For a class I have to take in order to graduate called Senior Seminar, I have to pick a career field that interest's me and write a 7-12 page paper over a controversy and then create a product for that field that may or may not be related to the paper. My field was creative writing and I did my paper on, well, I'll just let you read it. I hope you find it interesting! Happy reading!
EDIT: I got a 95/100 on it
Isaac Smith
Mrs. Kimmich
Senior Seminar
October 16, 2014
Whether one wants to admit it or not, video games have become a large part of first world culture. Today, millions of people are engrossing themselves in Bungie’s brand new title Destiny. Destiny is a science-fiction first person shooter (FPS) that takes elements from massively multiplayer online games (MMO) and role playing games (RPG) all the while providing a fun gaming experience and trying to tell an engaging story. In regards to Destiny, Bungie has large shoes to fill. Bungie was the developer of the Halo franchise which is known for its balanced competitive multiplayer, intriguing story line, and beautifully crafted skyboxes.
But the Halo legacy just doesn’t stop at video games. Numerous books have been written including Karen Traviss’s Kilo-Five trilogy, Eric Nylund’s The Flood, First Strike, and The Fall of Reach; and Dark Horse Comics’ Halo: Escalation comic book series. Not only have there been books but film adaptions have been attempted. And while a movie adaption has failed, short live-action series have succeeded. Forward Unto Dawn was released before Halo 4, giving the fans a back story to one of the most famous UNSC Naval Captains in the Halo universe: Captain Thomas Lasky. The Halo Master Chief Collection will also feature a Live-Action series called Halo: Nightfall that will release on a weekly basis.
It is easy to see that a well-tended universe leads to some awesome and amazing things when it comes to story which is why many fans feel like Bungie dropped the ball with Destiny. Reviewers unanimously agree that Destiny’s story line is nearly non-existent. Between fighting the same enemies and lack of creativity in the boss fights, it is hard to care what is really going on. Stripped away of all the aspects of a video game, the entire story line can be summed up in fourteen minutes going through and hitting all of the key points. Bungie fans feel like not much went into writing the story, especially when games such as The Last of Us are out and receiving perfect scores from various gaming websites such as Eurogamer, Joystiq, IGN, and many more. With failures like Destiny, it is time that video game companies start treating their games’ stories with more respect to an interactive novel and literature than a shoot-to-kill game in a vague setting.
In order to understand why and how these two things are connected, one must first dissect both into elements and understand their origins. Many people don’t view video games as a serious art form or a medium that can relate a story. Shockingly, this was also said about motion pictures and novels. “In late 18th century England, for instance, novels were often seen as sub-literary works that inflamed mostly female readers to flights of troublesome fancy” (Gillespie). The article Are Video Games Art? by Nick Gillespie goes on to say that novels only “degraded the already-impaired faculties of the young, the ignorant, and the idle”. But within half a century, novels were considered a serious art form and were widely accepted. The same thing happened to the film industry in the late nineteenth century. Many theater critics laughed at the idea that something could replace something as expressive as theater effectively. Now few people go to live performances and the movie industry has taken off.
Both of these things show the evolution of storytelling. And now once again, storytelling is taking another step in evolution: videogames. All of these media communicate a story in different ways. Novels allow the reader to use their imagination to envision the world as they wish. Movies allow a more on rails experience of the story as if the viewer was watching the event. Video games, however, allow the player to be a part of and interact with the story. Some games even allow the player to change the game and consequentially, parts of the story.
A good example of this is BEYOND : Two Souls. The player plays as Jodie Holmes, a woman with supernatural abilities that allows her to interact with objects, listen to conversations, and witness events in a completely different room. The game is executed similar to a movie but allows the player to make different choices. Some of these choices are blatant and on the screen while others are more about how quickly you react to certain situations. In one instance, the player has to rescue friends from a burning building. If the player is too slow, some of the characters can die and it can change the way the game ends.
Another good example is Katawa Shoujo. The game is a typical Japanese dating simulator that follows Hisao Nakai as he is transferred to a school for disabled kids in modern northern Japan after he experiences cardiac dysrhythmia that places him in long hospitalization. There the player reads text on the screen and makes choices when prompted. These choices affect what he does and with who and each story branch has the ability to end badly, neutrally, or well.
