This (Gaming)

by EffortlessFury , Friday, January 28, 2022, 17:22 (819 days ago) @ INSANEdrive

As for the Story, Cody. You're Cody Millering it again. It is not a shame that they didn't hand over a story in a silver platter. Video games are... get this, INTERACTIVE! That means you need to INTERACT with the game world, which, by the way, is its own story and its own character. Yes, that means there is reading (but some videos as well). Movies? Whole different deal. I'll even agree. In a purely visual medium, show don't tell.

It should not just be a movie (Looking at you, Modern Warfare…) but lore text attached to collectibles is not ok because it is interactive. The story should be experiential. That is the promise of video games.

If the game world is experiential, indeed a frame for the story to live in, then why not should parts of that world (which can be collected) be part of its story? Be it main, secondary, or tertiary.

If there is information in a document you can pick up in the world, the character is also receiving that information via reading that document. Same with audio logs.

Some details can't be experienced first-hand, like an audio log recorded thousands of years ago (Halo) or like a report on a paranormal event that has occurred and since passed (Control). It adds flavor to the world, and it gives you a better sense of what the greater world is capable of.

Control does have paranormal events that are displayed and interacted with and there are others that you learn about that add context. The number of details you learn through Control's collectibles would be impossible to showcase in a single game, but the context they provide enriches what the game does allow me to experience. Some of them also provide additional context for things you will experience directly in ways they couldn't convey experientially.

I can understand the distaste. When you come to a game to experience the game, breaking away from the interactive elements can be off-putting. In the specific case of Control, however, the character's impetus from the start of the game is seeking to understand all this weirdness, and reading documents found throughout the world is totally in keeping with that impetus. I never felt like I was breaking from the character's (and my own) motivation by stopping to read because that's part of what we're there for. If your interests don't align with the character, you won't necessarily find it appealing, and that makes sense.