Stage 1 - Part 6 - "Showing my hand - Part 1"

So I got back from work about 1 hour ago (probably 2 by the time I finish this!) and my Dad left me an article on the Guardian website. If you're interested and have a lot of time, it is a good read.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/21/tom-bissell-video-game-cocaine-addiction)

Ignore the word "addiction" as I think it was more of an attention grabbing technique. Reading through it though threw me quite a bit. Tom was able to understand games in a far more sophisticated level than I could, and he was wired most of the time! Impressive I thought, but it left me feeling extremely jealous as I had always wanted an opportunity to sit down with someone and really go to town on what it is really is about video games that gets me motivated, inspired and excited.

9 times out of 10 I find myself grabbing at the first thought that comes into my head, and I spill drivel about how it is an industry that has the freedom to truly create, innovate, imagine, build, think, change, and lead all at the same time. I think I bore myself when I say it. Anyone who has a strong passion about their career or hobby might, in the heat of the moment, excrete the same monotonous notes, even if it was train spotting (NOTE: No offense is intended towards train spotters).

I have not put anything down in a couple of weeks because honestly, I kinda had nothing to write about. I was riding the wave of my new job, and did not want to force feed you a forced post. That would just be awkward for everyone!

There a so many, beyond many, reasons why I chose computer games as a career path. I do not know if it is the same as everyone else, but it lies very much in what I want to do while in the industry and hopefully what I can help put out on the shelves one day.

I must have been 5 years old when I first got my hands on a computer game. We're talking 20 years ago now, and although my memory is faint, I remember we used cassette tapes, and I remember it was good. My first vivid memories of computer games were when I was 7 and I had possession of a Sega MegaDrive, Sonic 2 and Streets of Rage 2. To this day, I still think the Streets of Rage series set a landmark in games and inspired a lot of what followed, but that's a personal opinion. Back then, I was already so keen to play those games that I would consciously disobey my parents and risk the harsh discipline just for 10 minutes playtime! Nowadays, the mechanic still rings true. Not necessarily a lashing, but I have been known over the years to risk education, social life, and love life for game time. Am I ashamed? Only a little. This was one message that led me to believe that video games are where my heart lay, but only playing them. It was not until 1997 that something took place, both in video games and in my gaming life that shook the very core of my gamer-soul.

I had played a lot of racing games, a lot of action games, a lot of fighting games; they were simple, had little background and substance, but all in all were fun and easy to get on with. The only involvement you felt you had was minimal brain power and the ability to go slack all over, letting pixels and colours bounce left to right up and down while you pressed buttons with mundane motive, only hoping that it might offer a bit more, which it never did.

I had not heard about the Final Fantasy series before Cloud and Barret hit the scene, so it had always been a massive puzzle to me as to why it had appeared as the seventh in the series. But boy did I not give a shit. For its time, Final Fantasy 7 had some of the most awe-inspiring visuals I had ever seen, and was such a different experience to what I had been used to that it knocked me off the couch and made me sit and pay attention. The game had far too many speaking characters, with far too many translations to take place for their to be voice-overs, so you may think that a game's narrative being driven purely by text would prove dull and sluggish. The truth is, a 12 year old boy who had little interest in reading was sucked in. At the start of the game you play as Cloud, an ex-SOLDIER who has recently joined a group of rebels (Avalanche) to help them take down corporate organisation oppressing the lives of people living in the slums. Cloud is constantly troubled by his past, and is sworn off being a member of a group Avalanche are now trying to diminish. As the story goes on and the team delve further into their enemy's wold, Cloud is exposed to untold stories and facts about the organisation he once worked for and is grappled into a reality he had been completely unaware of. The further the story goes, Cloud comes to realise even he himself is a lie, and your team get caught between him and his past; this comes to the extent wherein you spend several hours in the game not playing as Cloud at all, as he has completely lost his mind.

