Games Less Engrossing Than Other Media?

The British Board of Film Classification recently released a study describing players' reactions to videogames. The synopsis of their findings makes for fascinating reading. "Gamers are starting to play at a younger age, even as the average age of gamers is increasing. Males and females differ greatly in taste in games, how long they play, and how involved they are in the gameplay. Negative press about a game significantly increases it's sales and many young gamers choose games based on word of mouth. Games provide a sense of achievement, unlike passive mediums like television. Active participation decreases the tendency to 'forget' your experiencing a fantasy vs. non-interactive visual mediums. Gamers find violence in television and movies more upsetting than violence in games. While parents agree that games should be regulated, some still consider the whole genre as 'kid's toys', even games that may include adult content." One of the most controversial findings is the assertion that games are less engrossing than other media, with players having less of an emotional connection to in-game events than the events in a book or movie. The Wonderland blog offers up the full report as well as commentary on their findings.

well it's true

[Some_Llama]

"with players having less of an emotional connection to in-game events than the events in a book or movie."

Often times I have had a hard time getting to sleep after watching a movie, with re-enactments of Neo fighting agents or Golum chasing the ring rebounding in my mind.

No wait that never happened.. but I have had many a restless night dreaming of defusing a bomb in dust...

Many a broken mouse chucked at a wall after a lost round might disagree also...

Problem solved?

[Applekid]

So now that games are less engrossing than other media, can we please stop blaming them for society's violence ills?

Re:WoW not engrossing?

[twistedsymphony]

Obviously the words of someone who has never been ganked and camped by horde for 45 minutes.

There is a difference between engrossed and obsessed.

I believe the way they're using engrossed implies that people have more empathy for TV and movie characters then they do for video game characters. Probably because in a video game the gamer is the one making the decisions of the leading character, meaning in most games there is no major character in the game left for the gamer to empathize with.

The full report is better than the synopsis

[roystgnr]

Games are less engrossing than other media. Games are also more engrossing than other media. When you're comparing two categories as broad as "games" and "other media", almost any statement you can make will be true for some examples in each category. Trying to lump "games" and "other media" together in some sort of average sense to compare the two is ridiculous.

I'm sure that "players having less of an emotional connection to in-game events than the events in a book or movie" is exactly what happens when the game is Doom 3 and the movie is The Godfather; the opposite happens when the movie is Doom 3 and the game is Deus Ex. In cases where you might expect a game, film, and book to be roughly comparable, I can think of examples where each form of media was the most emotional experience of the three.

Glancing over the complete report [bbfc.co.uk], though, it's not as trite as the synopsis makes it sound. Here's an excellent example from the report of a game player being moved, to which the report author commented, "It is clear from this account that games can be very emotionally affecting."

"There's a point at the end of [Shadow of the Colossus] where everything you think is going to happen has happened, but it hasn't, and the horse is killed in a rock fall. It's just devastating... The impact it has on you. This has been your only friend and companion who has helped you and protected you. I really didn't see it coming. He just dies, then you are alone but you have to keep going. Nothing else can do that. There are countless extraordinary books that are extraordinarily moving, but they can't do that. Films and books can't make you lose anything. You can read about someone else's loss, you can empathise in a book, but a book can't ever take anything from you. But that game took my horse from me. He was my horse. He was my friend by that stage!

In that game if I wanted to get from here to here I had a horse and that was nice and quick and I could canter and jump over things and now I can't do that anymore. So in a basic, mechanical way something has been taken from me.

There are lots of tragic horse deaths in all kinds of films and books but... in a film everything that happens next is pre-calculated so the music will come in on a particular second and you will have your attention moved to something else, and your feelings are then manipulated and extrapolated by what happens next. In a game, I stood there looking down at where he had fallen. Nothing is going to happen until I make it happen. I could have stood there for the rest of my life. I could have put the game down and never played it again. Or started again and tried to make it not happen, which it
wouldn't. That changes the character of the experience."

They're kind of right...

[Talgrath]

In many games, the storyline is not the main draw. Sports games, puzzle games, simulations and others are all games that are easy to not become emotionally involved in; I'd compare them to action movies or sports games, you're involved to a point but you're ultimately still fine with doing other things while playing the game. But some games are so immersive that I think it would be more difficult (compared to a movie or TV show) to not become engrossed in the game. Roleplaying games like Final Fantasy, certain action/adventure games ilke Prince of Persia, shooters like F.E.A.R. and cult hits like Shadow of the Colossus and Okami have kept me engrossed in the game from beginning to end; more than any movie ever has. I think the key to engrossing players in video games is to get away from the traditional process of action then story; intertwining the story in the action is the key.

Re:WoW not engrossing?

[grumbel]

WoW isn't engrossing, its addicting.

ICO? SotC?

[deathtopaulw]

anyone who says games aren't engrossing has not played the truly great games
there are very few storylines as concise and yet so incredibly deep and meaningful as ICOs
my god, in that game it's not that you care about losing the game if Yorda is captured by the horrifying black spirity things,
it's that you don't want HER to be caught.

there's a part near the end where you're about to escape, but the bridge you're on starts retracting from both sides
she's on the castle's side, you're on the escaping side
honestly, the second I could move after the quick little cinematic I ran and jumped to her
AWAY from the exit
because I cared about her
I had no idea if that was the correct "game" thing to do
I just reacted

of course, that's what you're supposed to do
but no game has manipulated me like that emotionally
(it wasn't like a crying "I want to be with her!" thing, either because that's not what ICO and Yorda's relationship in that game is about... it was just... the natural reaction)

Re:well it's true

[drinkypoo]

Is that what goes on in a household with a single digit year old?

Only if you're a bad parent.

TV is not capable of raising children, but a lot of people try to use it for that...

Or put the way Michael Franti did (back in the Disposable Heroes days) - "TV is the only wet nurse that would create a cripple"

Re:WoW not engrossing?

[StarvingSE]

I would agree with the author's comments that games aren't as engrossing as a book or movie. Books and movies are obviously plot driven, and they aim to capture your interest from beginning to end. You read the book in order to learn more about (hopefully) interesting characters, and you continue reading because you care about what happens to them.

Games are a different beast. The point of a game is to actively become part of the plot, and not just a passive observer. To this end, game makers place the focus on the experience the player has, be it interacting with the virtual world, "fun factor," or immersive technologies, and less on actual story. However, I feel that now that we are coming to a time where game worlds can seem almost photographically real, developers will spend more resources on plot.

Re:WoW not engrossing?

[DDLKermit007]

Thats not engrossed, you, are obsessed. That game came out how many years ago?