Will Wright: Games are not stories

[zaphod]

There was some interesting discussion on devbump about Will Wright's BAFTA speech. What do you think?

[Bl1tz]

It'd be nice to see a transcript of the speech instead of gamesindustry cherrypicking what they thought was important, but of what they did single out I don't think it's anything so interesting or controversial...seems like a sort of obvious statement. I don't think he's saying games *shouldn't* have stories, just that they didn't evolve from TV and movies.

[FrieChamp]

Yea, a transcript, audio or video recording - I would have liked to get the whole speech

He seems to have talked about a couple of interesting things looking at the excerpt, not just about story telling.

I also have the impression that developers tend to innovate more in terms of graphics, new storyline and characters than original gameplay.

[Rick_D]

absolutely, it's hard to be innovative when you have publishers breathing down your back, it seems

[FrieChamp]

Wanna open up a studio with me rick? We'll call it "Frick Games" and we'll keep it real

[Pericolos0]

Games are not stories, games are not art. Games are games. Games may contain stories and art though.

[Thrik]

Wanna open up a studio with me rick? We'll call it "Frick Games" and we'll keep it real

[clayman]

games IS art.. may not have been like that all the time though

[Warby]

i hate the storys in games they suck across the board even the absolute top of the line(that i do enjoy) like metal gear solid is just on B movie level

i like storyless games like ico and shadow of the colossus

so i hope will wright really was making a point against story's in games that would make him my number one favorite game developer

transcript or video link PLEASE

[Pericolos0]

i like storyless games like ico and shadow of the colossus

What? The story is a super important element in those games! I don't even understand why you think they have no story.

Tetris or pong, those are games without any story to them.

[Mazy]

Games are not stories, games are not art. Games are games. Games may contain stories and art though.

Couldn't say it better myself, fucking ey.

[Furyo]

This guy claims to have written down the entire thing, more or less.

http://func-auton.net/blog/?p=22

[Sindwiller]

Games are not stories, games are not art. Games are games. Games may contain stories and art though.

That statement (whether Peris meant was serious or not) pretty much reflects my point of view on that

[zaphod]

another story with pretty much the opposite viewpoint: http://devbump.com/story.php?title=Game ... orytelling

[Meotwister]

Games are not stories, games are not art. Games are games. Games may contain stories and art though.

I'd add that games have the potential to be both... though I know that idea isn't shared by too many among here.

As far as what Will Wright was saying least from the excerpts ... he seemed to only be trying to make a distinction between the evolution of games and the evolution of stories... some people (idk who) think games are part of the evolution of stories from printed word to radio to movies, TV, and now games... when wright's saying games are part of an evolution of play.

what I think though is that.. why can't the evolution of games conjoin with the evolution of stories... sure a lot of games throw story to the wind, but others are intriguing and pull you in to the degree of being better than some movies/TV/novels. Suppose it all leads back to the gaming industry being in it's infancy still and maybe 20/30 hell 50 years down the line people will think of games as things that can be stories, art, or entertainment.