Would infusing video games with more emotional plots and characters make for better games?
I do believe that in the future, gamers will demand emotional resonance. I think the problem of less-emotional characters and stories is a result of a specific situation. In the early years of the gaming industry, mainly tech-oriented people joined in, rather than artists. The idea of art embedded in games is fairly new. Now, film directors are making games. Realistically, though, I still have some big questions about the idea of more emotional or even more political games. I wonder if that’s that best use of the medium. I mean, do people think about infusing emotion in other games — you know, classic board games like chess and checkers? It makes me wonder if video games are really about storytelling and emotion. I’m not belittling video games when I say that. But I think as an industry, we need to ask what video games are good at. They’re good at competition, tension, fear. I think a lot of game designers have a knee-jerk reaction when they think of how video games can be improved, a