But sometimes choices don’t change the way the story ends, only how the player will play the game. In Destiny, if the player were to equip an auto-rifle and an Exotic shotgun called Invective with their Titan class, it is expected that that person will be fighting up close and personal whereas the player who equips a scout rifle and an Exotic sniper rifle called Closing Time with their Hunter class would be expected to keep their enemies at a distance.
It’s this level of interaction that separates video games from movies and books. It’s this next step in this evolution of communicating ideas and themes. Many video games have different themes interlaced in them dealing with real world problems and issues. The Last of Us carried a supporting character named Bill who was mourning the loss of his partner Frank. The Last of Us even carries this LGBT theme into its downloadable content Left Behind when Ellie shares a kiss with supporting character Riley. According to Gay Star News, “The US Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has praised the creators of the post-apocalyptic game The Last of Us for its inclusion of a gritty non-stereotypical gay character” (GLAAD).
These themes are not uncommon in books. Winger is a book about a fourteen year old junior named Ryan Dean, in a private school. One of the supporting characters, Joey, is openly gay. But the book doesn’t show him as the stereotypical gay. In fact, Joey is the voice of reason for protagonist Ryan Dean as he deals with female problems telling him that he shouldn’t be cheating on his girlfriend if he cares about her so much.
The last thing to dissect from these media is story arc, character development and plot in general. It is easy to pick out the plot from a novel or a movie as that is what novels and movies were originally intended to do. And while video games designer’s original intentions weren’t to tell a story, or at least couldn’t tell a story with the technology available then, the industry experienced a paradigm shift to creating a story in a 3-D environment. While it is a bit more difficult to tell a full-fledged story in a video game while still having interesting and fun gameplay mechanics, it is possible.
In Halo 4, Master Chief is stranded on a Forerunner planet called Requiem. Chief is forced to try and find a way back to earth for his own survival. Early on however, the UNSC Infinity has come across Requiem and Chief attempts to communicate with them, only to awaken a dormant Forerunner called The Didact. The Didact has a one hundred-thousand year old grudge on humanity and wants to annihilate them. Chief then helps the Infinity repel an attack and escape Requiem. The Didact grabs his ship and sails for the location of The Composer: a weapon of mass destruction which is currently being studied by a group of UNSC scientists. The Chief is unable to save the station and hops on board The Didact’s ship to finish what he started. Chief saves earth while his eight year old AI companion Cortana starts to die, but not before the city of New Pheonix is destroyed. After the events of Halo 4, Master Chief is seen mourning the death of Cortana.
The Halo 4 story line is a simple and good example of a story arc. It has an introduction, Chief on board the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn; a rising action, Chief contacting Infinity and accidentally waking up The Didact; a climax, the Master Chief defeating The Didact and saving earth; and a resolution, Cortana’s death, Chief mourning her passing and how the UNSC is dealing with the loss of New Phoenix.
Another good story to break down is Ryse: Son of Rome. Ryse follows the story of Marius, a son of a senator who was also a legionary. Ryse opens up with Marius defending Rome from the Celtic barbarians lead by Damacles. Marius secures Emperor Nero and tells him his story. The rest of the game is mostly playing through his story up until that point which the player also learns his story. Marius’s father hands him a dagger and tells him the story of Damacles, a warrior brought back from the grave seeking revenge on the commanders who abandoned him.
Next Marius’s family is killed and he has to fight off a barbarian attack on Rome. He is transferred to a new unit which promises, “All the blood he can handle” and is taken to the British Isles. He witnesses first hand of the brutality of the Romans and is appalled. He continues to fight until the city of York is laid under siege after one of Nero’s cons, Commodus murders the Celtic king. Commodus flees and Marius sacrifices himself to hold back the barbarians so that the last ships can sail safely away. Marius is killed but resurrected by the goddess Summer and charges him to don the title of Damacles and to avenge his family’s deaths. Blaming Nero for his family’s destruction and the eventual fall of Rome, Marius sets out back to Rome in hopes to murder Nero and saving Rome.
Once in Rome, he enters into a tournament as Damacles in hopes to get close enough to Nero to kill him. Marius completes the tournament, killing Commodus, and fearing the he will be next, Nero flees the coliseum and wants Damacles dead. Marius eventually joins back into the legionary ranks as a general after losing the tattered garments of Damacles from the tournament. This brings the player back to the beginning of the game with Marius and Nero inside of Nero’s safe haven. After one last fight, Marius jumps off of a balcony with Nero, impaling him on his statue and Marius fall to his own death as well.
