Develop: Emotions in videogames

You probably haven't heard of the Mustard Corporation (neither had I, if I'm being fair) but they are a "games writing and designing" outfit, according to the Develop guide blurb.

What I do know is that the Mustard Corporation's Marek Walton has just delivered a talk on the use of emotions by games developers and how the industry can benefit from inducing emotional experiences in players.

Emotions in games should cover a huge spectrum and they are already 'nailed' pretty well, when it comes to more basic kinds of feeling.

Rage, ecstasy, vigilance - all of these can be found within one five-minute round of Counter-Strike, often accompanied by the player's head banging on the table repeatedly after another flukey headshot from an opponent.

More difficult emotional responses to bring about - sadness, regret, fear, love and so on - involve more complex scenarios and techniques in games.

Walton believes emotions are brought about in films (and games) through "change" and "choice". Games are all about moments of choice, so 'higher' emotions should be easier to evoke in them - in theory, at least.

But it is difficult, for two reasons. First of all, how do you empathise with yourself in, say, Half-Life 2, because you are essentially the main character in a game?

Secondly, the shifting delivery, especially of non-linear titles, can often lead to players being pulled out of the experience, thereby removing the emotional attachment to a game.

The tools and principles employed by games writers to evoke emotion start, perhaps, with not using the main characters as a vehicle for the emotion.

For example, being allowed to put your own personality onto a character takes away the ability to respond emotionally to his or her actions.

The little sisters in BioShock evoke strong emotional responses from players, primarily because of the choice of whether you spare or destroy them.

Change comes in when characters evolve during the game, otherwise they are one-dimensional and can lack the emotional 'hook' for players.

Think of Fight Club, where Edward Norton finds Brad Pitt's 'character' is fictional, that they are one and the same. This involves a character change, an emotional response.

Of course, avoiding melodrama is important. 'Cheap' attempts at forcing emotion, says Walton, will just anger the viewer.
Gears of War was highlighted by Walton as being a game with quite melodramatic emotional 'cues', that don't really go beyond the "Noooo" leap kind of thing going on in an 80s action film.

Weak antagonists in games also bring about less of an emotional response in players. If you can't understand their 'motives', they become two dimensional and dull.

'Flabby' writing can also 'turn off' players - if you can say things in one line rather than ten, it has a greater emotional impact on players. Lower quality adventure games often suffer from this.

Walton believes games developers and writers need to learn from film, TV and such, to be inspired, but not be "bound by other media".

Games developers need to look at their own strengths, just as much as being inspired by other sources.

In the end, Walton believes games can evoke higher emotions, but there are people who see this as unnecessary.

Good writing will always be at the heart of things - bad scripts will just turn people off the whole thing. Change and choice are the key.