Flat Fact is a column for Nidzumi that entails the ramblings and rants of one Matt Maharaj who happens to be the Community Manager of PlayMaker This week, crying…
To make a gamer cry, the holy grail of game development. Every developer who makes a story based game seeks this power. To hold such a power gives you, not only game and fortune, but place on the list of top video and computer games of all time.
Once you gain the power to make a gamer cry, then there is no reason that anyone should not be playing games.
I guess however, measuring games on the ability to make the gamer cry is rather silly, just like movies we as people all feel things on different emotional levels. What one person finds sad another may find exciting, enjoyable. Also it depends on how engrossed the gamer can get into the story.
If gamers could cry, there is no reason for anyone to avoid gaming
I remember when I was young, glued to Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSX (PlayStation 1) and even now I still consider it my favourite game experience of all time. (It did not need remaking and I have not played the PSP version so I can’t say it’s the same) I cried as at the end as a character I love died, I remember just staring at the screen for an hour in shock, and although the scene at the end gave hope… it was up to the player to decide what happened, and I never could.
I have never played a game since then that has bought me to true tears or shock. I have played thousands of games since, at a rate of 1 a week, but those months I sat at the TV with Final Fantasy Tactics have probably desensitised me to the beautiful stories in most other games. As they say… once you try the best, everything else fails in comparison.
Then again I began to wonder, if maybe in the world of sequels we live in today it isn’t just me, but it’s them. Is it possible in our quest to create the perfect gaming experience, to reach the holy grail of tears and anger, we got lost on the path and began trying to combine all the greatest gaming moments thus not creating originality, originality we once found in all titles.
So I guess it’s up to you all to set me right, can games still make us cry? Have they ever made you cry at all? And most of all… have we lost originality in games when it comes to them being an emotional experience?
5 Comments to Flat Fact: To Make A Gamer Cry
by Neko
On September 28, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Ahh yes I remember my first emotional experience with a game, it was in fact Final Fantasy 2 (the FF chain is so good at grabbing tears from the eyes lol) The part where Palom and Porom sacrifice themselves to save the party from being crushed….I still get goosebumps and the sniffles.
I am not sure if games have lost the originality to produce such emotions or if as we get older we lose the sense of being so entralled in a game that are emotions are swept up with that of our pixalated heroes and heroines.
by Kathy Jennings
On September 28, 2009 at 9:43 pm
A good game does have the ability to submerge one into its reality, it can cause the gamer to suspend disbelief and truly identify with the characters they are playing. Certain books make me cry even tho ive read them repeatedly and know exactly whats coming, and I have been so deeply submerged in some games that I have identified with the character so closely I cry and laugh along with them.
by Sam Morris
On September 28, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Interesting… I think its more of a case that action packed games are easier to make and less of a risk.
As a medium we’ll progress past this current trend but it looks like that progression won’t happen any time soon. Unless Heavy Rain plays as good as it looks.
by Helen Sullivan
On September 29, 2009 at 9:04 am
I’ve never played a game that I cried over for the story line, but I’ve read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies where I’ve cried. I think maybe I’ve never played story line games. The mmorpg’s story lines really aren’t the important part of those games, though, at least not for most of the levels, and they’re really not stories to cry over, anyway. Maybe someday….
by Anthony Cogger
On October 1, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I can’t say a game has made me cry through sadness, fustration maybe. I quite often find that games tend to have weaker stories, compared to other mediums, due to them being more broken into sections (with saves, checkpoints, levels, loading screens…ect)if i watch a film i dont pause the story every few scenes.
King Kong is a prime example of a good story (which was a box office hit), creating poor return via the medium of videogames.