do video games really need a plot to be fun?

[malcolm]

or are some things better left unexplained?

[mystoo]

One word. Tetris.

[malcolm]

oh snap. i might actually make a feaux poster of that after i get done with the q-bert one

[RnR]

I agree that most video games don't really need a plot to be fun. The only time I feel plot is important is when it is part of the entire interactive experience. A video game is not a book or a movie and because of that I don't believe they should be held to the same standards as those other mediums when it comes to storytelling. A lot of decent video games were ruined in my eyes because they tried to become movies. Good examples of that are Xenosaga and Metal Gear Solid 3.

In my opinion a plot in a video game should only serve as a tool to advance the player to the next stage, explain the players objective/motivation for doing the tasks that they are doing or to open up avenues for replay value in the game. At no point in time should the player be forced to watch 28 hours of CGI in a 40 hour game because the plot makes absolutely no sense without the cut-scenes. That actually takes away from the fun in a game even if it is story-driven.

There are plenty of games with shallow or non-existent plots that are fun. Tetris and Bomberman have already been mentioned in that camp. A lot of the appeal of games with shallow plots to me is that even if the story is bad, if the game play is fun I am more likely to pick up and replay that game because I don't have to go through all the parts of the story I disliked. I can just concentrate on the interactive part of the game and to me that's more enjoyable.

[Ajax Knucklebones]

I don't really need a plot at all. In fact, most of the time, the plots are long-winded and take me away from actually playing the games.

[bohoki]

http://www.wimp.com/gameschoice/

oops wrong one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdG2LHair0

[LaurenWK]

One word. Tetris.

Seconded, haha. I can't even say how many hours I've spent on that game. And then there are... Doctor Mario, Qbert, Tetris Attack, etc. I'm sure I'm leaving sooo many of my favorites out.

[OliX]

Pirates on Commodore 64

[malcolm]

ugh and what about super mario brothers? two brothers wqho happen to be plumbers get sucked into an alternate universe where they have to save a princess form a giant fire breathing spiked kappa named koopa-
(who didnt get he was a kappa?)
and are aided by talking mushrooms and given mushrooms that make em bigger?

oh! and sonic the hedgehog. wasn't dr. eggman (originally dr. robotnik over here) turning the animals into robots or something originally?

[DJ Bat]

Hmmm lessie...

Take a PS2, add in vector based graphics in an mushroom trip environment with basically no real rhyme or reason as to what you're supposed to do other then move your "manship" through "stuff".



Add in some trippy electro-ambient beats that cause the game visuals to pulse to the ever increasing beat and oh yea, add this to it:



Call it the Trance Vibrator and let the kids loose on it.


Here's how most of the game ends up being played:



Yes it's real...

[malcolm]

that sounds awesome! i know what i'm buying after my surgery

[ROGIZOID]

I always go to adult swim dot com, and they have some of these most pointless games ever lol.

I think sometimes plots are fun, but i think that total destruction with no purpose is better.

[malcolm]

ther eused to be this one on thisisacryforhelp.com called clubby the seal which was really fun. it was a 2-d side scroll platform where you play a club wielding baby seal who has to club eskimosto death and shit. it was cute.

[Raza]

Not really. And if you're explaining something like zombies, too much backstory can make it lame when you know too much about the associated sciences to find it believable anymore. Sometimes keeping something abstract helps believability.

Mostly though, a good story can add to the game. It's not as important as a good current worldsetting or good game mechanics, but it can add whatever it's worth.

[OliX]

Played Silent Hill Raza?

[Raza]

Regretfully, I haven't. I liked the movie and I've seen a lot of cool derivative art, and I keep being told that the games were better.

I really should sometime, but I just don't have as much time to get immersed in computer games these days. I've built up entirely too many oppressively healthy and social 'real life' habits.

[OliX]

Good for you. I loved the game and how it keeps you in dark all the time. I bet you'll love it too. Movie is a bit untrue to the game. You can have several (I think 3) endings depending of your choices that you made trough the game. And scene with a nurse is just priceless. I didn't played other parts due to losing time to do it.

[Raza]

I think I would love it, yes. Everything I've seen gives me the impression that the highest concentrations of awesome are yet to be discovered.

Good for you.

Haha. I wonder sometimes...

[OliX]

Wonder what? No, no way! You can't be my long lost son. Or?

[malcolm]

Regretfully, I haven't. I liked the movie and I've seen a lot of cool derivative art, and I keep being told that the games were better.

I really should sometime, but I just don't have as much time to get immersed in computer games these days. I've built up entirely too many oppressively healthy and social 'real life' habits.

oh! you so should play that! I think you'd like it. lots of decpitated bodies, chains, fencing, hooks and the first game has a school in it you have to go thruogh where the monsters look like midget cenobites.

I remember beating that game within a day and getting the happy ending-there's different endings depending on who you kill or don't kill. it was epic. best background album to play to it is bark at the moon by ozzy

[malcolm]

Good for you. I loved the game and how it keeps you in dark all the time. I bet you'll love it too. Movie is a bit untrue to the game. You can have several (I think 3) endings depending of your choices that you made trough the game. And scene with a nurse is just priceless. I didn't played other parts due to losing time to do it.

you talking about the part where you find out the nurses' secret? yeah, that was a pretty fucked up scene. the movie was okay, thwe guys actually had the game on set as reference material for scenery and camera angles and they were originally gonna make it just like the game but felt the father/daughter storyline wasn't dramatic enough which is why they changed it up.

the nurses were kinda hot too....paper bag hot but still hot

[OliX]

I was talking about the in-game scene when the nurse goes bye bye.

[malcolm]

which ending did you get?
cus if i think we're talking about the same ending then eyah, that was pretty epic.

did you watch the 'outtakes" in the credits after the game?

that part where the old lady grabs the cam and plants a big wet one on it is hillarious.

plus it's kinda cool in the happy ending version cus like the intro animation changes once you've beaten it.

[OliX]

I remember I got all 3, BUT I don't really remember the details. I just remember that the nurse scene left a nice emotional impact on me. That was years ago. When did it came out? 1999?

[malcolm]

somewhere around there lol. that was like the first game i bought for my playstation. one of my faves. i heard some of the newer sequels kinda sucked

[Bikerpunk]

that sounds awesome! i know what i'm buying after my surgery

Surgery?

[OliX]

I wondered too if it was a sex change one but not yet, he said, it's something else in question. Not a major surgery too.

[malcolm]

I wondered too if it was a sex change one but not yet, he said, it's something else in question. Not a major surgery too.

oh theres a lot of surgerys i wanna ge tdone, probably wont get as many but ultimately that would be the big one yeah.