What keeps you playing?

 

I recently wrote an article on good writing being tied to the future of gaming, a few days later an article appeared by Steven Sakkau that offered a different view. His article, like all good opinion pieces, made me question why I believe what I do. Of course then I started to rethink questioning those questions and vicious cycle started and before I knew it I was all tuckered out and needed to have a good sit down. When I regained my strength I found I was left with one thing left to ponder; what do I look for in a game? Where do I want this industry to go? Ultimately, what keeps me playing?

This topic is perfect fodder for intoxicated conversations and I’ll be the first to admit that I sound like a stoner when I talk about the prospects of the industry. What does it all mean, man? Where can we go? What can we do there? What would George Washington say about the ending of MassEffect2? Pass the Doritos.

I see games a pinnacle of storytelling. This medium allows a person to interact with art and be engaged at a deep level. Players are by definition, not audience members. They are not spectators; they are, in a way, co-creators. Playing is a built in mechanic of a videogame! We like, all build these worlds together. My hands can touch anything but themselves.

I’m sorry, that last bit sounded ridiculously intoxicated. I swear I’m sober.

Over the past few days I have meditated on why I feel this way (I’m not a stoner Normal people meditate). As in incense burned down, I realized something; the only games I ever really master, or beat are ones with a compelling story.

Monkey Island was the first title I ever played all the way through and this sort of defined my tastes. In my youth I was always immersed in some RPG or working my way through some adventure game. Sure, I fooled around with Warcraft II, tried a little Sim City and made out with Soul Calibur at a party but I was never really committed to anything without good writing. Whereas I played Chrono Trigger so many times that when a retranslated version came out on the DS I could point out where the dialogue differed from the original.

I was still attracted to these other unconquered games and I did find hours of pleasure with them but they grew tiresome before too long. They lacked the one thing to keep me playing; good writing and a decent story.

Now I know my views aren’t unique but neither are they universal. That’s why I would like to charge the BitMob community with a task; dig down deep, access those locked away parts of your mind, search your twisted souls and share what keeps you playing a game and why. What does it take for you to wholly defeat a game? You might find that this question goes deeper than games that you merely like.