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Can Games Make You Cry?
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Jul 27, 2006 01:30 PM
from the recently-only-when-patching-doesn't-work dept.
from the recently-only-when-patching-doesn't-work dept.
Ground Glass writes "'Can games make you cry?' is a ridiculously simple question to ask about a hideously complex issue. Worse, it's possible that the very question itself muddies the answer. Next Generation's approach is a little more thoughtful; by figuring out what questions each medium tries to answer free of the art issue, it cuts to the heart of what games can do. With the tools made clear, it then theorizes what said tools can do emotionally." From the article: "In film, you can show a character staring at a point before him and then change perspective to show what he was staring at; it is the proximity and timing of the imagery that lends significance to the second shot. In painting, you can play with the two-dimensional space and qualities of the material at hand to create similarly suggestive juxtapositions of imagery, color, symbolism, perspective, lending greater insight into the workings of the medium, the subject at hand, the painter herself, and - ultimately - the viewer and his own perspective on the world around him."
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Starfox 64 (Score:4, Funny)
Games make kids cry all the time. (Score:4, Funny)
Hell, it happens with adults too. If you've played Battletoads or Ghost and Goblins you know what I mean.
Re:Games make kids cry all the time. (Score:4, Funny)
No crying though. Too angry.
Parent
One Word... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One Word... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:One Word... (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:One Word... (Score:4, Informative)
And the trailer hints to some loss in HL2: Ep. 2 that could be pretty sad.
Parent
Re:One Word... (Score:5, Interesting)
The question posed here is can a *game* make you cry. Not a video stuck into the middle of a game, but from the actual gameplay. How many times have you cried while actually playing a game as opposed to sitting there with the controller in your lap watching some CGI whose trigger and resolution you had absolutely no control over? Not many, I'd wager.
Parent
Re:One Word... (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:One Word... (Score:4, Insightful)
Initially, I was on the same train of thought you were on. All the actual in-game interactions develop a sense of connection with the characters, specifically Aeris, who dies, and Cloud, who catches her in his arms when she collapses. Up until this point in the game, you'd played with Cloud as the main character throughout the story (or close to it), and it's almost like you ARE Cloud, watching Aeris die. (stretch your imagination a little, people)
But on the other hand, how much interaction is there with this game, really? Sure, there's long conversations between the characters, and they go deep into their past... but it's all forced. You don't get to make-up Cloud's past, that he thinks he's a SOLDIER and that he likes Aeris, etc. It's all forced upon you, just as much as the story of any movie is forced upon you. (Exception: You get to "pick" who you're going on a date with in the Golden Saucer. Sort of. Can this be enough to justify a more "connected" feeling with the characters of a game than the characters of a movie? Maybe, in someone's opinion.)
So what's my point? I don't think I have one, other than to say that I can understand and argue both sides of this debate. In the end, I think it comes down to how much you LET yourself feel like you're part of the world you're playing in. People cry in movies because they let themselves feel like they're in shoes of the person watching their war buddy die, or seeing their true love pass away of cancer, or whatever you cry about when you watch a movie. Just the same, if you feel like you're standing in front of Sephiroth, watching a 7 foot sword stab through a girl you like/love, you are probably more prone to feel emotion than if you think "it's just a game."
Parent
Good point (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps games need to evolve into a more 'all or nothing' mindset. Currently all games are based on the idea that you can restart at any time and try again. Maybe the game that finally causes us to evoke major emotions will be one where you can't just 'try it again'. Maybe 'the next great game' will start you on a quest to save the world, give you teammates that you grow to care about, and not let you get them back when they get killed. Imagine playing a game and getting careless and having one of your teammates killed. The emotional impact could cause you to take the consequences of your actions much more seriously. You will start to think about characters as much more human if they stay dead.
That said, it doesn't mean it's impossible for a current game to evoke such strong emotions - just harder. I was playing 'Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood' some time ago and had grown attached to my squadmates. In one level we were ambushed and one of my men couldn't get to cover fast enough and screamed out as he was riddled with bullets. My heart stuttered and, for a moment, I froze. It wasn't enough to make me cry, and it was only momentary (I reloaded the level and kept him out of harm's way), but I certainly felt a very strong, very real emotional shock.
Can a game make you cry? Yes. They can, and they will.
Parent
Can games make you cry? (Score:3, Funny)
Seems the answer's easy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Console adaptions make me cry (Score:5, Funny)
Of course they can (Score:5, Interesting)
It's difficult to pinpoint what it is, until you turn the sound off. It's the music. I can watch (FF7+10 spoilers) Aerith die and Cloud's reaction, Tidus fading away as Yuna tries to hug him and falls through (end spoilers) without the sound on and barely batter an eyelid. Put the sad music in there and I'm blubbing like a girl. The emotions are there with or without, but the music is like a magnifying glass.
Re:Of course they can (Score:4, Informative)
That's my big problem with the FF series and games like it; they've become movies. Sure, you can hit a few buttons here and there to make you think you're "playing", but really it's just to get you to the next cut-scene.
I certainly know that games can frighten. Playing Metroid on my NES in a dark room at midnight finally getting to the Mother Brain freaked me out. 'Course I was ten, but still, that was scary.
Parent
Re:Of course they can (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you for demonstrating the subtle difference between "male" and "man".
Parent
Re:Of course they can (Score:4, Informative)
Boys try not to cry to prove they're all grown-up. Men don't have anything to prove.
Parent
Yes, been there done that (PS:T just now) (Score:4, Interesting)
As someone who just completed Planescape: Torment [wikipedia.org] for the first time about an hour ago [klopper.net], I can say YES.
PS. Best. Game. Evar.
How i see games. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that illusion sort of breaks your identifiability with the character, there sort of an ambiguity for me between me as the character and me as the guy playing the character and i sort of find it easier to identify with a character that's not supposed to be me.
Examples for games that i can think of right now that stirred emotions for me are:
Fallout - I remember the end especially, when the hero saves the vault for the second time he is told he can never return to his home because he changed too much and would be a bad influence on the vault dwellers.
Homeworld - I love it how they added a whole spiritual side to what could have been just a space strategy game, and the music in the second one really contributed to the atmosphere.
Planescape Torment - The whole "What can change the nature of a man?" theme, search for identity.
There is a place for games that concentrate on skill developmenet.
But i think that as a form of art, a story-based game that doesn't stir emotion in you is missing its purpose.
"Can love bloom on the battlefield?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Grim Fandango (Score:3, Interesting)
Also the flashback in the sensorium in Torment. And that was just text.
Serpent Isle was trying to be a tearjerker in the scene where Dupre dies, but since most of my party had died and been resurrected dozens of times before, it's just too hard to get attached. That and LB really just can't write drama (as U9 showed us)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Score:3, Interesting)
Can Games Make You Cry? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can they? (Score:5, Insightful)
This kind of underscores the link between surprise, fear, and humor. I thought it was pretty funny until the very end. Then I just felt bad for the kid, and kind of angry at the person behind the camera.
Parent