This story line is also quite simple to break down. The introduction is Marius securing Nero and the beginning of the flash back where the Celt’s kill his family. The rising action would be the events in and around York and Rome. The climax would be Marius slaying Nero and the resolution would be Marius being hailed as a hero.
The ending of Halo 4 leads right into another aspect shared between the media: character development. As previously stated, Cortana, a character who has been with the Halo series since the start, goes rampant and dies as her cognitive processes begin to divide exponentially according to her total knowledge base literally thinking herself to death. This is shown throughout the game and shows how much they both care for each other. When Cortana tells Chief that she is dying, Chief says, “No, that’s not going to happen,” truly showing that they both deeply care about each other in almost the same way as a married couple does.
In Ryse: Son of Rome, Marius thinks that Nero is a god and is good in the beginning. But when he arrives at York, he sees all of the crucified Celt’s and begins to second guess himself. His faith in Nero is dealt another blow when Commodus assassinates the Celtic king. But it isn’t until Marius returns to his home in Rome when his faith in Nero is truly lost. Marius sees the Roman honor guard stealing from the people and beating people for fun. He is spurred on to fight them and bring justice down himself. The entire game is developing Marius’s sense of justice. He feels compelled that he needs to avenge his family’s deaths and the deaths of innocent Celts in the British Isles.
In short, through all of these things, video games ought to be treated with more respect like a novel then just a hobby to burn time. Video games are the next step in the evolution of storytelling and it is time more people recognize this.
Dubbleman, Teun. "Playing the Hero: How Games Take the Concept of Storytelling from Representationto Presentation." Journal of Media Practice 12.2 (2011): n. pag. Web.
Gee, James Paul. "Stories, Probes, and Games." Narrative Inquiry 21.2 (2011): 353-57. Web.
Gillespie, Nick. "Are Video Games Art?" Culture and Reviews 46.2 (2014): 46-51. Web.
"GLAAD Praises Video Game The Last of Us for Gay Character Bill." Gay Star News. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Guest Blog: Are Video Games Literature?" Interesting Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Jim Brown's Courses." English 177: Literature and Videogames (Spring 2014). N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Storytelling Beats Action in New Games." - 21 May 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
EDIT: I got a 95/100 on it
Isaac Smith
Mrs. Kimmich
Senior Seminar
October 16, 2014
Video Games as Literature
Whether one wants to admit it or not, video games have become a large part of first world culture. Today, millions of people are engrossing themselves in Bungie’s brand new title Destiny. Destiny is a science-fiction first person shooter (FPS) that takes elements from massively multiplayer online games (MMO) and role playing games (RPG) all the while providing a fun gaming experience and trying to tell an engaging story. In regards to Destiny, Bungie has large shoes to fill. Bungie was the developer of the Halo franchise which is known for its balanced competitive multiplayer, intriguing story line, and beautifully crafted skyboxes.
But the Halo legacy just doesn’t stop at video games. Numerous books have been written including Karen Traviss’s Kilo-Five trilogy, Eric Nylund’s The Flood, First Strike, and The Fall of Reach; and Dark Horse Comics’ Halo: Escalation comic book series. Not only have there been books but film adaptions have been attempted. And while a movie adaption has failed, short live-action series have succeeded. Forward Unto Dawn was released before Halo 4, giving the fans a back story to one of the most famous UNSC Naval Captains in the Halo universe: Captain Thomas Lasky. The Halo Master Chief Collection will also feature a Live-Action series called Halo: Nightfall that will release on a weekly basis.
It is easy to see that a well-tended universe leads to some awesome and amazing things when it comes to story which is why many fans feel like Bungie dropped the ball with Destiny. Reviewers unanimously agree that Destiny’s story line is nearly non-existent. Between fighting the same enemies and lack of creativity in the boss fights, it is hard to care what is really going on. Stripped away of all the aspects of a video game, the entire story line can be summed up in fourteen minutes going through and hitting all of the key points. Bungie fans feel like not much went into writing the story, especially when games such as The Last of Us are out and receiving perfect scores from various gaming websites such as Eurogamer, Joystiq, IGN, and many more. With failures like Destiny, it is time that video game companies start treating their games’ stories with more respect to an interactive novel and literature than a shoot-to-kill game in a vague setting.