The story has yet more to it, but it was not this that turned me. It was a poignant scene that takes place about two thirds of the way through the game and an unfortunate time wherein I was hours away from a holiday. An innocent flower girl gets caught up in the fray of your tale, and ends up joining the team in their quest. A relationship builds between her and Cloud, and you are given options as to how you treat her, but she plays the part of the seemingly naive, and innocent girl who NEEDS Cloud (you) to take care of her, even though I is quite capable. She keeps running off places and you have to keep chasing her in case she gets in trouble. She plays sweet and nice with you, and you get choices as to how you wish to respond. You even get an opportunity to go on a date with her later in the game. Needless to say, romance is imminent and Cloud (you) get attached to her. You want to protect her, you want her to be safe!

Then about two thirds of the way through, she does an epic runner and you find yourself chasing her halfway across the globe to ensure she is safe. You are chasing for a good couple of hours until you reach her. You find her and to say the least, you are relieved...

Then this happens...

I was torn. I was actually sad. Remember I said I was going to go on holiday? I didn't want to anymore. I had never felt so depressed, and cut down by a computer game. What made it worse was that at the time I was so ashamed of feeling sad, but I just hadn't admitted that what the developers wanted, and what the game wanted to achieve at that moment, had worked. Of course they knew she was going to go, but it was how they reached that point to maximise the effect of her going that made it all such a magnificent and triumphant sequence. I had no REAL reason to hate Sephiroth in the game, and I had no REAL motive to chase him, but suddenly it was almost as if he had made it personal. He knocked my team down, and bettered his chances at defeating me, but cutting out the one character you spend most of your time looking after. The developers made me hate him, and made me WANT to bring him down. It was no longer just about me being the hero, and him being the enemy, there were true emotions involved and I wanted him dead.

The irony of playing this guy is killer... right? RIGHT?!

The monumental effect this had on me, and on the games industry still rings today. In fact, that scene you may or not have just watched is likely to be the reason a lot of supporting protagonists get offed in the middle of a game. Developers want you to care, and they want you to be emotionally invested in their product. Why? Because when you are made to feel something out of the ordinary and you actually appreciate it, you are exposed to a new avenue of appreciation and enjoyment. You are no longer just investing money and time in games, you are now investing your ability to imagine and perceive, you are investing your social intelligence, and most importantly you are investing your ability to feel and empathise in a character you once did not even know existed; you care about their story and care about their goals. You feel that their path is your path, no matter how tenuous the link is, you want that character to finish what they started because in yourself you feel some sort of moral obligation to yourself or that character.

This is ultimately why I love games, and what I want to be a prominent aspect in games in future. We are already living this experience when you look at MMOs. You can create a character/avatar from scratch, and their journey is quite literally your journey. Your actions are theirs, and your development is theirs. It is not the route I wish to take as I do not have a minute bit of interest in MMOs, but it is an example I thought I would use without going back to other games I have mentioned about 1,000 times already!

To be able to grab an audience, and engage them on an emotional plateau is a dream come true for me. To make them feel the way I felt, and become involved in a game the way I have and do. If I could create a story and experience that brings smiles, tears and the right kind of frustration to a player then I do not think I would want more out of life. Perhaps a go-kart track in my back garden, but that's neither here nor there.

In my 20 years of gaming, video games have shown their hand in the art of emotional engagement and I can honestly say I have responded appropriately a few times. But to me that is because it has only be executed well a few times. There were points where it was only sad because what should have been a sombre and tear jerking moment, ends up getting skipped and is left to sit unwatched and not cared about like roadkill. Funny when you think how much that scene or set piece cost to produce, and yet it was just wasted on a lack of substance and foundation.

Something to think about in future huh? Oh and I got back from work 3 hours ago... bugger.

NEXT WEEK: "Showing my hand - Part 2"

If you have anything you wish to share with me or indeed the readers, feel free to comment or e-mail me at twentyfiveand0@hotmail.co.uk - Don't forget to check outthe What Have I Been Playing pages found on the right! OR Check out my channel at www.youtube.com/ike1luv