Comments on Hit Self-Destruct: Rise Of The Machines

Having been vexed by the way games have traditiona...

2009-06-10T17:37:53.383+12:00

Having been vexed by the way games have traditionally dealt with death myself (to the point of writing several blog posts and one verbose journal article), I really appreciate this essay. i've often felt like killing off the supporting cast might have narrative potential in a game, but I haven't really seen it done effectively in many games just because, as you say, the characters are empty robots.

The examples of emotional game deaths that have worked best, I think, may be those that play on the way we come to rely on supporting characters who have helped prevent us from dying in combat; Mass Effect, Shadow of the Colossus, and (so I'm told) FFVII come to mind. And actually, GTA IV might have elicited more of a reaction with me if it was Packie they'd killed off: He was, after all, the only NPC to start beating up strangers in defense of Niko when some random guys picked a fight on the way out of a bar. (Would I have felt similarly invested in the other characters, I wonder, if the game hadn't necessarily become so combat-oriented by the end?)

Anyway, I'm really interested to see whether Heavy Rain — which promises to treat death as an actual development in the story — sets a trend or simply comes to be known as a weird exception.

You're a genius. This is deep, a good read. I ...

2009-06-09T06:41:55.288+12:00

You're a genius. This is deep, a good read. I wrote something similar about GTA4 myself, but that was just about how Marnie is the only random ped Niko doesn't help, and how she's the only one who ends up leaving the city and living happily.

Really liked your post. You sum up neatly a lot of...

2009-06-01T20:48:58.273+12:00

Really liked your post. You sum up neatly a lot of the problems with games (like GTA IV) that always like to keep up the pretence that you have unlimited agency.

Jesse Venbrux's "The Execution" seems like a good way to complement what you say in your final paragraph (http://www.venbrux.com/execution/Execution.zip)

Thomas: I agree it would have been interesting to ...

2009-05-30T08:30:59.067+12:00

Thomas: I agree it would have been interesting to see Niko in an actual relationship with Kate or any of the women in the game. I actually would expect that to end up as an element in a future GTA game.

It was limited, sure, but I think that the conversations Niko and Kate had were enough to make her an interesting character to me. Not like a convincing love interest, but someone I was a little sad to see die. Not heartbroken or anything -- more irritated, I guess, like, why did that have to happen?

More so, the game underestimates your feeling towa...

2009-05-29T21:22:12.823+12:00

More so, the game underestimates your feeling towards the characters you got to "choose" from (Roman and Kate). While I do think that Rockstar evokes a rather subtle feeling of brotherhood and family in your relation to Roman, Kate never got sympathetic. You can take her out a hundred times (Bowling, Billard, Bar, whatever) you never got to build a relationship to her. "Relationship" is restricted to dialogues she and Nico are allowed to have in the car while driving to a certain place. When arriving at this place, GTA4 simply reduces to another mini game. Quite unsatisfying as a metaphor for a growing relationship, isn't it?

My guess is that the emotional response of the player to the death of a character could be just as strong as in a movie if game creators would treat relationships just as serious as movie directors. Even more so if the player would have been allowed to build the relationship to the character for himself.