The Stagnation of the Videogame Industry

Is the videogame industry becoming too stagnant and complacent? It’s a question that I often times spin through my mind. Most recently it came up with the whole Duke Nukem Forever debate, as I find that game to be a prime example of the sort of thing I fear is plaguing the game industry at the moment. The game industry currently is experiencing the largest growth since it’s inception in the 1970s, but is this a good thing for the long term health of the industry as a whole? The game industry is facing one major problem it’s never really faced until this past decade; stagnation.

Many people tend to compare gaming ideologies by categorizing them into “East” and “West”. Often times I find one side blaming the industry’s apparent problems upon the other. The simple fact is that both sides of the pond are experiencing similar problems, albeit in different ways. In Japan, much of the same lack of creativity in stagnation is taking place just as it is in the West, it’s just not made as apparent. Over there, JRPGs are stuck in quite a rut creatively, which I already covered in detail sometime ago last year. Here, a similar problem exists primarily with the loveable shooter genre and this was made even more clear recently. While I won’t limit this argument to just Duke Nukem Forever, it is a great current example of a point I’ve been trying to make about the industry for quite some time now. That game in particular represents an extreme case of raising the bar in all of the wrong areas. There are many games that face this problem, this one is just a prime example of it. Sure, it did it’s job…it provided much shock and awe and got people talking. Some people complained about how the game industry has gone too far…others have offered a counterpoint stating that it’s all in good humor, worse things have been done in movies, etc. But the fundamental point is missed here. As the years have gone by since it’s introduction to the world 3 decades ago, videogames have slowly but surely begun to raise the bar with it’s subject material, yet it continues to never address such material with anything other than childish humor.

In the past decade, the videogame industry has torn down many barriers in terms of what's acceptable and what isn't to put into a game. Games definitely aren't just for kids any longer as they've become more risque and more controversial. However, at some point, you'll run out of controversial material with which to shock and awe and at some point, in order to advance, a more mature approach to these themes must be taken. The industry has now stagnated as a result of this new challenge. Sure, the subject material has become more risqué, once taboo subjects are slowly eroding away, but the fact remains that the game industry, particularly in the West, is afraid to grow up. Increasing the level of shock value and debauchery does not equal maturity. When it comes right down to it, when the game industry tackles controversial subjects such as in the case of DNF, rape, it chooses not to address these issues in a serious, open manner, but rather hide behind a shroud of toilet humor. Duke Nukem Forever took a controversial subject and made a crass joke out of it. Instead of Gearbox taking a mature approach in addressing these issues, they instead played it safe and attempted to use" wink, wink, nudge, nudge" jokes instead of simply stating it outright because the industry itself hasn’t matured to a level where it can handle such material because it’s too childish to advance to that stage just yet. As a result the evolution of the industry has grown stagnant and it's coming to a head more and more as the years go by. The industry is like the college fratboy who never grew up. Your schtick was funny and clever maybe ten years ago, but at some point it's time to get serious, graduate and get a damn job. The game industry needs to get serious and begin innovating in the right areas again.


The first thing that needs to be done is increase the variety of appeal. Part of the negative aspects of the current success that the industry is enjoying is an overall fear to cater to only one type of demographic. It's clearly aimed at 18-35 year old males (while ironically possessing a maturity level of a male under 18 most times) , but is afraid to step out of a particular bubble to cater to any other type of interests that demographic may have. No, it's guns, burly dudes and more guns. That's what sells right? Of course it is when that is all that they are given. This narrow minded approach will sell a few copies today, but it can't help but have a negative effect on the long term for the industry as a whole. The game industry needs more variety as this stagnation has spread to not only maturity, but to approach to design as well.

The best eras in videogames have all been when there were games everyone could play. When a variety was available for people of all ages. The best eras in gaming to me were from 1985-1990 and roughly 1994-2001. The reason for this is because that's when the most variety of games were being offered for people of all ages. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty to love about the industry today, it's just that given the technological advances and capabilities that the current gen has made, it's a shame the mentality and maturity level of the games themselves haven't advanced along with it. You could make a much larger variety of games that cater to different demographics, yet the industry is focused on one particular demographic even worse than in the old NES days when technology was limited and less design approaches were possible. Games made outside of that demographic are made for the girlfriends and children of 18-35 year old males. They too have suffered as the industry often assumes children could only possibly be interested in nursery games or that girl gamers just want to play dance games along with the assumption that 18-35 males only ever want to play games in which you hold a gun or kick a football.

