Over the last few years, to fulfil my mission, to create new kinds of entertainment by turbocharging stories and traditional media with interactivity I have been playing tons of video games.

ARE YOU PLAYING?

I’ve been playing short, long, big, small, complex, simple… and mostly extremely entertaining games.

My focus has been story games.

While playing, I noticed a funny thing.

So many games today are aiming for that elusive “filmic” crossover. And it’s within reach. When you see games like Grand Theft Auto and Batman on the PS4 you realise that these are more like interactive films than anything else.

They rock!

But there is a downside to this realistic dramatisation in games.

WHEN DOES REALISM SCREW UP THE GAME EXPERIENCE?

I started noticing it in the difference between games that have dialogue and those that don’t.

When I play a great game that has dialogue – it feels like I am playing the characters in an interactive story.

When I play a great game that doesn’t have dialogue – it feels like I am the story.

Let me run that by you again…

In games like GTA that have filmic interactions with people and dialogue, it feels like you’re playing an interactive story or film.

In games like Journey or Ico where there is no dialogue, it feels like YOU ARE THE STORY.

The level of immersion is immense.

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

Is dialogue an immovable object in the road to suspension of disbelief?

Other people have mentioned a similar issue in games that try too hard to render realistic human characters.

In a way, it’s better that the game looks and sounds like a game – the immersion is deeper. You don’t question an immersive experience. But you do ask questions when an experience is trying to hard…

Is trying too hard for realism a mistake sometimes?

No answers here, just asking questions…

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