In order to understand why and how these two things are connected, one must first dissect both into elements and understand their origins. Many people don’t view video games as a serious art form or a medium that can relate a story. Shockingly, this was also said about motion pictures and novels. “In late 18th century England, for instance, novels were often seen as sub-literary works that inflamed mostly female readers to flights of troublesome fancy” (Gillespie). The article Are Video Games Art? by Nick Gillespie goes on to say that novels only “degraded the already-impaired faculties of the young, the ignorant, and the idle”. But within half a century, novels were considered a serious art form and were widely accepted. The same thing happened to the film industry in the late nineteenth century. Many theater critics laughed at the idea that something could replace something as expressive as theater effectively. Now few people go to live performances and the movie industry has taken off.
Both of these things show the evolution of storytelling. And now once again, storytelling is taking another step in evolution: videogames. All of these media communicate a story in different ways. Novels allow the reader to use their imagination to envision the world as they wish. Movies allow a more on rails experience of the story as if the viewer was watching the event. Video games, however, allow the player to be a part of and interact with the story. Some games even allow the player to change the game and consequentially, parts of the story.
A good example of this is BEYOND : Two Souls. The player plays as Jodie Holmes, a woman with supernatural abilities that allows her to interact with objects, listen to conversations, and witness events in a completely different room. The game is executed similar to a movie but allows the player to make different choices. Some of these choices are blatant and on the screen while others are more about how quickly you react to certain situations. In one instance, the player has to rescue friends from a burning building. If the player is too slow, some of the characters can die and it can change the way the game ends.
Another good example is Katawa Shoujo. The game is a typical Japanese dating simulator that follows Hisao Nakai as he is transferred to a school for disabled kids in modern northern Japan after he experiences cardiac dysrhythmia that places him in long hospitalization. There the player reads text on the screen and makes choices when prompted. These choices affect what he does and with who and each story branch has the ability to end badly, neutrally, or well.
But sometimes choices don’t change the way the story ends, only how the player will play the game. In Destiny, if the player were to equip an auto-rifle and an Exotic shotgun called Invective with their Titan class, it is expected that that person will be fighting up close and personal whereas the player who equips a scout rifle and an Exotic sniper rifle called Closing Time with their Hunter class would be expected to keep their enemies at a distance.
It’s this level of interaction that separates video games from movies and books. It’s this next step in this evolution of communicating ideas and themes. Many video games have different themes interlaced in them dealing with real world problems and issues. The Last of Us carried a supporting character named Bill who was mourning the loss of his partner Frank. The Last of Us even carries this LGBT theme into its downloadable content Left Behind when Ellie shares a kiss with supporting character Riley. According to Gay Star News, “The US Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has praised the creators of the post-apocalyptic game The Last of Us for its inclusion of a gritty non-stereotypical gay character” (GLAAD).
These themes are not uncommon in books. Winger is a book about a fourteen year old junior named Ryan Dean, in a private school. One of the supporting characters, Joey, is openly gay. But the book doesn’t show him as the stereotypical gay. In fact, Joey is the voice of reason for protagonist Ryan Dean as he deals with female problems telling him that he shouldn’t be cheating on his girlfriend if he cares about her so much.
The last thing to dissect from these media is story arc, character development and plot in general. It is easy to pick out the plot from a novel or a movie as that is what novels and movies were originally intended to do. And while video games designer’s original intentions weren’t to tell a story, or at least couldn’t tell a story with the technology available then, the industry experienced a paradigm shift to creating a story in a 3-D environment. While it is a bit more difficult to tell a full-fledged story in a video game while still having interesting and fun gameplay mechanics, it is possible.
In Halo 4, Master Chief is stranded on a Forerunner planet called Requiem. Chief is forced to try and find a way back to earth for his own survival. Early on however, the UNSC Infinity has come across Requiem and Chief attempts to communicate with them, only to awaken a dormant Forerunner called The Didact. The Didact has a one hundred-thousand year old grudge on humanity and wants to annihilate them. Chief then helps the Infinity repel an attack and escape Requiem. The Didact grabs his ship and sails for the location of The Composer: a weapon of mass destruction which is currently being studied by a group of UNSC scientists. The Chief is unable to save the station and hops on board The Didact’s ship to finish what he started. Chief saves earth while his eight year old AI companion Cortana starts to die, but not before the city of New Pheonix is destroyed. After the events of Halo 4, Master Chief is seen mourning the death of Cortana.
