Games are not stories - Wright

By GamesIndustry International Published 25 October, 2007

BAFTA speech summary.

Will Wright, creator of SimCity, the Sims and forthcoming open-ended evolution game Spore, gave the inaugural annual BAFTA Video Games lecture at an event in London last night, and GamesIndustry.biz was there to capture all the details.

Following on from Tuesday's Fellowship award at the BAFTA Video Games Awards, Wright spent half an hour expanding on the subject of linear versus interactive media, before spending some time answering general questions from the audience.

His argument dealt with the different roots of linear stories and interactive games, and the mistake people tend to make in thinking of the two in the same context.

"We first had books, then we had live theatre, we went to radio, movies, then television, and people have been interpreting games through this lens, as though they're the natural evolution to this.

"Well, in some senses I think games have a very different evolutionary heritage from what I call linear storytelling media.

"Games are rooted as far back, if not further, than the printed word, and sports as well, then the idea of toys and general play.

"Now if you actually look at play, obviously it evolved for a reason. Animals play in the wild, it's a form of education - they play out little scenarios which help them survive into the future.

"And then you can look at babies and one of the first things they do is to start interacting with the real world, they wave their arms around and at some point they understand that they can control this thing that's beating them in the face, that they can pick up things and manipulate them - then interactivity with the environment is their first natural form of education."

"Storytelling is a little bit different, it's based upon these functions that we have as humans - language, imagination and empathy, and these are all prerequisites for story, and in some senses it's learned behaviour."

Wright also addressed common concerns that are aired by non-gamers and certain sections of the mainstream media about the impact that videogames are having on society.

"We see kids playing games, and getting obsessed with them, and it's a continual cultural concern with videogames, and I heard a story a while back, which was interesting.

"There was this guy, and he walked into a room, and he saw a person sitting on the other side of the room, absorbed in this device. And he was so fixated on this device that he didn't even notice this fellow walking into the room - he could tell, it was like he wasn't even there, and he'd displaced himself to another time and place.

"And it creeped him out, he thought this guy was possessed by the devil.

"What this was, it was the sixteenth century, and it was the first time he'd seen somebody reading a book."

Wright went on to draw on historical quotes detailing the first reactions to early novels, the waltz, movies and rock music, which at each turn were regarded with suspicion and outrage.

He also talked about the way that modern videogames are designed, and drew parallels to the way that old crafts were learned.

"In game design we're still back at this old stage that I'd call the apprenticeship level. If you go back some centuries most professions, like architecture, were actually learned through apprenticeship.

"What happened was that you'd get an apprenticeship with a master, who'd actually have you practice gardening, or bricklaying, or building, or whatever it was, for many years.

"And then, when you were at the level of becoming master, he'd start teaching you the secret theories.

"And so the theory came after you actually practiced your craft for many years and had experienced a huge amount of failure, it was a kind of failure-based learning.

"Around the start of the twentieth century a lot of these professions got turned around by the education system, and so people in the schools spent several years learning the theory before you were actually allowed to practice.

"The idea was that the theory would protect you from failure because you were working on the rules that other people had learned.

"On the other hand you were not directly experiencing failure, or being allowed to innovate inside your craft as much as the apprentices were, so it's a very different model.

"Game design still doesn't really have any quality theory, so we're still very much on the apprenticeship mode."

He went on to discuss the way that linear stories are based on empathy, and that a person's ability to use imagination and evaluate the potential endings to a situation is what leads to drama.

This in turn, according to Wright, leads to a crucial difference between the notion that linear stories result in empathic responses on the part of the audience, while interactive games form an agency on the part of the gamer.

Will Wright is the first member of the videogames industry to be inducted into the BAFTA Fellowship. Last night's lecture was the first Video Games lecture to be given at BAFTA, but it will now take place annually, following the tradition already set down by the organisation's other media, film and television.

And the winner is...GamesIndustry.biz!

Picture of GamesIndustry.

About GamesIndustry International

GamesIndustry International is the world's leading games industry website, incorporating GamesIndustry.biz and IndustryGamers.com.

Read more articles from GamesIndustry by visiting the GamesIndustry International archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (51) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rashes #1 5 years ago

    Now this is worth quoting (Bushnell, I'm looking at you).

