Video Games vs Books

Finally the last computer programming class of the week.....gotta love block scheduling.

Video Games vs Books. Many people play video games more than they read books. People have said that video games have turned minds into mush, and that books build the mind and the imagination. I completely disagree with that statement. Books do tell a story and they do create images that fuel imagination, but video games do not just do that. Video games tell a story, create images, and lets you go deeper inside those thoughts. It builds an interactive experience with the imagination of the story. I mean sure there are games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto that have a story, but no one really cares about it and just wants to kill things.

I think that most shooters are all about running and gunning your way through enemies, without caring why they're doing it, or what the story is. They are exceptions like Gears of War for example. Gears of War builds a great background and story that makes the characters seem so realistic that the player finds it easy to build a connection that makes the player care about what happens to these characters, so that players care about whether they live or die and want to know why they are fighting. Shooters like this make it so that the player is emotionally attached to the story and makes it so that the player wants to finish the game so they know what happens, much like why a reader finishes a book.

Now what other game genres like Action, Adventure, Action/Adventure, Strategy, etc. Action/Adventure games are all problem solving. Games aren't mindless like some people think they are. Strategy games take strategy and patience. Games can take more thinking than books can.

While these games prove that games can be just as mentally simulating as books, I think RPGs show that video games are becoming more and more like books. Games like Fable, Mass Effect, Star Wars KotOR(Knights of the Old Republic) tell an interesting story that is almost like a novel. The games have such a deep, rich world that just grabs the player into just wanting keep playing the game. RPGs have even incorperated other parts of other genres such as shooters, action adventure, etc. Bioware is a game developer that specializes in RPGs. These have brought us Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and KotOR. The thing special about Bioware RPGs is its complex dialogue system. In each of these games, the player must choose what he/she wants to say to the other character. Depending on how the player answers certain questions, reacts to situations, etc, the game changes, your characters personality is based on your dialogue choices. The world reacts to the personality the player creates, that just adds to the realism of the game, further connecting the player to it. The Fable series also has the concept of choices in its games. Japanese RPGs(JRPGs) are heavily based on story. American RPGs tend to be loosely constructed, allowing the gamer to choose the path they want to take toward completing the game, like in Fable, Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls Series, etc. However JRPGs are linear, story driven games. The player must talk to people, and complete certain tasks to move the game forward. JRPGs include Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokemon(yes it is an RPG), Blue Dragon, Last Remnant, Star Ocean, etc.) Personally JPRPs are my favorite genre of game. JRPGs have a story to tell and has the player progress through the tale that it has, while an American RPG usually has gives the player a basic outline of the story and lets the player shape it. The JRPG is the perfect example of how video games can be like books. Both have a story to tell and bring the reader into the world and walk them through it.