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| Undead Fred 2306th Post
 
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|  "Re(1):Times when video games promote empathy" , posted Sat 16 Apr 18:01
quote:
So I was reading some comments on slashdot.org about a column on genre defining games. One of the comments was about how in Max Payne there was an audio clip of Max calling a phone sex line-- in the clip, Max sounded really depressed, and down. The player felt real empathy for Max at this point. So, my question is, what games and in what moments have video games illicited empathy to a character from you? Have you ever felt happy that a video game character achieved his goal? Have you ever felt sad for a vg character's defeat? I think this is very interesting because its not something we talk about but something that does happen and it should be lauded because this is where video games really turn into something like movies and books which illicit emotions so strongly.
The only time I can think of this happening in my life is when I was playing N64 Zelda and it was during the cut scene where Gannon first visits the castle. I felt horror for the princess, that she had to meet this terrible guy. And I felt fear for Link, because he seemed to be in immediate danger while sneaking around in the castle. Its the same feeling when Gannon storms out of the castle on his horse and he spots Link.
I've had plenty of moments here and there over the years (Silent Hill 2 had a bunch), but speaking of Max Payne... that section where you play through his when his wife and daughter were murdered made me feel for him... especially the voice acting there. But then they really hurt the "moment" by cutting to that shot of him holding his wife's body and going "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" CHEESE MODE TO THE MAX LOLLLL
But yeah, I think if they would have just left out that cheeseball "noooooooooooo!" then that part of the game would have been really effective. It still had impact, but it would have been more memorable, I think.
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| DarkZero 1199th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member+
| "Re(1):Times when video games promote empathy" , posted Sat 16 Apr 18:12
quote:
So I was reading some comments on slashdot.org about a column on genre defining games. One of the comments was about how in Max Payne there was an audio clip of Max calling a phone sex line-- in the clip, Max sounded really depressed, and down. The player felt real empathy for Max at this point. So, my question is, what games and in what moments have video games illicited empathy to a character from you? Have you ever felt happy that a video game character achieved his goal? Have you ever felt sad for a vg character's defeat? I think this is very interesting because its not something we talk about but something that does happen and it should be lauded because this is where video games really turn into something like movies and books which illicit emotions so strongly.
The only time I can think of this happening in my life is when I was playing N64 Zelda and it was during the cut scene where Gannon first visits the castle. I felt horror for the princess, that she had to meet this terrible guy. And I felt fear for Link, because he seemed to be in immediate danger while sneaking around in the castle. Its the same feeling when Gannon storms out of the castle on his horse and he spots Link.
Probably the only video game characters who every illicited empathy from me were Yorda from Ico (obvious) and Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin from FFVIII. I'm not really sure how Seifer & Friends illicited sympathy from me. I guess it's a combination of the fact that I sort of identified with him more than other characters, along with the fact that the scene of him fishing with his friends was just absolutely perfect. When you save the world in an RPG, there are lots of scenes of dead lands suddenly becoming lush and green and scared villagers slowly walking out of their houses and watching the sun burst through the Dark Clouds of Evil, but nothing says The World Is Better Off than three unfortunate people who went to the dark side relaxing on the docks.
It should be noted that creating empathy in a video game is very difficult, though. For some reason, different rules seem to apply in video games versus any other form of media. For instance, it's a really old, cheesy cliche that in movies, dogs are never killed. Even in a movie like Sin City, the dog never gets hurt. However, according to the guys at Ubi Soft, every single play tester for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow killed a caged dog. No exceptions. Maybe they wanted to see if they could kill the dog, maybe they just hated dogs, maybe they just couldn't think of a better way to shut it up... but they all killed it. So it's a lot more complicated than just throwing a certain image at you and expecting you to act a certain way.
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| Iggy 6315th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):Times when video games promote empathy" , posted Sat 16 Apr 19:26
I like to imagine how the FF7 dorks felt themselves the pain in their chests when the bitch is killed, like if the sword had gone through their own guts and they had to check their bellies to see if there wasn't blood on it..