  • reality_cheque #2 5 years ago

    "And then you can look at babies and one of the first things they do is to start interacting with the real world, they wave their arms around and at some point they understand that they can control this thing that's beating them in the face, that they can pick up things and manipulate them - then interactivity with the environment is their first natural form of education."

    Will Wright in Child Abuse shocker!

  • dadrester #3 5 years ago

    he's a clued up guy and i'm glad it's him talking rather than someone like molineux.

  • LeD #4 5 years ago

    Some interesting points here, make sure your girlfriends/wives read this!

  • Steve_Ince #5 5 years ago

    "We first had books, then we had live theatre, we went to radio, movies, then television, and people have been interpreting games through this lens, as though they're the natural evolution to this."

    So, he's ignoring the fact that live theatre existed long before books were a general form of entertainment. Wonder what the BAFTA audience made of that. Perhaps he hasn't heard of the likes of Aristotle. :)

  • kangarootoo #6 5 years ago

    "And then you can look at babies and one of the first things they do is to start interacting with the real world, they wave their arms around and at some point they understand that they can control this thing that's beating them in the face"

    Errr, interesting analogy.

    /dials phone in background.

    Edit: ah, beaten to it... much like Will Wright's kids apparently. Badum tish.
    Edited by kangarootoo at 25/10/07 @ 13:31

  • zoidberg #7 5 years ago

    he still makes some good arguments

  • Lebowski #8 5 years ago

    Interesting read, but I think story-telling is an essential and valued part of certain games. Would Bioshock and HL2 be half as good without their fantastic narratives? And when stories veer off from their narrative (I'm looking at you Halo2 Arbiter levels) then gamers are quick to pick up on the fact that it's wrong and doesn't feel right.

    Plus games, and the main characters you play, slot perfectly into the 'Heroes Journey' structure / school of storytelling.

    That said, I don't think Tetris needs a back story and three-act structure. ;-)

  • kangarootoo #9 5 years ago

    I should mention that my little joke at his expense should not be seen as an indicator that I don't believe in what he says. I actually think he is a really clever chap with his head properly screwed on.

    Really liked his book analogy. If someone was totally absorbed in a book in modern times, that would be mooted as a great thing for a parent to be pleased about. If it was a game, they would call in the with hunters.

    So all we need is 400 years, and everything will be cool.

  • spud71 #10 5 years ago

    He is just telling the story between the graphics that his games display.

  • Madafunkola #11 5 years ago

    @steve ince
    Exactly what I was going to say (with my pedant hat on)
    However - I like to equate everything in my life in terms of Star Wars, therefore:
    Will Wright = Yoda
    Bushnell = JarJar Binks

  • vane101 #12 5 years ago

    Deep!!!

  • BiscuitBase #13 5 years ago

    He's so right. I've been telling other games designers for years that games are not stories. There's too many film director wannabes working as game designers.

  • Darkedge #14 5 years ago

    Great article RUBBISH headline, more tabloid flamebait headlines from EG. Stop acting so childish.
    Edited by Darkedge at 25/10/07 @ 14:14

  • dadrester #15 5 years ago

    and there's too many game director wannabes working as burger chefs.

  • SimonM7 #16 5 years ago

    Prolly the most interesting read on the subject of games from a "philosophical" standpoint in... I dunno.. years.

    Games are looked at from the wrong angle so frequently these days. I remember back when MGS came out and people were hysterical about it's "cinematic quality". I never understood why a game would even be expected or encouraged to adhere to another medium's ambitions.

    Games are its own artformm a fact that is only clouded further by the intensifying emphasis on "interactive movies", and it's about time people stopped to look at its inherent qualities that only this medium possesses. You can say things, you can tell stories without words. You can direct people's emotions through adversity and success, helplessness and empowerment. You can bring across a message by having players craft it themselves, unknowingly, ultimately arriving at the realisation. There is SO MUCH here that goes untapped because too many people think "okay, WHO are you playing in this game and WHY is he SHOOTING people."

    Edited by SimonM7 at 25/10/07 @ 14:42

  • symbiote #17 5 years ago

    Another day, another stuck-up dev with a track record of making dull games preaching about what games are and are not.