It's a shame really. This industry could innovate and grow in so many ways, yet chooses not to. It's far more interested in making a quick buck rather than thinking of the long term growth of it. When games you can download off of your console are far more intriguing than most of the disc based retail games, there's a problem. Sure, a lot of games this generation have innovated; but for every Heavy Rain, Bioshock and as much as I rag on it, L.A. Noire offer in the way of the right ways in which the industry should innovate, it will never get the respect it deserves so long as 6 other games choose to be "shocking and controversial" while lacking the stones to address anything shocking or controversial in any other manner besides that of a childish, bathroom wall cuss word writing college dropout.

Roger Ebert will never recognize gaming as art at this rate.

What's the story?

I will contend that videogame writing is probably as difficult as other mediums to write for. In some ways moreso. Now I’m not saying that videogame writers are on any level of writing skill such as those of William Shakespeare or other classic literary writers, no, however I think that writing a story, well a good story for a videogame requires more skill and knowledge than one would think. It’s very simple and easy to craft a scenario for a videogame; but it is vastly more difficult to successfully execute that scenario and evoke the intended emotions and responses than books or film would. Videogames have an element that those other forms of media simply do not have. It is from that where it becomes more difficult. Videogames have an element of interaction that is simply not present in other forms of storytelling. In videogames, the player becomes the character. We assume the role of that person. We are not simply onlookers of the events unfolding, we allow the events to unfold itself. That is why it’s difficult for story writers to craft good videogame stories that stick with us. The ever present challenge is finding the balance. Allow the player to dictate the story so that we feel as if the world is alive and that we can mold and shape it and feel part of it and not realize we are simply moving along a set path that an invisible puppeteer is subtly leading us, yet at the same time not throwing us out there into a vast, soulless world completely devoid of any structure so much to the point that plot is nearly nonexistent, giving the player little reason to care.

"Oh God, why couldn't I just work at Team Ninja? They don't bother with this story business.

More than ever, technology has allowed for more interaction and larger, more complex tales. After all, it’s hard to find any game that has little reliance on story, even simple platformers such as Super Mario. Yet a lot of these stories don’t resonate as well with people as some of the games that many fans consider classics. A good example is the often debated JRPG genre. Many contend that the reason JRPGs aren’t fun anymore is because they have become stagnant; that they lack fresh ideas. However, fans continue to flock to The Legend of Zelda every time despite knowing how the story will unfold. Technology has allowed for larger stories, with voice acting to convey emotion on the screen yet the Final Fantasy debate rages on to this day about which one is better; many debate the old 16 bit games are the best ever and swear by them despite new technology allowing for more advanced forms of story. The answer for this contrast is that all great game writers know how to best evoke emotion or a response out of a player within the context of game design irregardless of the technology available.

Want to know why many fans staunchly stand by the Final Fantasies of old? It’s the simple fact that they knew how to best evoke an emotion from the player. For all it’s simplicity, FF4 garners more respect among most gamers than say, FF13 because of this fact. Cecil didn’t simply become a Paladin via a cutscene, that task was delineated unto the player. The player had to discover for themselves the way to become a Paladin through brilliant game design. As a result, the emotion that Cecil elicits mirrors that of the player and we are able to connect with him more as a result. Its why many fans still jerk a tear at seeing Celes hurl herself off of a cliff despite being a pixilated sprite and not a detailed 3D model. Because the player worked to keep Cid alive. We had to actually fetch the fish ourselves. What served as a seemingly pointless minigame was actually used as an effective tool for storytelling that simply adding a cutscene wouldn’t have achieved. The Legend of Zelda continues to resonate with gamers despite recurring themes in every game; despite the fact that Link is a mute and none of the characters are able to deliver voice over’s to help convey the emotion. The game evokes the proper emotion of making you, the player feel like a legendary hero. The reason why people flock to games like Ocarina of Time and call it the greatest Zelda ever is in its realization that the best and most endearing videogame moments are the ones you do yourself. Link simply doesn’t just open the treasure chest, a sense of wonder and amazement is created as the music beautifully mimics the actions on screen and the glow of the chest and the gaze upon Link’s face as he slowly opens it up to reveal the contents inside before finally holding the item on high makes us feel as though we discovered something truly special. It’s why we feel more like a legendary hero when we get to the final area and save Hyrule. We led the princess to safety out of the castle. We defeated Ganon. Not the cutscene. Zelda games won’t win any awards for originality, but when it comes to evoking emotion within the player, they’re often masterpieces and its why Shigeru Miyamoto is such a well respected game designer. He understands and has always understood this fundamental concept of game design.