Seriously, SMT3 is the only game where I really became the character. As so, the other characters became real, and I really understood their concerns and hopes and why they felt that way, like characters from a well written novel.
Beside that, I tend to stay outside of even the works of fiction that I enjoy, so I can't think of anything else. I was deeply stressed by many moments in Siren, but it was the in-game stuff, not the scenario parts.
お主、ただの看護婦ではないと見た！
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| EternalNewbie
170th Post
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| "Re(2):Times when video games promote empathy" , posted Sun 17 Apr 08:17
I don't know, the only real times I start to empathize with characters during a game is when there is good music that goes along with it. To that point, I tend to empathize with characters during the final battle and the dramatic music starts playing. If the villian, music, and characters are mix correctly, I just start to feel that all my characters are tired, but this is the final lunge they all have to take, just past this last barrier and their lives can change for the better. Some good final boss battles I can think of are ones that had the dark/ominious music, but then half-way through the battle would pump up to a more "yeah, let's kick bad guy ass!" type music (only two I think of off the top of my head that did this are Seiken Denetsu 3 and Skies of Arcadia). Scenes where a beloved character dies envoke a bit of empathy too, as already pointed out by the Phantasy Star IV and FFVII death scenes. BoF I and II had two good scenes that I can think of off the top of my head (in I, Alan and Cert was it? And in II it had that scene with that guy's mom in the chapel rescuing him from a trap). Actually, one of the scenes that made me sympathize with the character was the last individual story chapter of Live-A-Live. Also, if you played as the character from that chapter in the last actual chapter, watching the credits draws out alot of feeling for that character.
EternalNewbie:
The Hachishinkan -- The Weil Numbers.
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| Maou 563th Post
New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(9):Times when video games promote empathy" , posted Mon 18 Apr 12:29:
Lucia and Hiro's parting in Lunar~Eternal Blue makes me cry to this day, and I bought that game literally nine years ago. Fantastic. The same for Ghaleon's final moments in that game, too.
The ending of Estpolis II/Lufia II is powerful, as well as its midpoint wedding. While the game didn't have that many character-developing scenes, these two points somehow had very strong impact to me.
Chrono Cross had similarly flat characters, but the image of Kid sailing off and searching the world for Serge made me feel powerfully for her (and wish that they had made a good game just focused around them)...especially if you hear the lyrics to the superb "Radical Dreamers~Unstealable Jewel" song.
The FFVII incident didn't move me like seeing Leo and then Cid go in FFVI and watching Celes try to kill herself (her and Lock's story was always one of my favorites). But leaving aside the usual grumbling from people who hate enjoying FFVII/VIII/X, I think that scene of Aerith's sacrifice is still a very empathetic, especially with Cloud's lines. If only they had described more of that pain later on. (Pro-tip: have Yuffie in your party then and she becomes a much more empathetic character...she breaks down crying. Also have her when you beat Houjou for similarly moving lines.)
FFVIII had some very fine scenes for empathy--Squall carrying an unconscious Rinoa on his back across the abandoned railroad alone stickes with me, along with the ending.
FFX is the scene in the woods with "Suteki Da Ne" playing, and also very much the scene on the hill outside Zanarkand...the conflicting feelings in Tidus and the accompanying music (US dialogue may make it sappy, but in Japanese it worked) of watching someone going off to meet certain doom evoked real empathy for the hero and heroine alike.
...one time, I felt symapthy for Rockman X after he wondered if killing was the only way as he looked out on the cliff. Hmm. Losing Zero in the process promoted empathy, at least until Sigma and Zero became unkillable.
edit: hatclub and trogdor, I like how you think.
also, remembered the scene in FFV with Galuf and Klulu as they fight Exdeath in that phantom tree. Like EstpolisII, not much character development, but you feel Klulu's pain and Galuf's feelings very very well even in this early game. And I even feel sad when goofy Gilgamesh disappears in the Cleft of Dimensions! (When he mumbled, "Butz, is that you" in FFVIII as a nod to FFV, I almost cried for old Gilg.)
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Mon 18 Apr 12:44] |
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