    Yawnarama.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #18 5 years ago

    I call bollocks.

    Every single game that I love, and I mean -every- game, has had a very strong storyline which has drawn me in as much as, and in some cases more than, a good book.

    His argument is specious in that it sounds like it makes sense but when you examine the premise more closely you can see the cracks appear.

    Yes apprenticeships were common in the past but we still have similar ideas in industry these days. I am sure most, if not all, games designers and coders have spent 3 or more years in a university learning their craft, writing software projects which teach them the basics and allow them to make mistakes in the comfort of the university before giving them a degree and allowing them to be employed by commercial companies. I know I certainly spent many, many hours writing software and getting things very wrong before I left university and it stood me in good stead for working in industry.

    As for the games industry not having any good theory right now, I would say that that is a good thing. As soon as you start to quantify what a good game is, or how to create a top selling game, you will start to see a production line mentality occur. For example, you can imagine the meetings with project managers where they check off a list of things that a 'great game' should have according to great gaming theory. These things never work out well and so they shouldn't. Like good authors, good game developers should be able to break then rules whenever they see fit. When each and every game conforms to the same rules, then you can count me out of this particular hobby.

    Good games should have great stories. They should involve you in the same way that a great novel involves you.

    This whole article seems to point to the fact that his inaugural speech as a fellow of BAFTA was designed to try to give videogames a depth that they lack, or perhaps try to say that the industry still has a way to go before it gets things right. Sounds like sensationalist crap to me.

  • SilasMalkav #19 5 years ago

    He's kinda right, and kinda wrong. It's a bit like saying movies shouldn't have plot and dialog since these are things that theaters and books had. I love stories in games, and I like having an effect on the outcome. I also like the games that don't have any story, like tetris.

    The sims is fun, but I still prefer fallout.

  • paulf #20 5 years ago

    sounds like the ludology vs narratology debate

    [link url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_studies
    ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_studies
    [/link]

    although I think a few games are going down a different route, which is creating an environment for the players to create their own narratives

  • TonyCocaCola #21 5 years ago

    Games can be stories,

  • Wayne #22 5 years ago

    Where does he actually say that games aren't stories?

    Has EG misinterpreted him?

  • Razorus #23 5 years ago

    What an asshole.

  • Azazel #24 5 years ago

    Where does he actually say that games aren't stories?

    Was wondering that myself...

    I like the points he makes really; though as for having no real theory of gaming, I think that's starting to change, Rules of Play was an interesting read.
    Anyway, I think that fact that games can have interesting and beneficial effects on narrative has already been proven - just look at Planescape: Torment.

  • skillian #25 5 years ago

    Wow, 27 paragraphs in that one-page story, that must be some kind of record.

    (yes, I'm bored today)

  • TantrumDevil #26 5 years ago

    "Great article RUBBISH headline, more tabloid flamebait headlines from EG. Stop acting so childish."

    So true. EG is a bringer of SHOCKER nowadays. Sad.

    Guys!

    He is not banning good stories in games. Don't put words in his mouth. His point is, is that games (play) has a different heritage than movies and books. The thing with games IS interaction, and nothing is gonna change that. However, a good story can alwasy find its place in a game.

    "Every single game that I love, and I mean -every- game, has had a very strong storyline which has drawn me in as much as, and in some cases more than, a good book. "

    So you are calling bollocks because the games YOU like always involve good stories? That's bloody brilliant! How very empiric! What about the blokes that happen to like tetris? Guess tetris is not a game then.


    Ludology rules.

  • gizmo #27 5 years ago

    Very interesting article.

    I'd take a sandbox game like crackdown over tosh like MGS anyday. I simply don't want to sit and watch 500 embarrasing codex conversations that play out like they were written on the way back from school. 'Can love flourish on the battlefield' groan...

  • deaner #28 5 years ago

    For a more eloquent rant on the same subject, ask Ron.

    [EDIT: I can't type!]
    Edited by deaner at 25/10/07 @ 16:57

  • sneetch #29 5 years ago

    Headlines apparently don't need to be indicative of the contents anymore. I can't see where he said games are not stories, can someone help by quoting it?

