office…let them practice!
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:08amWho’s moral values set the tempo? These mind games will mess up kids lives without proper supervision. Repetition of doing something wrong over and over again gives comfort that these users will not properly fit into society. Take for example super star athletes who have the false sense of security that they have it all. Those with immoral lives are not copacetic with society. They keep doing the wrong thing over and over again and don’t understand the problem, unwilling to change behavior, they lose their security and hope.
If you died tonight, will you go to Heaven?
Report Post »Crowley
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:31amIts definitely sketchy at times on what the game judges as good/bad. In Fable 2 you will get evil points for choosing industry over schools in a silly little decision you make as King. The industry is of course polluting the city horribly and employing child labor. On the other hand, raising taxes is considered evil and lowering taxes makes you a hero. Its not all bad, and is usually between charity and helping others, as apposed to greed.
Report Post »Dudebro
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:47amHow about making the idea of a monarchy inherintly immoral? lol Those brits think that a centralized economy is the most moral form because it allows welfare.
I have played Bioshock, and that is perhaps the most morally intrusive game I have ever played. It, by secondhand, made me question the very moral code of altruism and have praised it because of it. Games that question moral and societal foundations have been groundbreaking – but there is a level of subjectivity and error when making these types of plots as in literature.
Report Post »bzombo
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:55pmI agree, Spareggnome, a bit late, but I like that Bioware is a large part of a story about what’s good about video games for once. Man, if the Dragon Age series was mentioned in this, we might have some seriously offended people. :-)
Report Post »Thisnameistowarnyouthatyouwillhatemycomment
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:53pmThere have been games that ask characters to make these kind of decisions (popular ones) for almost 20 years. This is not a story.
Report Post »Marnin
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:48pmjust wait….this is another avenue of indoctrination. Who’s moral decisions are correct? What happens when they start determinining what the “correct descision” is for global warming/climate change, social justice, if you don’t give then you are immoral!
Report Post »vickigh
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:36pmMoral decisions based on first principle. If the game tries to indoctrinate other “morals” you will know them to be false doctrine.
—————————————————————————————
Report Post »First Principle. Your Creator gifted you with life and free will.
How you use those 2 gifts and how you honor these gifts in others,
defines your moral character.
————————————————————————————–
luvsmesomenanas
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:46pmThis is nothing new. The first star wars knights of the old republic game had a good/evil story line and your character changed based on what you chose. The same with the original Mass Effect game. Knights came out in 2003, long before the 2007 release of Mass Effect. Jade Empire is another good vs. Evil gam, made by the same developer and it was release in 2005. This story is a few years to late.
Report Post »aspartian
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:41pmYou also have to remember the origional fate choseing game. Fable
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:38pmSorry to say, but I think I’ll save my money for video game titles that are more favorable to my taste. But I’m sure thousands of others might be interested.
Report Post »spareGgnome
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:36pmi
Report Post »spareGgnome
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:35pm@Bzombo
I know what your saying I love bioware. But this actually surprises me this is a story. The fable series came out around 2004 and every decision in it effects which side you go, good or evil and the options you got in those games or the same or worse. Or even if you broke down the fallout series.
As for the story line part…really? games have had stories for decades now literally decades LOL. Example :mystic quest.
Report Post »Fistandantilus
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 1:36amYes I love Bioware too! I think this article shows that while they did some homework they didn’t do enough. There is a reason why PC video game sales have dropped off. And, its not because of the iPad. Its because people are tired of shooters oh and WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!!!! Seriously how did you miss the 1.5 Billion dollar a year gorilla in the room?!? For crying out loud it almost by itself how does porn. While I’ve played WoW I have somewhat lost interest in the game but it still have a huge amount of power in the market. I am also very much looking forward to The Old Republic. It’s crazy but I like this thing called a story in my games. Crazy I know.
Report Post »RANGER1965
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:35pmBioware is simply awesome. They are the Spielberg/Lucas of games. They have made stories so deep and compelling that it can compete with great books and movies.
Ranger
Report Post »bzombo
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:20pmWow, this is crazy. My favorite developer, Bioware, is at the heart of this story with Mass Effect 3 and The Old Republic. Sad thing is, they’ve done these story based games for about 13-14 years now and it’s just now hitting mainstream. Go figure. Story based games are so much more engrossing than your standard fare.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 7:23pmThis is a stupid story with no merit. All it is is a thinly veiled advertisement for bioware, because they have their new game about to launch. Not only is this not a new concept for bioware, but it’s been being done for several decades in the video game industry at large. The bioware games aren’t even the best example of this technique, there are other titles that take it to an entirely other level.
Report Post »Ron_WA
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:20pmHey, isn’t that what God had intended? “Teach your children well …” … passing morals & ethics on to the next generation – what a concept …
Report Post »Quack Addict
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 12:26am@ Ron_WA…you took the words right off my keyboard. Cheers.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:17pm@Poverty.Sucks
Indeed and all that is needed to confirm this is a look at the Progressives and most Professional Politicians (there should never be need for such a term) in DC and around the nation. So as the leaders of a nation are, so goes the nation; and the leaders become that due to the decisions and choices of their people (in a free society) made in the chosing of their leaders.
Report Post »http://artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm
Rice Water
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 3:43amI blame Obama.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:07pmImmoral Decisions will make you an Evil Guy in this game called Reality.
Report Post »fastfacts
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 11:51pmMORAL DECISIONS… THAT IS WHAT WILL MAKE AMERICA’S FUTURE
Isn’t it wonderful that we control the future of America, not the politicians, no machines, us, we, you and me.
What makes the US awesome… we do? Ask the man on the street… http://tiny.cc/ohthc
Report Post »Oil_Robb
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 3:34amI agree…..I remember a term mom used somthing about Hell in a Hand basket
Report Post »DimmuBorgir
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 7:51amFYI
this concept is not new at all, Fable is a probably the most successful and it adds a new fun element to the game.
Report Post »stifroc
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 11:45amThe article says, “With the recent Supreme Court decision protecting violent games as free speech, it’s more appropriate than ever for games to have more of a message.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!
Report Post »I read this as “Since the court failed to impose a moral standard on free speech it’s important that game makers impose a moral standard into games because people are too stupid to make correct moral choices.”
smithclar3nc3
Posted on July 6, 2011 at 7:44amThere have been tons of games in the last decade in which how you play effects to outcome. You can play as a hero or a villian and get as hero‘s ending or a villian’s ending.
Report Post »