Emotion in Games

r44b

r44b

r44b

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Bit of a serious post but don't run away !!!!!!!! I need you :o

I'm writing a dissertation for my final year at uni about the impact of emotion in video games. So i would very much like to know of your gaming experiences.

I'm specifically looking for which elements of a game/s you enjoyed the most. Was it the story, a character, the multiplayer aspect or a specific game mechanic that you felt drew you into the game?

What made you happy or sad, bored or invigorated?

EG: The first game i ever felt I'd really really enjoyed was Half Life 1, the story really pulled me in and left me wanting to know more.
Whereas the most fun I've had in a game was in Lineage 2, due to multiplayer interaction.

So any old MMO you miss and want to see back because nothing else has the same feel?
Spent endless hours playing a game with your friends and not found anything else like it since?

Anything, good experience or bad, tell me about it!


As much or as little info as you care to write, it's all useful to me.
 
It's always the character, if you can't connect with the character then you won't feel the emotion. Lookup the Zelda series.
 
For me its the way the story is told, and the cleverness of the level and mission design. If the missions dont interest me then the game is useless
 
Street Fighter II on the SNES was my first love, it was the fighting and a mix of the soundtrack from each stage that made got me addicted. Music has played an integral part of games for me, if the game is poor but has a fantastic soundtrack i'll carry on playing just to listen to the music.

Call of Duty 4 was a recent prime example of the last game that combined a well written story and fantastic soundtrack.

However i also love playing games that are gimmicky in a way (ie Banjo Kazooie, Mario, Sonic, Conker) very cartoony characters that made me laugh, I still laugh now when i was playing the Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts Demo.

Perfection for = Fantastic Soundtrack + Cartoons.
 
Most recent one for me was Mass Effect. it gave you some control over what kind of person you wanted the main character to become which i think def helped me connect with him and probably make him more like me lol and the story kept me absolutly rivited to the end. I also loved being able to explore hundreds of planets (albiet only very simple/generic planets with very little to do on most of them)
 
World of Warcraft, first time i played that game was amazing. I felt lost ! I felt confused ! But most of all I felt excited about this new place i was starting to explore. I've yet to find a game that can cover and hold so many different emotions for me.

First time downing Raggy, First time in Black Wing Lair, First time in Naxx, First steps through the Dark portal... Some of the ups and downs of that game will probably never be recreated for me, I hope they will be.

Half Life, Is the other love i have in video gaming, a Game that when it came out, I sat and watched my dad play ! I still have the big Orange box it came in ! Amazing in short. I had so much fun, fear and enjoyment playing that game.
When you first meet the head crabs ! and the experiment is going wrong, the scientists jibbering on whenever you bump into them ! The only game I've ever really found myself talking to.
 
Kreeeee said:
It's always the character, if you can't connect with the character then you won't feel the emotion. Lookup the Zelda series.
Click to expand...

This, unless of course you're playing a game such as Oblivion. In that case the game world needs to drag you in, as well as the important characters around you. The storyline does have some effect but ultimatley as you will be controlling this person thoughout the game you need to have some emotional tie to them.
 
As an emotional shock, the final scene of HL2: Ep2 hit me harder than any other game I've ever played, or any film I've seen, ever. Even after I've replayed the game several times it still packs a punch. It's from slowly getting to know the characters for the best part of 3 years so when something happens to them you feel the same connection as if it had happened to one of your friends.
 
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The sense that you have actually killed somebody, Not in a murderous way but in the Impact of the hit/shot kind of way, That Buzzes me the most.
Other clear emotions I feel are Frustration & Anger :D
 
malc30 said:
The sense that you have actually killed somebody, Not in a murderous way but in the Impact of the hit/shot kind of way, That Buzzes me the most.
Other clear emotions I feel are Frustration & Anger :D
Click to expand...

I sense the police sniper will be picking you off the belltower in front of news crews in a few years.. :D
 
Again, the FF games spend an inordinate amount of time developing a character so when something bad happens to them you feel it so much more.

The character development doesn't have to even be as in-depth as you'd think to have an effect (although it helps a lot obviously). Did anyone play the original X-Com games? Did you end up so attached to your guys that you'd rather restart from a save-game than continue when one of them died?
 
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max payne

someone shoots his wife and baby, had great atmosphere and you really wanted him to get revenge :)
 
KOTOR

I loved the way that you can shape you character to the dark side or the light side dependent on the decisions you made. Felt like i had a chance to make what i wanted instead of go here do this yay your the hero and everybody loves you. I wanted to kill all the goodies :D
 
Just relate a game to a book/film and what makes a book/film good pretty much makes a good game - the additional features like music just add to the immersion but its the central character(s) and plot that have to be there or some USP...

Personally I breathed Quake 3 because of the game, but mainly because of the community that arose around it...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
The Cradle level from Thief Deadly Shadow. It totally played with my emotions. Fear, horror, anger, and finally relief. The back story of that level, the look and how you interacted with the level itself, and the sound engineering - from the digetic music score, to the screams of the ghostly mental patients and the banging of the doors above you!

Walking along corridors, looking into padded cells with dirty looking bunks and things written on the walls. Glimpsing a ghostly patient walking in that juddering motion (often used within Japanese horror movies), and waiting for them to see you and attack!

Gives me the creeps just writing this... and this is coming from someone who was a teenager during the video nasty 1980's, and loves asian horror, etc!

The reason I have this response is beacuse I had never experienced anything like that in a 'silly' videogame before. I had played Resi Evil on the PS1, and all the Doom games, but I had never seen anything at this level before and able to provoke such emotions.

A truly amazing feat of design and story-telling.

I hope that's of help. Best of luck.
 
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