Blog Post 1
Realistically, most people have been playing some form of games for as long as they can remember. Whether it be a board game like checkers or monopoly, games that help kids learn, or even video games. But do games need some form of a narrative? I believe the answer is no.
I know not everyone will agree with me but there does not always need to be a story involved in a game. In the reading, Bogost says, “Yes, sure, you can tell a story in a game. But what a lot of work that is, when it’s so much easier to watch television, or to read” (Bogost 2017). For me personally I have never been into the narrative parts of games. I have played the “Call of Duty” series for a long time and there have always been many game modes going along with that. But the campaign mode has never taken my interest. In the campaign mode, it takes first hand through a certain war time, as you go through the campaign you follow one guy and have to get past certain objectives and phases of the game. Like Bogost said, I have no problem with having this option in the game because I know people enjoy it but I think it would be easier to watch the story unfold in a movie.
Another game I am familiar with is the “EA Sports NHL” series. In this series, there are an abundance of game modes as well. You can play against other players online and choose your own NHL team, Be A Pro where you start on a junior team and work your way up the ranks and try to reach the NHL. Also, they have game modes where you are the General Manager of a team and one of the most popular game modes is Hockey Ultimate Team, where you try and buy and sell players to create the best team you can.
For sports games, it is hard to create a narrative. Again, Bogost says, “to use fames to tell stories is a fine goal, I suppose, but it’s also unambitious one. Games are not a new, interactive medium for stories. Instead, games are the aesthetic form of everyday objects, of ordinary life” (Bogost 2017). So, in “NHL 18”, for example, in the Hockey Ultimate Team game mode you take everyday objects such as hockey and add in game currency and incentives and that creates one of the most popular game modes in the entire game.
Another game that has both a narrative option and more of an open world game modes would be the “Grand Theft Auto” series. In “Grand Theft Auto” you have a choice to follow a certain narrative of one character and do different challenges to complete a story mode. But there is also another option where it gives you an open world where you can do whatever you want to do. You can use cheat codes to get any kind of guns and money or vehicles you want. This is what I tend to gravitate to when I am playing “Grand Theft Auto.” It actually gives you the freedom to do whatever you want and you can accumulate stars and the cops come after you for crimes you do. Once you die in the game you just wake up in front of the hospital and start it all over. Simons says, “game players also know that whatever happens to their avatars in the gameworld, nothing nasty will happen to them” (Simmons 2007). Especially, from the “Grand Theft Auto’ series this has become very controversial because they tend to say kids who commit crimes do so because of this game. So I do agree with Simmons on this statement because I think they try and use this game as a scapegoat, where in reality the chances of someone carrying the type of narrative of this game into real life is very minimal.
So, I don’t think games need a narrative and especially personally I don’t care for the story parts of games. I would much rather play against other players from around the world than in a story when I could read about it or watch it on television as Bogost said.
References:
Simons, J. (2007). Narrative, Games, and Theory. Game Studies, 7(1). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons
Bogost, I. (2017, April 25). Video Games Are Better Without Stories. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/