    I think we should just make up our own headlines for this story, mine is:

    Books are the work of the Devil! - Wright.

  • haowan #30 5 years ago

    Games are for cunts - Wright

    We're better than Nintendo - Eurogamer

  • haowan #31 5 years ago

    Will Wright had it down when he made the distinction between games and toys. Saying something hard and fast like "Games need a story" is wrong and misses the point imo. But then interpreting the rules for Tetris as a story is also completely stupid.

  • Les #32 5 years ago

    He makes some interesting points. Although play and story can go hand in hand perfectly IMO. Just look at a kid playing with barbie dolls or lego. The problem of video games is that they're more limited than the player's imagination, which ruins the imersive quality of the story.

  • dudefella #33 5 years ago

    I miss the part where he says they are not stories, just that a game and a story are not the same thing.

    Games can (emphasis on) tell stories though!

  • smelly #34 5 years ago

    Well said that man!

    I hate the reliance modern games have on stories to hide their lack of gameplay.

    (was gonna list obvious titles here, but will upset fanboys so wont)

  • smelly #35 5 years ago

    "Great article RUBBISH headline, more tabloid flamebait headlines from EG. Stop acting so childish."


    LMFAO!!!

    A childish post asking EG to stop being childish - wtf?

    The only people it could be baiting are the kids who prefer to watch games than interact with them. The kids who spend all their time on forums talking arguing about gaming platforms and which is bestest - which look pretty because the games they play arent fun enough to be actually playing - rather just something they can bring their friends around and say "wow - look at the graphics on that pixel - look how great this story is.."

    Because they dont actually get any enjoyment out of their games - too busy watching mind numbing story and jerking off over pretty vertices.

    (see those two paragraphs are baiting.. what EG did is sum up the story in 4 words like a newspaper article.. see?.. BIG DIFFERENCE)

  • Stoatboy #36 5 years ago

    "I miss the part where he says they are not stories, just that a game and a story are not the same thing."

    Eh? So what you're saying is that he said games aren't stories, surely?

    He may not have actually said the words "Games are not stories", but seeing as he spends a fair chunk of time explaining the differences between games and stories, I think it's safe to assume that he doesn't think they're the same thing. It's not rocket science (by which i mean "It's not rocket science" and not "It is rocket science" btw, in case there was any confusion).

  • CouldntResist #37 5 years ago

    F.U.D

    Games can be both. A game can be successful based upon the progression & immersion of its story, as well as on the addictiveness of its gameplay.

    [Story] Adventure -> RPG -> Strategy/FPS -> Sports/Simulation [Gameplay]
    Edited by CouldntResist at 25/10/07 @ 18:21

  • monkie_king #38 5 years ago

    43 comments and no mention of Spore?

    Oh, wait.
    Edited by monkie_king at 25/10/07 @ 18:23

  • Dixons #39 5 years ago

    "Games are not stories"

    Try telling that to the millions of people who became genuinely engrossed in the Halo trilogy, myself included.

    Just because 99.999% of games are rubbish at creating a compelling world and character set, doesn't mean it can't be done. If Bungie can do it, anyone can

  • smelly #40 5 years ago

    "
    Try telling that to the millions of people who became genuinely engrossed in the Halo trilogy, myself included. "


    LMFAO!!

    Seriously?

  • InsoFox #41 5 years ago

    I agree that being 'cinematic' isn't something that games must aspire to (though it can work well).

    However, games can be excellent at telling stories in their own unique way. Portal is the latest excellent example of this.

  • Dixons #42 5 years ago

    @smelly

    Seriously

  • smelly #43 5 years ago

    Personally i play games for just that.. playing them.

    Dont give a rats arse about a story... If i wanted a story, i'd read a book or watch a movie.

    For me - Games are about interaction, not sitting back and watching.

    Do i give a shit about halo's story? Nope, i just want to shoot things. Do i care about why mario is jumping on things to get to the next level? Nope. Do i care about (insert ps3 game here so i can cover all basis and not be accused of fanboyism )

  • Drakron #44 5 years ago

    I want to play a game, not watch a movie.

    Wright is correct, games would be interactive and they are becoming less and less of that.