This is why Hideo Kojima is a well respected game designer and the Metal Gear franchise has the most die hard, loyal fans out of any stealth action game. Hideo Kojima is a master at evoking emotion within the player. We as players connect with Snake more than most videogame characters despite not even knowing his full real name or background. We experience key moments as Snake because we actually get to play those key character defining moments and the characters’ reactions to them. Liquid reminds Snake of the amount of men he’s killed at the end of his mission in MGS1 and it’s true. He’s also in turn reminding the player of the amount of men that’s been murdered and both Snake and the player each have an epiphany and realize they hadn’t really thought of it that way until now. It’s why the player is called upon to shoot The Boss instead of simply letting a cutscene handle it. It’s why the player is forced to mash the hell out of the buttons when Snake is crawling through the microwave tunnel at the end of part 4. These are all reasons we as players connect and understand Snake as a character far more than some bio or flashback cutscene telling us of his background could achieve.

Why can't more people get it like these guys do?

While technology has advanced videogames forward and allowed us more interactivity than ever before, sadly, the ways to effectively craft a meaningful, memorable tale using these new options has not. Many FPS games capture the intensity of being on a battlefield, but little else. They capture sounds and explosions and environments, but not the important stuff. They fail to capture any sense of loss. Often times your storyline buddies can’t die until the game dictates it. There’s never a moment of downtime in between the battles to take any of it in, to learn about the people you battle with, or to dread the next onslaught. Some games such as Heavy Rain have managed to merge technology with effective storytelling. Heavy Rain achieves suspense far more effectively than jump out scare games like Resident Evil ever could. The designers force the player to cut their finger off themselves rather than let a scene play out. There are real consequences to the player’s actions and when they die, it wasn’t the fact that they may have pressed the wrong button at the wrong time that bothers them, its more the fact that they made an error in judgment, the ultimate error resulting in death that has consequences that the player is forced to reflect upon. The story simply doesn’t end and allow the player to forget the erroneous decision. No. The player got that character killed and the story is now altered because of it. The player is forced to reflect and not pretend it didn’t happen and simply “reload.”

Videogames are the toughest style of storytelling there is. Not many have the ability to do it effectively, so my hats off to those game designers out there who have taken the time to truly make attempts to mesh technology with storytelling and make videogames a respectable means of storytelling comparable to books or film. I truly believe they can in their own way inspire us, make us cry, make us feel joy and enlighten us in ways that books or film simply cannot achieve.

I thought Resident Evil was extinct? My hopes and dreams have now been utterly crushed.

Oh my God, imagine my chagrin to wake up in the morning and read this news. Yup, Paul Anderson is out to make more videogamers cry with yet another Resident Evil movie. They only get worse and worse with each subsequent film and make amazingly less sense than the next as they constantly stray further and further away from any type of plot resembling the videogame. The synopsis for this one sounds absolutely horrible and makes the videogame Resident Evil 4 plot seem like Shakespeare by comparison.

Videogame Humor

This is an interesting article that I really got me thinking about something I've never noticed before. Harold Ramis is right, it's very difficult to interject humor into a game and still make the game fun to play. I suppose that's why those Family Guy and Aqua Teen Hunger Force games were absolutely atrocious even though they both had me howling for the short time frame that I actually did play them.

The Gex games are a good example also, as they were all fairly playable, yet because of the repetitious nature of videogames, many of his jokes grew tiresome and you just wanted to strangle that damned gecko by the time you reached the end of the game.

That's not to say that a great game with good humor has never been done at all, I mean look at the Disgaea series. This gives me a new appreciation for those games, they're excellent strategy RPGs yet at the same time manages to interject loads of humor.