Stories in Video Games - How Important Are They?

Recently Tameem Antoniades, one of the co-founders of Ninja Theory, gave his opinion on the role of story telling in video games. Antoniades says that to him, the story is more important than the gameplay. To be fair he was talking about so called story driven games, but what are story driven games if not video games that include a story?

Stories in games are nothing new. They have been used to tie games together for a long time. What is a relatively new trend however are games where the story itself becomes the point of the game. In the past even in the most story driven games, the role playing games, the focus and enjoyment of the game was in the gameplay.

The current generation of video game consoles is starting to see a shift towards more story driven games. Just like more powerful hardware allows game designers to create much improved graphics, it also lets them support more complex stories. And just as the case often is with great emphasis on graphics, a heavy story focus can hurt the gameplay.

Story driven games are in many ways an oxymoron. The whole idea behind a game to begin with is that it is an activity that is enjoyable in itself. This is true for traditional games like board games and sports, and also for video games. Using a game as a vehicle to tell a story seems redundant. There are already superior formats for telling a story. In most cases adding a video game to the story weakens both. Video games so far has not come close to matching the story of a well written book. For visual story telling, video games again find themselves trounced by movies.

Still, a segment of the gaming population are asking for more stories top be included in games. Some use the strength of the story to judge the quality of the game. There were even some lashing out at the weak story of New Super Mario Bros. Wii when that game was released. When a game as brilliantly put together as Super Mario Bros. is blasted for the story it is time to sit up and listen. The industry is headed down the wrong path if the fun and wonder that can be had in a game like this can not be appreciated on its own accord.

The fascination with story over gameplay is not a strength for the industry. History has shown clearly that games that scrap gameplay for either story or graphics perform poorly. The more a video game approaches an interactive movie, the less it seems to appeal to the majority of gamers. Still, certain segments if the industry keeps pushing the mantra of story driven games.

Stories have their place in video games. A well crafted story, something that is rarely seen by the way, can really help elevate the game experience. However, the story can never cover bad game play. A game that is not fun to play will be frustrating even if theres a mind blowing twist in the final act. With this in mind it is disappointing to see influential people in the industry downplay the importance of gameplay. In the end, it is how a game plays that sets video games apart from other kinds of entertainment.