  • Pulsar_t #45 5 years ago

    What an asshole.

    How eloquent.

  • Pulsar_t #46 5 years ago

    And people who say Half Life this and Bioshock that, let's not forget most FPS don't bother to tell stories like those two, and if they do, then it'd be really boring.

    Wright's point stands.

  • Lov3 #47 5 years ago

    "I miss the part where he says they are not stories, just that a game and a story are not the same thing.

    Games can (emphasis on) tell stories though!"

    Eloquently put. Some people are writing in to say that FF and Half Life are their favourite games ever, therefore Wright sucks. Wright already said that in his speech, that is the point of it. He's just saying the format is not confined to that mode of storytelling, and that is the secret of his success.

    Love the guy, and that speech is pure gold. Is there a full transcript anywhere?
    Edited by Lov3 at 26/10/07 @ 00:46

  • bobshirunkel #48 5 years ago

    @andyjack
    "At the moment due to technical limitations we cannot make our own stories in games"

    I disagree. I imagine my own stories all the time in games, but not the sort of games you mention. Football Manager, Total War, Civ, Sim City - these are all frameworks of rules that create a narrative through your decisions. And those stories - Swindon winning the Prem, the Danes conquering Europe, England launching the first space ship - *can* be more compelling than any other kind, because *I've* created them.

    Edit: I meant compelling to me, obviously. To anyone else they'd sound pretty retarded.
    Edited by bobshirunkel at 26/10/07 @ 15:31

  • eurisko2k #49 5 years ago

    Games are a form of digital entertainment, the forms of this entertainment can be varied, games can have a narative and be enjoyed. For the past decade Wright has made simulation titles (sim city, the sims, spore ect)
    I feel he is falling into this trap of believing he has the right to define what games are and what they can be (see PM, Chris Crawford). The fact is films started out as moving photographs with no narrative placed over them (see pong, breakout), but as time past and the medium evoloved different types of films were made. Games are no different from this people will make different games and furthermore people will enjoy different games. Maybe it's my extensive studies in film over the years, but I enjoy narrative games, I enjoy being told a story and taking part in the action like HL2, PW, MGS have these, over non-liner, sandbox type game which bore the crap out of me.

    Will Wright needs to get off his high horse, he makes games he wants to make. That doesn't mean we all will enjoy the experience he offers us in them. As soon as he takes note of this he might start to apriciate there's more than just him in the world of games..
    Edited by eurisko2k at 26/10/07 @ 14:13

  • Remy #50 5 years ago

    Well.. I think he's spot on. Games =can= have stories, but really, there is no =need= to & far too many games conform to this 'norm' these days. For example, at least 90% of cutscenes in games just annoy me. These non-interactive non-game bits can sometimes make the interactive actual =game= more interesting, but really, they are separate to the game to me.

    Someone perhaps ought to review game mechanics and game story/world/fluff/graphics etc separately. That would be an interesting take. I suppose it's what the original seperate "gameplay" score thing came about - but that also became a mush over the years. I suppose games reviewing needs to change as games themselves change. But video games are such a wide medium it's pretty hard to create a scoring category that fits all, so I suppose you end with a simplistic "how much did I like this overall" score that EG does.

    I can also think of a confusing middle ground where the story is =really= part of the game mechanics. This would be the case where the story and consequent gameplay can really move along different paths according to what you choose to do. Think "choose your own adventure" books in a way, or modern 'interactive fiction' (IF). But there is very limited real scope for this in graphical games these days, something like Fable is a very basic attempt at this I suppose.

    Most of the games I love personally have little or no story fluff - the game mechanics are generally what matter to me, and the story is the one I create as I go along. bobshirunkel has explained it perfectly.

  • TRUTH #51 5 years ago

    Only have stories if part of the game (Bioshock, Half Life...) - not just waste money on silly character background stories because it's become the Norm thing to do (Doom, Dead Or Alive, Tekken...)...Don't let the story telling take up most of the game - METAL GEAR SOLID!

    Also don't waste huge amounts of cash on voice overs done by over payed actors - does anyone care who's doing it ?
    Edited by TRUTH at 27/10/07 @ 21:58