The Halo 4 story line is a simple and good example of a story arc. It has an introduction, Chief on board the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn; a rising action, Chief contacting Infinity and accidentally waking up The Didact; a climax, the Master Chief defeating The Didact and saving earth; and a resolution, Cortana’s death, Chief mourning her passing and how the UNSC is dealing with the loss of New Phoenix.
Another good story to break down is Ryse: Son of Rome. Ryse follows the story of Marius, a son of a senator who was also a legionary. Ryse opens up with Marius defending Rome from the Celtic barbarians lead by Damacles. Marius secures Emperor Nero and tells him his story. The rest of the game is mostly playing through his story up until that point which the player also learns his story. Marius’s father hands him a dagger and tells him the story of Damacles, a warrior brought back from the grave seeking revenge on the commanders who abandoned him.
Next Marius’s family is killed and he has to fight off a barbarian attack on Rome. He is transferred to a new unit which promises, “All the blood he can handle” and is taken to the British Isles. He witnesses first hand of the brutality of the Romans and is appalled. He continues to fight until the city of York is laid under siege after one of Nero’s cons, Commodus murders the Celtic king. Commodus flees and Marius sacrifices himself to hold back the barbarians so that the last ships can sail safely away. Marius is killed but resurrected by the goddess Summer and charges him to don the title of Damacles and to avenge his family’s deaths. Blaming Nero for his family’s destruction and the eventual fall of Rome, Marius sets out back to Rome in hopes to murder Nero and saving Rome.
Once in Rome, he enters into a tournament as Damacles in hopes to get close enough to Nero to kill him. Marius completes the tournament, killing Commodus, and fearing the he will be next, Nero flees the coliseum and wants Damacles dead. Marius eventually joins back into the legionary ranks as a general after losing the tattered garments of Damacles from the tournament. This brings the player back to the beginning of the game with Marius and Nero inside of Nero’s safe haven. After one last fight, Marius jumps off of a balcony with Nero, impaling him on his statue and Marius fall to his own death as well.
This story line is also quite simple to break down. The introduction is Marius securing Nero and the beginning of the flash back where the Celt’s kill his family. The rising action would be the events in and around York and Rome. The climax would be Marius slaying Nero and the resolution would be Marius being hailed as a hero.
The ending of Halo 4 leads right into another aspect shared between the media: character development. As previously stated, Cortana, a character who has been with the Halo series since the start, goes rampant and dies as her cognitive processes begin to divide exponentially according to her total knowledge base literally thinking herself to death. This is shown throughout the game and shows how much they both care for each other. When Cortana tells Chief that she is dying, Chief says, “No, that’s not going to happen,” truly showing that they both deeply care about each other in almost the same way as a married couple does.
In Ryse: Son of Rome, Marius thinks that Nero is a god and is good in the beginning. But when he arrives at York, he sees all of the crucified Celt’s and begins to second guess himself. His faith in Nero is dealt another blow when Commodus assassinates the Celtic king. But it isn’t until Marius returns to his home in Rome when his faith in Nero is truly lost. Marius sees the Roman honor guard stealing from the people and beating people for fun. He is spurred on to fight them and bring justice down himself. The entire game is developing Marius’s sense of justice. He feels compelled that he needs to avenge his family’s deaths and the deaths of innocent Celts in the British Isles.
In short, through all of these things, video games ought to be treated with more respect like a novel then just a hobby to burn time. Video games are the next step in the evolution of storytelling and it is time more people recognize this.
Works Cited
Dubbleman, Teun. "Playing the Hero: How Games Take the Concept of Storytelling from Representationto Presentation." Journal of Media Practice 12.2 (2011): n. pag. Web.
Gee, James Paul. "Stories, Probes, and Games." Narrative Inquiry 21.2 (2011): 353-57. Web.
Gillespie, Nick. "Are Video Games Art?" Culture and Reviews 46.2 (2014): 46-51. Web.
"GLAAD Praises Video Game The Last of Us for Gay Character Bill." Gay Star News. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Guest Blog: Are Video Games Literature?" Interesting Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Jim Brown's Courses." English 177: Literature and Videogames (Spring 2014). N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
"Storytelling Beats Action in New Games." - 21 May 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
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